Common Screenwriting Mistakes Part 4…
In No Discernible Order… The last of everything I can think of…
Derivative story…
No I do not want to read (or watch) DIE HARD ON A CRUISE SHIP, DIE HARD AT NASCAR, DIE HARD AT COLLEGE, DIE HARD ON A FISHING BOAT, DIE HARD SET IN THE 30s, DIE HARD IN THE OLD WEST, DIE HARD IN A SHOPPING MALL, DIE HARD IN YOUR BACK YARD, DIE HARD AT THE SCREENWRITING EXPO, DIE HARD IN OUTER SPACE, DIE HARD IN THE FUTURE, DIE HARD IN A HOSTEL (oh yeah, they did that one), DIE HARD ON EBAY, DIE HARD ON A BLOG, DIE HARD IN YOUR FACE.
Whew, glad I got that off my chest and even though I did, I know there’s a lot of people out there writing those screenplays anyway… LOL.
It’s okay to think of DIE HARD when you’re coming up with a high concept idea for your next screenplay but don’t simply have your characters do the same things the characters in DIE HARD did… BORING. We’ve seen it before. I actually had a screenwriter recently give me a screenplay that he busted his ass on for the last year and as he hands it to me he says, DIE HARD ON A CRUISE SHIP.
Dude, are you fucking kidding me?
No, he wasn’t. I read it. It was brutal. I’ve never experienced a migraine headache before this but WOW. This fucking thing was KILLING ME. I finished it like the good little trooper I am and promptly set fire to it.
It was windy that particular day and because this guy also used those cheap-ass OfficeMax/Staples brads that fall apart (ACCO #5 - 1¼ inch brads PUHLEEZE! And while you’re at it, spring for the Acco Round-Head Solid Brass Washers too!), the pages were already loose but my migraine immediately went away as the wind responded and took all 126 burning pages into the air. It was a site to see…
Watching the burning pages fly away made me think of DIE HARD ON BURNING SCREENPLAY PAGES…
Pretty cool.
Taking the EASY way out…
Yeah, you heard me… Why do you set up such an elaborate and amazing plot only to simply end it with somebody getting shot?
Please SHOOT ME INSTEAD!
Or how about this? No ending at all! Yeah, they’re out there… Screenplays that do not end. Are you hoping for that sequel by not ending your story? Well, I’m hear to tell ya… You gotta have the first movie made before you can have a sequel… LOL.
Cheating the page count…
Hey, I understand. Screenwriting is hard work. Way too fucking hard to get EVERYTHING in at 110 pages and shit, I have this handy-dandy screenwriting program that allows me to literally FUCK with every aspect of the format i.e., margins, space between each line… Whatever. I paid over $200 for this fucking program so I might as well cheat the format with it. LOL.
Go ahead.
If you don’t think we can spot that from a mile a way, you are sadly mistaken but having said that… If you’re going to use that utility, only cheat everything by a HAIRLINE! At least start out with a hairline measurement and see where that takes you but I can’t tell you how many screenplays are way too tight and when you actually read them, YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE WHY THEY CHEATED.
My personal method of cheating is as follows…
Start your screenplay with 2 spaces below the Slug line before you start your description/action lines… Write the entire screenplay with this measurement. If you finish at 110 pages, OUTFUCKINGSTANDING! If you run a little long, change those 2 empty spaces to 1 and see where you’re at.
Works every time.
Rant over.
Unk
Common Screenwriting Mistakes… Part 3
Format…
Remember, we’re talking spec script here… Not a shooting script. No need to include things in your scene heading like, CONTINUOUS, DUSK, MOMENTS LATER, DAWN, etc. Just use DAY or NIGHT and, while it’s acceptable to insert DAY or NIGHT after every slug line, nowdays, you only need insert it in a new slug line when it actually changes from day to night or from night to day.
Readers are smart enough to know that it’s still day or night until they see a new slug line that tells them different.
CONTINUED…
No need to use this utility in your screenwriting program. It just wastes space and we know when we finish reading a page that unless it’s the end of the script, we are continuing with the story…
CUT TO:
No need for this… Just use a new slug line to indicate a new location. If you want to show some passage of time you can use DISSOLVE TO: — FADE TO BLACK — FADE OUT — or something similar only when necessary and we won’t get it any other way…
Camera direction…
You’re trying to sell a script, not direct on paper. Get rid of it.
UPPER CASE or CAPITALIZATION…
Capitalize all sounds. Capitalize all props important to the story. Capitalize any character’s name when first introducing them but after doing so, just capitalize the first letter of their first name and the first letter of their last name IF you must use their last name when bringing them back in the story.
