HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY (SCRIPT) PT. 15

SCREENWRITING DISCIPLINE
As mentioned several times in this screenwriting primer, there are lots of theories as to how a screenplay is best written. There's no silver bullet for the industry but there are plenty of guidelines, standards, and trends to follow. If you abandon the basic rules, especially concerning format and typos, your work will not be taken seriously.

At this point in the game you have to make a decision as to which party of scribes you are going to join: those bent on theory, and the ones using it in practice. What that means is those who talk about writing and those who actually do it.

Successful screenwriters praise "attention to detail" and discipline when it comes to writing. Mentor TERRY ROSSIO is notorious for his almost obsessive practice of checking his own work. He and his writing partner, TED ELLIOT, sit and read each line of their script, out loud, before it makes the cut. It makes sense, as the words will eventually go to voice in the actor's hands.

Check yourself, and double check, then re-check. As nuts as it sounds, you can read over something ten times and still miss an error. For example, in an opening scene of one of my recent scripts, I had my frustrated main character get a bottle of white wine from the refrigerator and guzzle it, which was out of his character because he doesn't normally drink.

Now, his desire to drink at the moment showed his desperation, so what was wrong with the scene? The fact that he had an open bottle of white wine in his refrigerator, that's what. Why would someone who never drinks have that?

Still needing the drama of my square guy drinking, I had to change the scene, having him search the kitchen cabinets, finally to find an old, sealed bottle of wine in the back of one, with the gift card still attached. This underscored the fact that he never drinks: someone gave him the bottle as a gift and he shelved it.

I must have read that scene over a dozen times without catching my flaw. I even bragged to my wife about how funny the scene was, still not getting it. Only when I slowly read over the script, fact checking character traits, did I catch this. A pro reader would have snagged the mistake on first read.

Mentor Terri points out that the novice scribe has one thing that professionals don't: time. We have the time to polish our own work, to perfect every detail. Staff writers aren't given that kind of courtesy, many have to do rewrites on the set, there are deadlines. You, however, can take as long as you want.

Use the reader's guide that we linked in order to "test" your work. The guide is a good tool if you're getting lost in your writing process, not knowing where its leading. Also, use your outline, and go back and change it as needed.

To stay on trend, keep up with your mentors. A recent movement is to leave actions out of parantheticals. Also, the use of "we see" is hotly debated, as in

INT. SCREENED PORCH - DAY

We see the see the author, Brian, typing on his laptop.

Consider using

Brian, the author, types away on his laptop.

instead.

Again, there's not one set rule for these types of things, but making changes accordingly shows that you're "up on the latest", and that commands a certain level of respect.

The main goal, however, is to complete your script. If you are fifteen pages short there's no excuse, just bang it out and pull it all together in the analysis and polish.

And follow the unwritten screenwriting creed:

Don't give up, ever.