Award winning playwright Phil Porter guides you through the process of writing your own play. 

Phil has written for the RSC, Manchester Royal Exchange, Frantic Assembly and many others.  Now his wealth of expertise can be yours for free in these Smartscripts.

Phil

When you've listened to Phil and looked through this website 

Great stuff.
So you know what you have to do. Add at least one 'physical event' or stage direction to your scene and see how this influences the scene as a whole.
When you've done this

Excellent.
Take your time establishing the status of your characters in your scene before you switch the status, this way it will be more of a shock to the audience.
When you've re-written your scenes

Person A and Person B

So, you now need to rewrite your scenes with Person A using multiple tactics to persuade Person B.
When you've all finished redrafting

Congratulations everyone!
You've just written your first scene. Feel free to try getting it up on its feet or even writing more scenes with the same characters.
I'll be making more of these Smartscripts in future delving into more detail on the art of playwriting so keep your eyes peeled.
Happy writing!
Phil

It's up to you!
What do you want to do now?

Phil Frantic Assembly

So now you need to rewrite your scene with a change of status between your characters during the scene itself. 
You can now choose wether to:

Tactics

Scene Setting

Naming

Have a read of this website to get a more detailed description of what we mean by status within a theatre context. 
Think about how this can map onto your scene.
When you've read the above

stage directions explanation

Stage directions

Great Stuff.
So now try putting what you've learned here into practice. Try adding at least one stage direction to your scene and see how it changes the scene as a whole.
When you've all done this 

You can now decide what you'd like to do next. Wht would you like to do?

Okay, the time has come to finish these scenes.
Decide on how your scene is going to resolve itself making sure it does these two things
1: Tells us wether 'Person A' got what they wanted.
2: Springs some kind of surpise

When you've all done this and are ready to move on

Okay, you're only going to have one minute to come up with name's for your characters.
When you're ready to start the timer

This website has a lot more detail on stage directions.
You don't need to learn all of the abbreviations just yet, but some of the tips for directors lower down this page could be useful in helping you decide what stage direction you would like within your scene.
When you've read through this website

The ending

Getting Started

Take your time as a class doing this. 
When you're all happy you've completed this stage and have a conversation between Person A and Person B


So now decide on a new place you want your scene to be set that is going to change some of the interactions the characters have in your scene.
Re-write your scene taking this new setting into account.
When you've done this

Phil Royal Exchange

Excellent.
Now try rewriting your scene showing the status of your characters, and at some point making their statuses switchduring the scene.
Take your time doing this and when you're happy with your re-write

As you can see, Phil has written for some of the biggest theatres in the country and won many awards. When you're ready for him to start teaching you how you can write your own plays

Once you've listened to Phil and looked at this website

status explanation

Phil RSC

Time's up!
Make sure you've got your character's new names written down. 
When you're ready to move on

Write Your Own Play