*NOTE: There is a movement toward NOT capitalizing props and sounds so whatever you do, be consistent throughout your screenplay.
Orphans and Widows…
Never end a page with a slug line and no action line underneath. If you’re at the bottom of a page, either skip to the next page or extend the page but don’t orphan or widow the slug line.
*NOTE: Most screenwriting programs have a utility to keep this from happening… Just check your configuration.
Character cues…
Same here. Never show a character’s name without some dialogue underneath.
Secondary slugs…
Sometimes called minor slugs… Always start a slug line with the master location and then, as you move within that location, use a secondary slug to let us know where your characters are. You can also use these secondary slugs to call attention to specific things instead of trying to use camera angles in your scene description…
For example…
EXT. COURTYARD - DAY
John stomps through the garden, reaches for the gate…
GATE
he kicks it open and off the hinges.
OR
EXT. COURTYARD - DAY
John stomps through the garden, moving closer to the gate…
HIS FOOT
kicks it open and off the hinges.
No need for an entirely new master slug line…
Page numbers…
Same font as the rest of the screenplay. Upper right hand corner. Use ‘em.
*NOTE: Again, most screenwriting programs do this automatically but you’d be surprised at how many people forget to number their pages… BIG NO-NO!
Which brings me to the FONT you should use. A lot of people say to use Courier New. Sure, go ahead and use it but it’s certainly not the only font you can use…
I personally like the older style ‘g’ so I use a font called VTScreenplayOliverB. I also use Courier Final Draft because it’s darker than Courier New. You can also tweak the darkness of your font within some screenwriting programs…
No matter what you use, it should be similar to Courier New in its look and proportion but contrary to popular belief, you do not always have to use Courier New. By the same token, you should never use a font that does not look like some kind of typewriter font. And, if you’re going to use a font that looks like a typewriter font, make sure it’s a proportional font i.e., all the letters are evenly spaced apart.
Page count…
Everybody in the business seems to love 110 pages. I know I DO! However, it’s still okay to go as high as 120 but boy that screenplay had better be outstanding! First thing everybody does is flip to the end of a script to see how many pages… Anything more than 110 gets lower on the reading priority list… LOL. By the same token, any script under 90 pages gets the immediate “NOT ENOUGH STORY” scrutiny.
Overall story…
You’ve got to put your character through obstacles, complications, twists, and reversals. These are the foundation of SHIT MOUNTAIN. Your Protagonist has to climb Shit Mountain to get to where he or she’s going… The higher he or she climbs, the shittier it gets and the harder it is to reach the top.
Consistent emotion with consistent action…
Your characters should never simply start crying or get angry unless the situation in your story calls for it. Match emotions with the situation.
Predictability…
Will I read your screenplay and know what’s going to happen next? Will I keep reading and keep being able to predict what happens next? Not good.
Hook me in 10 pages or less…
If you don’t, why do I want to read on?
Set-ups and pay-offs…
Are you using them? Are you setting something up and then failing to pay off? By the same token, are you not using this trick of the trade? If not, you should be…
Structure…
Hero’s Journey. 3 Act Structure. 4 Act Structure. 5 Act Structure. 9 Act Structure. Find one you like… Learn it and use it.
Questions and answers within the plot…
Are you raising questions and eventually answering them? Doing this is plot continuity. Do it.
Protagonist’s motivation to achieve goal…
Is it clear? Did you lock your protagonist into achieving his or her goal or can they simply run back home at any time throughout the story?
Rooting for your Protagonist…
Do we want your Protagonist to succeed? Did you make him or her sympathetic? Do we even like him or her? Do we feel for him or her? Think about it. Give your Protagonist some UNDESERVED MISFORTUNE so we feel for him or her.
Do you know the difference between ‘its’ and ‘it’s’ ??? You should… You’re a writer.
Unk
Common Screenwriting Mistakes… Part 2
Action Lines…
Avoid internal thought whenever possible. We can’t see this happening. We do not want to create a ‘dejected look’ in our minds for your character. Reveal this change of emotion through an actual action and dialogue.
The general rule is… If you can’t actually shoot it, LEAVE IT OUT. If you feel that there’s something internal we absolutely must know, you need to figure out a way to present it to us visually, through dialogue, or both.
Keep direction of your characters to an absolute minimum. There’s no need to tell us every facial gesture, body movement, etc… Leave something for the actors to do!
