30 World-Building-Heavy Scripts to Download and Study

If you've ever wondered how to create brand-new worlds in your screenplays, don't worry - 5AM StoryTalk has got you covered

Jul 08, 2024

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What is world-building in storytelling?

If you asked me that question, I would tell you it’s the process of creating a new setting for audiences, which includes the rules that explain that setting.

In the case of film and television, too often this term is only applied to building fantasy, science-fiction, and other similarly extraordinary worlds - but this is a silly mistake, as far as I’m concerned. Most of us have never worked inside the White House, so entering into the world of “The West Wing” is an entirely new experience for us. Most of us have never been involved with the mafia either, so Goodfellas comes at us like an intimate tour of that world. Even someplace like Martha’s Vineyard over the Fourth of July holiday requires world-building, especially as we navigate the various forces at play within the community and the specific threat of a rogue Great White.

Of course, all of this is even more true when we discuss films and TV series such as Star Wars: A New Hope, The Matrix, and “Game of Thrones”. The rules required to understand these unique worlds are extensive.

Introducing an audience to these foreign locales, regardless of how foreign they might be to their lived experience, is tricky and I find a lot of screenwriters fail to get it right without a lot of study and practice. More, the skill required to do this for the audience isn’t necessarily the same required to help a, say, producer or development executive understand what you’re doing as they read your work for the first time. So, how and when do you unload so much information to readers?

Frankly, I don’t think anything I could say in some sort of enumerated list would be especially helpful to you. Such things have never helped me. I prefer to see them demonstrated, which is why I wrote “How to World-Build Like a Wachowski” to help 5AM StoryTalk’s readers. But this article, which breaks down the opening sequence of The Matrix, isn’t enough to fully grasp all the range of ways a screenwriter can “world-build”. So, to help you do that, I’ve curated a list of 30 world-building-heavy scripts for you to study. Both feature and TV pilot scripts are included — including everything from Star Wars: A New Hope and Everything Everywhere All At Once to “ER” and “Yellowjackets” — and I’ve tried to choose as many that feature fantastical settings/rules as ones grounded in the real world.

All of these screenplays tend to vanish, as all things do on the Internet. Download ASAP for your personal study. And if you want more resources like this one, be sure to check out my other articles (most of which are not behind paywalls):

Enjoy the reads!

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5AM StoryTalk

30 World-Building-Heavy Scripts to Download and Study

If you've ever wondered how to create brand-new worlds in your screenplays, don't worry - 5AM StoryTalk has got you covered

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