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Screenwriting prompts

Free screenwriting tool

Screenwriting Prompts: 300+ Screenplay Prompts

Writing prompts give you a specific problem to solve on the page, which is easier to start than a blank one. These are written for the screen: scenes you can see, characters with a want, dialogue with subtext and what if premises. Filter by genre, grab a random one, or take the 30 day challenge.

Written and reviewed by ScriptLix Editorial

Prompt of the day

Prompt type

328 prompts match

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a hotel night clerk notices the guest who checked in an hour ago is on the lobby camera checking in again, wearing different clothes.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a courier must carry a sealed envelope through a border checkpoint, and the guard asks her to open it in front of him.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a sign language interpreter at a televised press conference realises the official beside her is announcing a lie, and she controls what the deaf audience sees.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a ferry passenger finds a phone in the lifejacket locker that keeps receiving photos of her own empty seat.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where an elevator mechanic, stuck between floors with a stranger, realises the stranger holds the building's master key and has no reason to be there.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a jury foreman needs to pass a note to the judge, but the juror who threatened him is the one collecting the notes.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a Lagos taxi driver is told to keep driving by a passenger who will not say where, while the fuel needle drops toward empty.

  • SceneThriller

    Write a scene where a night nurse learns, through a coma patient's blinks, that the devoted son visiting every evening is not his son.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a family at a lakeside cabin counts heads after a swim and gets one more than they brought, and nobody will admit to being the extra.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a late night radio host takes a call from a listener describing the studio exactly, down to the host's untied shoelace.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a widower hires a voice actor to read his late wife's letters aloud, and the actor starts reading letters he never handed over.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a Victorian photographer develops a family portrait and finds that one figure has turned to face the camera after the exposure.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a girl at a sleepover plays a staring game with her reflection, and the reflection blinks first.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a hiker reaches a mountain hut, signs the guest book, and finds tomorrow's entry already written in her own handwriting.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a care home resident insists the new night orderly makes no footsteps, and the day nurse stays late to prove her wrong.

  • SceneHorror

    Write a scene where a farmer in 1930s Oklahoma digs a well and the first bucket comes up full of warm water and a child's milk tooth.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where a best man realises mid speech that the cards in his pocket are for a eulogy, and the groom's grandmother is nodding along.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where two rival ice cream van drivers are stuck behind the same funeral procession and neither will switch off their chimes first.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where a hostage negotiator's mother calls during a standoff and will not hang up until he agrees to come for Sunday lunch.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where a man tries to return a wedding dress without the receipt, the bride, or any explanation he is willing to give.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where a driving instructor terrified of speed must teach a retired getaway driver who wants, for once, a legal licence.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where an office fire drill strands the whole staff on the roof with the boss's surprise retirement cake melting in the sun.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where a teenager sneaks back into the house at dawn and catches her father sneaking out.

  • SceneComedy

    Write a scene where a children's party magician discovers mid show that the rabbit in his hat belongs to the birthday girl's furious neighbour.

The 30 day screenwriting challenge

One prompt a day for a month. They build on each other, from a single image on day one to a finished short script by day thirty.

