Easiest way to learn the Craft of Screenwriting

I was watching a Movie, an old favourite, and my wife asked me how the Writer of that movie must have wrote it, how he must have approached this story or subject, what was he thinking. I tried my best to explain the general ways Writers approach the story and start expanding it in a screenplay. Then she asked me ‘can she learn Screenwriting?’

“Yes...Anybody can write a Screenplay!”

She said that she doesn’t want to sit through classes or read heavy and lengthy Screenwriting books; she may get bored easily. I asked then how she would like to learn the process. And then she asked: which is the easiest way to learn the craft of Screenwriting?

For a moment, I was speechless. But my mind was working and processing different ideas with the speed of light. How can you understand the small details of a Script, the nuances of a Character, the journey of the protagonist, etc. without attending any Screenwriting Seminar or Classes or without reading any book? And I kept thinking:

“A Screenplay is a Blueprint to make a Movie. And it is that Magic of what happens between Printed Page of Script and Final Print of the Movie that can inform how you approach writing scenes.”

Then how can you learn about that Blueprint of a particular Movie? And then I found the answer...

“The single best thing you can do to learn the craft of Screenwriting is to read the Script of the Movie while watching it.”

I, myself, was shocked to realise the easiest way of learning the Screenwriting. My Wife couldn’t believe with the simplest way of learning Screenwriting. She was pretty impressed. I won her heart, again. But, yes, I had found the simplest way of learning the Craft of Screenwriting.