January 2010
35 posts
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
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...
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
Guest Posts: Tip #1
I can tell you haven’t revised your screenplay when it still includes CD players.
-tip by John
Guest Post Week: Bonus Round!
And so it begins. I’ll be doing ‘guest post’ tips and regular tips every day for the foreseeable future.
Got a killer tip? Post it in the comments below, and it’ll appear on the site.
Send me weird tips, specific tips, highly controversial tips. Let’s get a discussion going.
Oh, and...
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A Short Intermission
200 tips, huh? Wow. How did that happen?
After 200 of these things, I’ve decided to take a short break to refresh the creative batteries… and concentrate on my own scripts, of course.
Some time in the next few days I’ll be starting a new Guest Post Week. Except, this time, I have so many reader-submitted tips it might have to be a Guest Post Couple-of-Weeks. So if you’ve...
Screenwriting Tip #200
Keep writing.
When your first draft sucks, and you don’t know how to fix it. When you’ve been rejected by every agent with an email address. When your boyfriend leaves and takes the cat with him.
Keep writing.
Screenwriting Tip #199
Jokes that rely on pop culture references are like crappy wines: they’re cheap and they don’t age well.
Screenwriting Tip #198
Sometimes, really bizarre/original quirks can help sell a minor character. If readers can’t guess what a character’s going to do next, they’ll keep reading.
Screenwriting Tip #197
Please don’t do that thing where the leads get really close and are about to kiss, but then something interrupts them. A pre-schooler can see that one coming.
Screenwriting Tip #196
It’s amazing how many scripts you’ll read in which the protagonist is the least interesting character. The plot should follow the protagonist, not the other way around.
Screenwriting Tip #195
Write even when you really don’t want to. Often that forced, no-fun, ‘I’d rather do laundry’ writing turns out to be surprisingly good.
Screenwriting Tip #194
How about we all try to write something that actually matters, instead of yet another male-centric fantasy about the transformative power of love?
Screenwriting Tip #193
Treat every character you create with respect. Even the bodyguard, sidekick and comic relief characters have secrets, hopes, dreams, fears, senses of humor.
Screenwriting Tip #192
TV and film are NOT the same, on a very fundamental structural level. So don’t write a pilot that reads like half a feature.
Screenwriting Tip #191
Don’t spend more time making mp3 playlists for the project than actually writing the project.
Screenwriting Tip #190
‘Write more’ is not a very good New Year’s Resolution.
But ‘Finish the latest draft by Jan 15th’ — now you’re onto something.