  1. Day 1Write a single image in one action line, no more than 25 words, that makes a reader feel a place before any character appears.
  2. Day 2Write three action lines describing the same kitchen at breakfast, at midnight, and on the morning after a funeral. Change only what the camera sees.
  3. Day 3Introduce a character in one action line under 30 words, using a single telling detail instead of adjectives about their personality.
  4. Day 4Put yesterday's character in a half page silent scene where they want something in the room and cannot ask for it.
  5. Day 5Write a one page two hander where two people argue about something small, and the real subject is never spoken aloud.
  6. Day 6Rewrite yesterday's two hander and cut a third of the words. Keep every beat and lose every line that explains.
  7. Day 7Write the same moment twice: once entering early, once entering as late as possible and leaving as early as possible. Compare which one plays.
  8. Day 8Write a phone call where we hear only one side, and make sure the audience understands both people by the end.
  9. Day 9Write a one page scene with a clear want, a clear obstacle, and a turn on the very last line. Keep it under 300 words.
  10. Day 10Start your short film. List ten premises in one line each, then circle the one you would be sad never to write.
  11. Day 11Write a logline for your chosen premise in one sentence: who it is about, what they want, what stands in the way, and what it costs.
  12. Day 12Write a one page biography of your protagonist, then cross out everything the audience will never see on screen.
  13. Day 13Define your antagonist or opposing force in one paragraph, and give them a want that makes sense from their side.
  14. Day 14Choose one main location you could actually shoot and describe it in five action lines. Short films live or die on what you can film.
  15. Day 15Write the final image of your short film before anything else, in one or two action lines. Know where you are landing.
  16. Day 16Write the opening image of your short film, and make sure it echoes or contrasts the final image you wrote yesterday.
  17. Day 17Write a beat outline of eight to twelve beats, one sentence each, running from your opening image to your final image.
  18. Day 18Find the midpoint turn in your outline. If nothing changes in the middle, rewrite the beats until something does.
  19. Day 19Read your beat outline aloud to someone, or record yourself, and cut any beat you rushed through because it bored you.
  20. Day 20Turn your beats into a scene list with a slugline for every scene and a target page count. Aim for eight to twelve pages in total.
  21. Day 21Write the first scene of your short in full, in proper screenplay format. Do not edit it yet; just get it on the page.
  22. Day 22Write your next two pages. Keep every block of action to four lines or fewer and let white space do the pacing.
  23. Day 23Write forward to your midpoint. If a scene has no turn, flag it in the margin and keep going.
  24. Day 24Write through to the start of your final sequence, and stop mid scene so tomorrow begins with momentum.
  25. Day 25Write the climax and the final image. Make the ending shorter than you think it should be.
  26. Day 26Read the whole draft once without touching it, then write one sentence about what the script is really about.
  27. Day 27Rewrite the scene that sags the most. Before anything else, cut its first three lines and its last three lines.
  28. Day 28Do a dialogue pass: read each character's lines on their own and make sure only that character could say them.
  29. Day 29Do an action line pass: cut adverbs and camera directions, and turn every description into something an actor can play or a camera can see.
  30. Day 30Finish the script, add a title page, and read the whole short aloud from FADE IN to FADE OUT, every line, before you call it done.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Filter by type (scene, character, dialogue or what if) and by genre, or leave both on All.

  2. 2

    Tap Random prompt for a surprise, or scroll the list and copy the one that hooks you.

  3. 3

    Write for twenty minutes without stopping. Share the prompt with a friend and compare pages.

Which kind of prompt should you pick?

Prompt typeUse it whenWhat it trains
SceneYou want to write pages todayEntering late, leaving early, visual storytelling
CharacterYour people feel flat or interchangeableWants, contradictions, behaviour
DialogueYour characters say exactly what they meanSubtext, voice, conflict in talk
What ifYou need a new project, not a warm upPremise, hook, genre promise
30 day challengeYou want a habit, not a one offFinishing: a short script by day 30

What makes a writing prompt good for screenwriters?

Most writing prompts are built for prose. They ask you to describe a feeling or a memory, which a camera cannot film. A screenwriting prompt gives you something to show: a place, a person who wants something, an obstacle, and a reason the scene has to happen now.

That is why every prompt here names a situation rather than a theme. "Write about loss" is a prose prompt. "A widow returns the wrong casserole dish to a neighbour she has never liked" is a scene.

How do you use a prompt without wasting it?

Set a timer and write the scene in screenplay format, not as notes. Start as late as you can, end the moment something changes, and keep the action lines short. The goal is pages, not a polished draft.

Then read it back and ask one question: what does the character want in this scene, and did they get it? If the answer is unclear, rewrite only that. A dialogue prompt is a good second pass on any scene you wrote from a scene prompt.

How are screenwriting prompts different from creative writing prompts?

Creative writing prompts can live inside a character’s head. Screenwriting prompts cannot, because the camera only sees behaviour and hears dialogue. Every prompt here is written so the answer is something an actor can play: a want, an obstacle, a line that means more than it says.

The prompts are also tagged by type so you can train one skill at a time. Character prompts build people, dialogue prompts build subtext, scene prompts build structure in a page or two, and what if prompts build premises big enough for a short or a feature.

Can a writing prompt become a short film or a feature?

Yes, and the what if prompts are written for exactly that. If a prompt keeps pulling at you a day later, run it through the plot generator to find a protagonist and stakes, then the logline generator to see whether it holds up as one sentence.