If you’ve already got it in the scene heading, no need to repeat it in an action line.
Stay away from all the ‘we see’ and ‘we hear’ description (in your SPEC). Just describe it as it is.
Ever heard of SPELL CHECK? You’d be surprised at how many people forget they even have it. You’d also be surprised at how many readers be they producers, directors, actors, agents, and actual readers consider this a pet peeve of theirs. Would a house painter leave the trim unpainted? Would a mechanic leave out the sparkplugs after he does a tune-up on your car? Using spell check will catch the majority of your misspellings but even then, there are always those typos that you have to find by actually reading through. One of my own problems is using “know” when I should have used “no.” I usually find at least 2 of these in my first drafts but I can only find them by reading through the entire screenplay.
Passive voice vs. Active voice. Passive voice is WEAK. Active voice is STRONG. Enough said.
Verbs. Does your character walk, run, jump, open, and close when he or she could dart, speed, leap, burst, and slam? Choose the appropriate verb for the appropriate action.
Action paragraphs. Try to keep them down to 3 or 4 lines instead of going on and on and on. Readers love white space… In fact, almost every professional I know will flip through a script to see how much white space is there. They know the more white space, the faster the read and hopefully, an enjoyable read.
Character consistency… Be sure to let us know what characters are in a location when you write that passage… Don’t just pop a character in there that we didn’t know was there to begin with unless you give them some kind of entrance… Too confusing and bogs down the reading.
Flashbacks…
If you absolutely must use them, learn how to properly format them. BEGIN FLASHBACK, then a blank line… Describe the flashback with as few action lines as possible and then another blank line and end the flashback with END FLASHBACK. Then ONLY use a flashback when it is absolutely important and critical to the story… Generally, if there’s a different way to reveal the same information, it is better to do so.
Clichés…
I know we all think in clichés but wow… They really bog down the reading of a screenplay. Make your characters real by creating backstory on them. Don’t simply copy what you’ve seen in the movies already. We want authentic characters not the same characters we saw in some other movie. They were fine for that other movie… Not in yours. Same goes for cliché locations, descriptions, and dialogue. Be different. Be ORIGINAL. Create the new cliché that everybody else ends up copying!
Which brings me back to distinctness… Make every character distinctly different from all the other characters in your screenplay.
Conflict…
Do you get along with everybody? Sure, we all try but let’s face it… We don’t. So why does everyone get along in your screenplay? Create conflict whenever possible. That’s what we want to see. We don’t go to the movies to see our own daily lives… We want to live vicariously through the characters you’ve created for us so take us on a wild ride!
Contrast…
Contrast your characters… Make them obviously different from one another. We’ll immediately see it and you’ll hook us into the story just a bit more…
Get a life…
Do you have a life? Do your friends? Your associates? Then be nice and give your character a life too! LOL. Seriously, a lot of characters in screenplays I read seem like they have no life other than what they’ve created in their own minds. Boring. Show us how they interact with people. Show us how they work, where they work, who they work with… Do they have a hobby? Do they do something other than talk? Show us. I was recently DRAGGED to FAILURE TO LAUNCH. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie… Lots of conflict and the main character had quite a full life. Scenes took place on a yacht, rock climbing, surfing, etc… The characters had lives!
Know your character…
It’s not enough to know when your characters were born… What their current job is. How well do you know your friends and family? You should know your characters AT LEAST as well as you know your friends and family. Probably BETTER. Just like you would probably know your brother’s reaction to something, so should you know your character’s reaction to the same thing. Create backstory on them with complete details since they were born. You may never actually use any of this information in your screenplay but you’ll go a long way towards KNOWING your characters and making them authentic. Know them as well as you know anyone and we will see an authentic character that doesn’t bore us.
Change…
Make your characters change by the end of your story… This is usually called your character’s ARC. There’s a lot of people who say they DESPISE the character arc of a movie character. There’s a lot of bloggers who are very fast to point out all the movies in history where the character had no character arc… Good for them but we’re trying to write and sell spec screenplays…
The easiest way to show change in a character is to go in the completely opposite direction from where the character originates… Think transformation. If your character is sad, make him happy. If she’s dishonest, make her honest. Opposites are fairly easy to develop so work it in. There are of course other types of internal change… Just remember that we’re talking about some kind of internal growth or change however subtle. It doesn’t have to be opposite. Just make sure your character changes… If you’re writing a tragedy, this is a little more difficult but generally speaking you can still work by going in the opposite direction… Start out happy, end in sadness.
Unk