HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY (SCRIPT) PT. 13

WRITING BETTER SCENE DESCRIPTION
Our third, and, unfortunately, final "Scriptcast" with JOHN AUGUST has him teaching us how to write a better scene description. We can only hope to coax him into posting more of these in the future, they're an excellent learning tool.

The following scene could be complicated for an amateur screenwriter, especially if they have aspirations of writing the next James Bond or Mission Impossible film. John breaks it down and rebuilds it with a good flow and visualization so the reader doesn't have to "decipher" anything for the screen.

"WRITING BETTER SCENE DECRIPTION" by JOHN AUGUST

This is a great lesson in:

*Scene description
*Visualization
*Creating an environment
*Scene headers and placement
*Using "INTERCUT"
*Use of V.O.(voiceover)
*Moving the scene forward

Take a look at one of your scenes where your main character is "on a mission", doing things. If you read over it quickly, does it flow and give the viewer all of the information they need, but in a limited way? Are there two locations mentioned under the same scene heading (there shouldn't be)?

It's amazing how you can find a simple mistake even after the fifth read of a draft, but the experienced reader will notice it on their first. Try to find your own mistakes before someone else does.

Have a good write!