January 2011
28 posts
Screenwriting Tip #523
If you don’t know what you’re doing with a scene, you can’t force it. You can cut it, replace it or wait until you figure it out. Forcing it produces crappy scenes.
Screenwriting Tip #522
Try your utmost to tie it back to the protagonist whenever you can. If there are too many scenes where other characters take the lead, we may start to forget who the story is actually about.
Screenwriting Tip #521
You might think this scene of two characters talking is interesting enough, but trust me, it would be a lot more interesting if they also did something. Give them some action to play and the dialogue will pop even more.
Screenwriting Tip #520
Keep careful track of what your characters know and don’t know. There’s huge dramatic mileage in having your characters obfuscate, tell little lies and keep information from each other.
Screenwriting Tip #519
Taking writing work that you don’t want to do is the quickest and best way to extinguish your enjoyment of writing.
Screenwriting Tip #518
Writing can be massively therapeutic. Just make sure to edit those angrily-written scenes so the antagonist isn’t so obviously your annoying boss, neighbor or housemate.
Screenwriting Tip #517
The spellcheck is not your friend. In fact, it’s planning to betray you by completely ignoring your conflation of ‘loose’/’lose’ and ‘their’/’there’.
Screenwriting Tip #516
Think hard about introductory character descriptions. You really shouldn’t describe someone as ‘MELISSA (late 20s, bright-eyed, bubbly and vivacious)’ and then write her as a boring wallflower.
Screenwriting Tip #515
You’re not in charge of product placement. So unless it’s vitally important to the character, we don’t need to know what brand of car, shoes and smartphone she has.
Screenwriting Tip #514
You know that one dream concept you’ve had for years, but you’ve been putting off writing it until you’re good enough to ‘do it justice’?
Make that your next project.
Screenwriting Tip #513
It’s hard to make a character talking on the phone sound real. Pro tip: actually write the dialogue for the other side of the conversation, then cut it out.
Screenwriting Tip #512
I know writers aren’t the best at maths, but here’s a formula for you: A protagonist with three different weak motivations is not as interesting as a protagonist with one strong motivation.
Screenwriting Tip #511
Try to have fun with the outlining process, otherwise you may burn out/go insane. Write character bios as letters from one character to another. Write treatments in a different style depending on the genre (a military file for an action film, a breathless email for a romance). Whatever gets you most excited to start the script.
Screenwriting Tip #510
“I’ve been working on this script for two years” isn’t a boast; it’s a cry for help. If you can’t finish a project, put it away and start one that you can finish.
Screenwriting Tip #509
Don’t set out to write one character as the ‘comic relief’ — that way lies gimmicks, madness and Jar Jar Binks. Write a real character who happens to be funny.
Screenwriting Tip #508
Pick the right kind of protagonist for the right genre. Likeable, ‘good guy’ protagonists work best in thrillers and dramas. Flawed (read: ‘asshole’) protagonists work best in horror or comedy features and cable-style TV pilots.
Screenwriting Tip #507
Do an emotional pass… not for the protagonist, but for the audience. Go through each scene in your script and ask, “What do I want the audience to feel?”. If you can’t answer, the scene’s probably either muddled or unnecessary.
Screenwriting Tip #506
Agents and managers don’t work for you, and you don’t work for them. You’re partners working towards the same goal.
Screenwriting Tip #505
Be specific when it matters. E.g. ‘a dark figure retreats into the shadows’ (Big or small? Male or female?), ‘he shoots the cop’ (In the leg? In the chest?). Vagueness kills drama.
Screenwriting Tip #504
If the name of your character is, say, SUANNE but you keep accidentally typing SUSAN, just give in and change it. It’s obviously meant to be, and you’re only wasting brainpower trying to keep it straight.
Screenwriting Tip #503
Almost everything in your script can serve more than one purpose. Jokes can also define character, action scenes can advance the plot, emotional moments can foreshadow doom further down the line. Anything that’s not multi-purpose is a candidate for cutting.
Screenwriting Tip #502
One of the most important skills a writer can learn is how to sort good ideas from bad ideas. The thing is, the only way to learn this skill is by actually telling people your ideas.
Screenwriting Tips: The Book
I promised big news, and here it is: Screenwriting Tips the Blog is becoming Screenwriting Tips the Book. As in a real, physical, made-from-dead-trees-and-glue BOOK.
There’s a publisher and an ISBN and everything, but I’m not sure what I’m allowed to reveal just yet. I will say this: it’s coming out in the latter half of the year, it’s comprised of 99% completely new...
Screenwriting Tip #501
Losing your spark on a project? Go back and read your first ten pages, and pretend it’s the first time you’ve seen them. You’ll find the awesome again.
We'll Be Right Back
After 500 tips, it’s time for a short break. I’ll be back here in a week with brand new tips for 2011, plus some very big news for Screenwriting Tips readers.
See you in a week. Don’t nobody go nowhere.
Screenwriting Tip #500
The only person stopping you from writing the screenplay of your dreams is you. You have all the time in the world, and there are no excuses. So write.
Screenwriting Tip #499
People talk very differently around their family and friends than they do around strangers. Shorthand dialogue, familiarity and in-jokes are your ticket to quick characterization.
Screenwriting Tip #498
Never give up on an idea. File it away for later, and you may find the missing piece of the puzzle comes to you in time.