Every award-winning short film begins life with a clever idea, a good story and a screenplay. Patrick Nash analyses the process of writing short film screenplays and gives advice on:

- Story and structure

- Ideas generation

- Plot and pace

- Screenplay format

- Dos and don'ts

- Eliciting emotion

- Dialogue and subtext

- Character design

- Protagonists and antagonists

- Character motivation and goals

- Conflict, obstacles and stakes

- Clichés and Stereotypes

- Beginnings, middles and ends

- Hooking the viewer

- Screenplay competitions

- Loglines, outlines and synopses

- Rewriting and length

- Practicalities and budgetsThe book also includes a number of award-winning scripts and interviews, advice and contributions from their award-winning screenwriters and a discussion of the benefits to writers of writing short screenplays.