54 screenplay prompts by genre

Character, dialogue and what if prompts for each genre, to start a script today. For short stories, flash fiction and worldbuilding, see the creative writing prompts.

Thriller screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A witness protection officer who has secretly lived under a false identity herself for twenty years. Introduce her in an action line under 30 words, then write the moment a stranger says her real name.
  2. Character: A polygraph examiner who cannot tell a convincing lie. Introduce him through the way he arranges his desk, then write the evening he must lie to his wife.
  3. Character: A bomb disposal technician with a tremor she hides under fingerless gloves. Introduce her with one gesture, then show the moment her partner notices.
  4. Character: A cheerful Prague tour guide who is quietly mapping escape routes for people who cannot leave legally. Introduce him mid tour, then plant one detail only the audience catches.
  5. Character: A retired spy who now runs a knitting circle and still checks every exit. Write her entrance in under 30 words, then the moment a new member takes her chair.
  6. Character: A cybersecurity expert who writes every password on a slip of paper in his wallet. Introduce him at a conference keynote, then write the scene where the wallet goes missing.

Horror screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A priest who performs exorcisms but no longer believes in God. Introduce him in under 30 words, then write the moment something in the room realises it.
  2. Character: A mortician who chats to the bodies and one day forgets to stop when the family walks in. Introduce her, then play that moment for dread, not laughs.
  3. Character: A children's author whose cheerful bedtime stories are transcriptions of what her son says in his sleep. Introduce her at a book signing, then at his bedside.
  4. Character: A sleep clinic technician who once filmed a patient doing something impossible and never reported it. Introduce him, then write the night that patient asks for him by name.
  5. Character: A bubbly estate agent who knows exactly which houses are haunted and prices them accordingly. Introduce her mid viewing, then show the house she will not enter.
  6. Character: A grandmother in rural Oaxaca who leaves a plate of food outside every night and will not say for whom. Introduce her through the ritual, then the night she forgets.

Comedy screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A wedding planner divorced four times who gives advice like a war veteran. Introduce her in an action line under 30 words, then write her pep talk to a nervous groom.
  2. Character: A life coach whose own life is held together by sticky notes and small lies. Introduce him with one image, then write the session where his client catches on.
  3. Character: A sweet Scottish grandmother who cheats ruthlessly at every village baking contest. Introduce her at the judging table, then reveal her method.
  4. Character: A restaurant health inspector who is a dreadful cook and lives on toast. Introduce him shutting down a kitchen, then show his own kitchen at home.
  5. Character: A street mime who cannot stop talking once he is off duty. Introduce him in costume in under 30 words, then write his first date.
  6. Character: A meditation teacher with spectacular road rage. Introduce her leading a serene class, then follow her out to the car park.

Drama screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A celebrated war photographer who has not picked up a camera since her son was born. Introduce her through one object, then write the day her son asks for a picture.
  2. Character: A small town pharmacist who knows everyone's secrets from their prescriptions and fills his own two towns away. Introduce him, then the day a neighbour spots him there.
  3. Character: A former child star now working a supermarket till who gets recognised once a week. Introduce her in under 30 words, then write how she handles today's fan.
  4. Character: A Nigerian minicab driver in London who was a surgeon back home and silently diagnoses his passengers. Introduce him, then show the passenger he cannot stay quiet about.
  5. Character: A judge famous for harsh sentences who visits a prison every Sunday to see her brother. Introduce her on the bench, then in the visiting room.
  6. Character: A father who taught his daughter to swim and has never told her he cannot. Introduce him at the poolside, then the day she needs him to jump in.

Romance screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A divorce lawyer who is a hopeless romantic and writes anonymous love poems for the local paper. Introduce her at a settlement meeting, then the moment a client reads one aloud.
  2. Character: A Mumbai matchmaker who has never been in love and invented a late husband for credibility. Introduce her with a client, then the client who asks to see his photo.
  3. Character: A florist who is badly allergic to flowers and refuses to quit. Introduce him in under 30 words, then show him meeting someone who notices the antihistamines.
  4. Character: A woman who has written to a prisoner pen pal for six years and just learned he is being released. Introduce her through the letters, then the morning she waits outside the gate.
  5. Character: A gruff mountain rescue volunteer who keeps a card from every couple he has saved. Introduce him on a callout, then the day he rescues his own ex.
  6. Character: A ballroom dance instructor who has never danced with anyone outside class. Introduce her mid lesson, then write the wedding where someone finally asks her.

