How to Write a Disaster Movie

Hi, folks! Today, I just wanted to jot down a few observations on how to write a disaster movie. I’ve been watching a bunch of them on Netflix of late, just because it seems like I’ve watched everything else on there, and I noticed that they have a lot in common with each other. So read on – here’s how to write a (cliche) script for a disaster movie…

Okay, so first off, you need to decide on a type of disaster – natural disasters work well, but you can also consider technological disasters or even terrorist attacks, if you’re feeling brave enough. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll be using [INSERT DISASTER HERE] so that you can easily adapt this template to suit your needs.

Let’s start with a fractured family – there’s a father and a mother who are going through a divorce, as well as a teenage daughter. She can have a sibling or two if you like, but they have to be younger. The dad is a scientist, or perhaps he works for Homeland Security if your disaster is a terrorist attack. He’s overprotective of his daughter, but she wants to go with her friends to [INSERT PLACE NAME].

Of course, the mother convinces him to let her go. And then the [INSERT DISASTER HERE] kicks off, and the father has to simultaneously try to save the world and to save his teenage daughter.

Along the way, a lot of people die, and the mother and father are thrown closer together in the attempt to rescue their daughter. They start to realise when they were drawn together in the first place, particularly after the epic chase scene when they’re in the car and they’re trying to outrun the [INSERT DISASTER HERE].

Meanwhile, the daughter and her friends are trying their best to survive the disaster, although a couple of them die in unusual circumstances. One sacrifices himself so that the others can live, and another gets stuck – not a problem normally, but not so good when the [INSERT DISASTER HERE] is approaching. They beg their friends to leave them behind; the daughter refuses to leave them, but eventually she gets dragged away.

But at last, overcoming all of the adversity, the mother and father are reunited with their daughter, who immediately heads off to try to fix the damage he’s caused with his work as a scientist (or that he’s obliged to fix as Homeland Security). There’s an epic confrontation between him and a former colleague, who gains the upper hand but eventually realises the error of his ways and sacrifices himself to carry out a scientifically implausible attempt to save the world.

There’s a lot of bad CGI, but ultimately, the world is safe, and the family stands together amidst the ruin, thinking about the future that they’ll have to rebuild.

And that, folks, is how you write your very own cliche disaster movie. Enjoy.