Hi Reader,
Hope you've had a great week! One of the best screenwriting educations I ever got wasn't from a book, a course, or a contest. It came from making a short film.
More specifically, from writing Boneyard Racers - a supernatural action-horror short that started with one very simple question from my producer, Preston: "Can we do anything with hearses?"
It immediately got my creative gears turning, and that same night, I wrote the first draft.
What came out of it was a kind of Fast & Furious meets The Devil Came Down to Georgia story: two teens heading home on Halloween night stumble onto what looks like a wild roadside party, only to discover the partygoers are actual ghouls and monsters, led by a crossroads demon who challenges them to a drag race for their souls.
It was a weird, fun, and very specific idea. And writing it taught me a lot!
Short films force clarity
One of the biggest things a short film teaches you is that you do not have endless an runway from which to take off (creatively speaking). You need:
- a strong hook
- clear characters
- focused momentum
- and a very good sense of what the movie actually is
A short doesn't have time to wander around its own premise. You don't have the luxury of 90 to 120 minutes to tell your story. Instead, you have to know the core experience your film’s delivering and get there with purpose.
Practical writing matters
Because Boneyard Racers was built around real-world elements - hearses, a Halloween party, a race road, monsters, practical set pieces - it also taught me how important it is to write around what you can actually put on screen.
That’s one of the most valuable things making a short can teach a writer. It forces you to answer questions, such as:
What can we shoot?
How do I make that cinematic?
How do I build a story around assets instead of treating them like random decoration?
That’s a very useful muscle to build, while remembering that...
You still need heart
One of the challenges with genre shorts is that the hook can do so much of the early work that you forget to build in the emotional core.
I didn’t want Boneyard Racers to be just: cool cars + demons + a race.
That would’ve been fun for a minute, but ultimately forgettable.
So one of the key changes was making the story about two teens, instead of just one - and building in the emotional stakes of young love under pressure. That gave the premise something more human to hold onto - which is valuable regardless of genre.
Production teaches you what really matters
We shot the film over two nights. The first night focused on the party scene, dialogue, and some driving. The second night was mostly race material.
And like with every indie production, reality got involved - in some expected and unexpected ways. We had:
- a fire truck responding to an alarm nearby
- a police dragnet along our race road, looking for a fugitive
- improvised lines and dialogue changes made on the fly
- and all the usual surprises that show up once the script leaves the page
Those are the kinds of experiences that teach you fast what matters most.
Some things you think are essential, aren’t - while some things become more important once actors and cameras get involved. And sometimes, it turns out that the best moment in the scene wasn’t in the original draft at all.
That kind of hands-on experience changes the way you write.
It makes you more practical, and more flexible. And, to be honest, usually more aware of what the audience will actually remember.
🎥 Watch the full video here: Big Writing Lessons from Short Films
And if you want help with your screenplay - character work, dialogue, pacing, structure, or figuring out why your script isn’t landing the way it should - I can help with that too.:
👉 My coaching calls - great for brainstorming, outlining, character work, and solving story problems early: Book Your Session today!
👉 My coverage packages - a great next step if you need meaningful developmental feedback before diving back into the draft: Click here!
👉 Rewrite to Greenlight - my ongoing developmental editing program for taking a script from almost there to funding or production-ready: Click here!
One of the best ways to learn screenwriting is to go out and make something! It'll teach more than a mountain of "how-to" manuals and course books.
Until next time - keep writing, and stay creative!
Neil
P.S. Check out my feature film, Spin the Wheel - out now on Tubi!
Click here to watch for FREE: https://tubitv.com/movies/100030151/spin-the-wheel
And see my latest feature, Contamination, now on Amazon, Fandango, and Hoopla!
Learn more about storytelling, screenwriting, and filmmaking: www.neilchasefilm.com.
Looking for in-depth help with your script, story or film? Check out my one-on-one coaching services here.
Check out my Gothic horror-western novel, Iron Dogs, available in eBook, print, and audiobook.
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