Guest Posts: Tip #20
It may seem shocking, but real-life women care about more than getting a man, making babies, and/or shoe shopping.For the love of God, keep this in mind when writing female characters.
-tip by Lauren
January 2010
35 posts
Guest Posts: Tip #19
Don’t believe you can learn screenwriting watching other people’s movies. Read books instead.
-tip by Anatole
Guest Posts: Tip #18
Cut, cut and then cut some more. When you’re done, cut again!
-tip by Anatole
Guest Posts: Tip #17
Stop calling your comic relief characters by their last names. You know what I’m talking about: Steiner, Powers, Hooker, Finkelman, Cartman, Spicoli, Urkel, Poindexter. Surname usage doesn’t make a character inherently amusing.
-tip by Brie
Guest Posts: Tip #16
Is there any way to reveal the evil doings of the villain without using
the ‘hidden microphone’ technique? I can’t stand reading scripts that
involve a microphone being turned on before a large crowd exposing the
antagonist’s diabolical plot or innate bitchiness.
-tip by Lauren
Guest Posts: Tip #15
It’s not exposition if it answers the question the audience wants to know.
-tip by Ryan
Guest Posts: Tip #14
So your protagonist lives in his mama’s smokehouse with his five kids — don’t assume you’ve told me he needs to escape poverty. Who dies if he doesn’t?
-tip by Dora
Guest Posts: Tip #13
If you are writing a comedy, I better smile every page, chuckle every other page, and laugh every third.
-tip by Jeff & John
Guest Posts: Tip #12
If any of your characters sheds a “single tear” I will probably stop taking you seriously.
-tip by Brie
Guest Posts: Tip #11
The bad things that happen to your protagonist in the second act should specifically obstruct his goal, not just be distracting “bad things”.
-tip by Brie
Screenwriting Tip #201
Don’t start writing until you’ve finished outlining.
Guest Posts: Tip #7
Good action scenes show character, move the story forward, explore theme in an exciting and dramatic way, and are an integral part of the story itself.
-tip by Ryan
Guest Posts: Tip #10
A protagonist that smiles like an idiot at every person and thing he encounters isn’t lovable; he’s vile and he should die a slow, painful death BEFORE page 1.
-tip by Josef
Guest Posts: Tip #9
Ending a script with a voice over is like ending the perfect date with a fart.
-tip by Eric
Guest Posts: Tip #6
Keep it simple, stupid.
-tip by Dana Barney
Guest Posts: Tip #8
Use your fingers on one hand to count how many examples of the following you can think of:
Young Man: “Hey Mr. Johnson.”
Hank: “When I hear you say ‘Mr. Johnson,’ I turn around looking for my father. Call me ‘Hank.’”
Now if your script has any variation of the above, bend those fingers into a fist and punch yourself in the face. HARD.
-tip by Hunter55
Guest Posts: Tip #5
DR. BRIDGES
(losing his patients)
I know what I’m doing!
Spell check doesn’t correct homonyms.
-tip by Patrick
Guest Posts: Tip #4
Always go back to your concept and theme when uncertain about plot.
-tip by Ryan
Guest Posts: Tip #3
“Write what you know” does not mean “write a script about a film school student/struggling screenwriter”.
-tip by Brie
Guest Posts: Tip #2
Your free-bird protagonist’s character did not arc just because she had a baby at the end. Based on what you showed me, I assume she’s looking for a babysitter.
-tip by Dora
