Scenes take place either indoors or outdoors, designated in screenwriting terms as Interior or Exterior, and abbreviated in the slugline as INT. OR EXT.

Scenes must occur in specific places, such as a bedroom, a beach, a bar, an office, and so on. Scenes also occur during a part of the day, either night time or day time. Sometimes the time of day is further specified, such as morning or evening.

The slugline, begins each scene and is flush left in the margin:

EXT. A BEACH – SUNRISE

Sometimes the slugline is extended with a specific day or time period:

EXT. A BEACH – SUNRISE – THE 1980s or

EXT. A BEACH – DAY – DECEMBER 7, 1941

After you write the slugline, write your description of what is occurring at the beginning of the scene, such as:

Tom and Susan walk barefoot along the waves as they break on the shore. The stillness of the beautiful morning is broken by the SOUND OF AIRPLANES. They are shocked to see dozens of Japanese fighters flying low, heading right for them.

Only once you have established your scene, do you write the dialogue. One common mistake of beginning screenwriters is to start dialogue immediately after the slugline, which is confusing, since the reader can’t tell who these disembodied voices belong to. So always let us know who is in the scene before anybody speaks.

When writing a scene, your first objective is to determine if it is absolutely necessary for the story. Does it advance the plot or reveal character? If not, don’t write it. Or if you already have, either rewrite it so that it does serve at least one of those functions, preferably both, or delete it.

Like the three act structure of the screenplay, each scene should have a beginning, middle and end. What does each character want in the scene and what is their attitude about getting it? For example, two young men see two attractive women in a bar. They decide to go talk with them. One guy is confident, cocky. The other is shy, afraid of being rejected. Same goal, two different attitudes.

You also need to consider the goals of the women. Do they want to talk with the men? Does only one of them want to? What are their attitudes? Is one hopeful that the encounter could lead to romance while the other, who has been hurt before, keeps her emotional distance?

What kinds of twists or reversals can you include? Does the cocky guy get shot down while his shy friend gets a date?

Next, consider how your scene will end. Who gets what they want and who doesn’t? What is each person’s attitude about it?

Also consider if each character is necessary for the scene. If not, leave him or her out.

If you consider each of these elements when screenwriting, you’ll be able to create much more interesting scenes, which when linked together, can create a powerful story.

Danek S. Kaus is a produced screenwriter of an award-winning feature film. He has two movies in development and three more of his screenplays have been optioned. Check out his his screenwriting site for more article on screenwriting. You can also ask for his Free Ebook screenwriting for authors