The script should contain: – creating characters (at least two), – a situation with a problem presented as soon as possible in the scene,  – development of a conflict precipitated by that problem,  – a climax that leads to some kind of resolution or pay-off that either solves the problem or moves it to a new level.  – a climax that results in some kind of change in one or both of the characters and their relationship.  The scene can be about anything you want, but I urge you to keep it in the real world between real people grappling with real challenges. One topic that I have found works very well is a confession . Think about how confessions work: – One person has the objective of hiding information and the other person’s objective is to pry it out: mutually exclusive goals. – Each character has strategies for getting what he or she is after. If/when one tactic doesn’t work, another one is employed, so that there are several beats or units of action. – Don’t make it too easy. Think about your life. Think about times where you have had to confess some trespass or when you pressed a friend or relative to come clean. It is charged with emotion and energy. – It might be easiest to think of one character as your protagonist and one as your antagonist, but give them an equal investment in the outcome of the scene. Both need a stake. – Don’t be afraid to have one (or both) character(s) be a liar, equivocator, jerk, gaslighter. Bad people are always a fountain of conflict in drama. – My recommendation is to figure out your story ahead of time in your head or in notes: have a rough beginning, middle and end in mind (set up, development, payoff) before you start trying to write the dialog. If you don’t have an ending, don’t worry about it. Just start and rely on the endless fountain of your creativity. You are NOT responsible for camera directions and incidental ‘stage’ movement  like “she walks to the table.” You should include actions pertinent to the story. “He walks toward her, his fists clenched.” “She picks up the meat cleaver.”  Important : Write narrative in present tense . e.g.: “Jane slams the door.” “Ted cowers on the couch.” Minimal, perfunctory narrative. Actions speak louder than words, but the actions are not described in colorful detail as in fiction. See the Juno script.  Important : Everything you put on the page must be able to be seen or heard by the audience . You are writing a blueprint for a show, dialog that is brought to life by actors. No “he thinks,” or “she feels” in your narrative passages. There is no way for the audience to get those internal feelings unless your characters say them or demonstrate them in their behavior e.g.: pounding a table, crying, laughing, walking away, shrugging, throwing dishes, etc. Important: You do NOT need to be as detailed in the technical aspects as the Juno script. All I really need is character names centered, narration flush left and dialog indented on a one- or two-tab margin. See “The View from Here” linked below.  First: Establish a status quo (the state of things, the “normal” world) but get your character in trouble as soon as possible. The status quo can be anything from the mundane everyday life of a student in a cafeteria to soldiers hiding in a foxhole in the middle of a machine gun battle: “Ted, I love you. Will you kiss me before we die?”<<change of status quo, audience hook, immediate heightening of stakes. The disruption of the status quo (the main character’s life) should ask a dramatic question along the lines of “How is this going to be solved?” (Will Trudy find out where Moss was after his rehearsal last night?) The answer should not be obvious or expected, though it might be inevitable. (Since we side with Trudy, we might expect that she will find out where Moss was last night, but if Moss is a skillful enough liar, she might not.)  Start in media res (Latin for “in the middle of things”) , which means as close to the disruption of the protagonist’s world as you can. You are writing about this event because it is a dramatic experience. It is the peak of the mountain, the last quarter mile of the climb, not the two weeks carrying food and gear over the foothills and setting up base camp. Raise the stakes (increase the tension) whenever possible and hold off revealing information as long as you can. You benefit from asking questions that remain unanswered as long as possible. Be open to surprises that appear from your typing fingers. Establish the who, what, where, when, how early. Required of any scene is that it be set up clearly, that it reveal for the audience what is at stake, that it goes through some twists and turns, obstacles, complications … to some kind of resolution that completes the story and results in some kind of change in one or both characters. Unanswered questions are okay at the end, but it has to satisfy the audience. Without change, you have a skit, not a drama. Change is why the scene needs to be written. If the scene were part of a movie, it would be in the movie because it would move the story along. The change should be in character, but also in value, positive and negative: If the scene starts up, it should end down. If it starts down, it should end up