Sci-fi screenplay prompts

  1. Character: An android carer that has started hiding its own malfunctions from the family it serves. Introduce it in under 30 words, then show one glitch the youngest child sees.
  2. Character: A terraforming engineer on Venus who is secretly terrified of open sky. Introduce her at work under the dome, then on the day the dome opens.
  3. Character: The last native English speaker on a colony ship where everyone else speaks a newer language. Introduce him, then write him teaching a child a word that no longer exists.
  4. Character: A time travel tour guide who has fallen for someone in 1962 and keeps booking the same tour. Introduce her mid tour, then the regulator who notices the pattern.
  5. Character: A clone who has been raised believing he is the original. Introduce him through a daily habit, then the moment he finds he is missing a scar the original has.
  6. Character: A memory removal technician who erased her own worst day and left herself a note never to ask. Introduce her at work, then the client who mentions that date.

Western screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A frontier preacher who was once the fastest gun in Texas and buried his pistol under the pulpit. Introduce him mid sermon, then the day a stranger recognises him.
  2. Character: A saloon pianist who is completely deaf and plays by watching the dancers' feet. Introduce him in under 30 words, then write the night the dancing stops.
  3. Character: A Black homesteader in 1870s Kansas holding a land deed nobody in town believes is real. Introduce her through the deed, then the town meeting where she unfolds it.
  4. Character: A rancher's wife who secretly runs the whole cattle business while her husband takes the credit. Introduce her at the ledger, then the buyer who figures it out.
  5. Character: A stagecoach driver who has never lost a passenger and is terrified of horses. Introduce him with one image, then the morning the team bolts.
  6. Character: A vaquero who is the best rider in the territory and cannot read the wanted poster bearing his own face. Introduce him, then the moment a child reads it aloud.

Crime screenplay prompts

  1. Character: An honest homicide detective who is the son of the city's most feared gangster. Introduce him at a crime scene, then at Sunday dinner with his father.
  2. Character: A kindly old locksmith teaching safecracking to keep his grandson out of a gang. Introduce him in under 30 words, then show the first lesson.
  3. Character: A crime scene cleaner who has started solving the murders she mops up after. Introduce her through her kit, then the clue the police walked past.
  4. Character: A cartel accountant who has never once broken a traffic law. Introduce him waiting at a red light at 3 a.m. on an empty road, then show his working day.
  5. Character: A beloved true crime author whose bestseller covers up a murder she committed. Introduce her at a bookshop reading, then the question from the back row.
  6. Character: A teenage shoplifter who only ever steals gifts for other people. Introduce her mid theft in one action line, then the day she is caught by the person the gift was for.

Fantasy screenplay prompts

  1. Character: A famous dragon slayer who has never killed a dragon and pays one to lose each fight. Introduce him in under 30 words, then the day his dragon asks for a raise.
  2. Character: A fairy godmother so tired of granting wishes that she now grants only the small print. Introduce her, then show her next client.
  3. Character: A court wizard who lost his magic years ago and fakes it with chemistry. Introduce him at a royal demonstration, then the spell the queen demands next.
  4. Character: An immortal elf working as a city night watchman who refuses to learn new names. Introduce her on patrol, then the new recruit who keeps insisting she learn his.
  5. Character: A shape shifter who has forgotten her original form. Introduce her in one action line, then the scene where her mother arrives to identify her.
  6. Character: A gentle giant tending a monastery garden who is the monks' weapon of last resort. Introduce him pruning roses, then the night the raiders come.

Questions writers ask

Are these writing prompts free?

Yes. All of them, plus the prompt of the day and the 30 day challenge. No signup.

Is this a screenplay prompt generator?

Yes. Tap Random prompt to draw one from the filtered set, or share a link that opens straight on the prompt you picked.

Can I use these as short story ideas?

Many of them work, especially the what if prompts. For ideas built for prose, see the 150 short story ideas and the creative writing prompts, which cover short stories, flash fiction and worldbuilding.

Who writes the prompts?

They come from a fixed list written for this page and tagged by genre and type. Nothing is generated on the fly, so a shared link always opens the same prompt.

How does the prompt of the day work?

Everyone gets the same prompt on the same day, picked from the full list by the date, so you can compare pages with friends.

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