Saturday, May 03, 2003
Lesson 13: Perform Time and Motion Studies
This is a writing 202 exercise.
Take an existing piece of your screenplay where there is some action and some dialogue going on. Let's say your two lead characters, Romeo and Juliet, are checking out library books while they argue about whether they should tell their respective families that they are dating. And there's no line at the library. Unless we have a snappy librarian, or a breakdown in the computer system, or a terrorist at the library, this is not a long discussion, and your dialogue should reflect it.
Does the discussion you've written track, time-wise, to the action you've described? Have you written 10 minutes of dialogue with only ONE minute of action to match it?
Granted, you say, the director will change things, add things, subtract things. But it is the duty of a good screenwriter to learn about How Long Things Actually Take. One of the easiest ways to do this is to sample different parts of your screenplay, and actually read the dialogue aloud AND perform the actions you have commanded your characters to perform. If dialogue and action are really out of sync, your screenplay isn't finished yet.
Knowledge is power, even if you don't use it. Are your characters, say, experienced steelworkers? Spend some time in the mill. Not only will this give you confidence, it will give you ideas, story points, little bits of truth that will make your finished screenplay all the more juicy.
Special thanks to Scott Zachek for this tip.
This is a writing 202 exercise.
Take an existing piece of your screenplay where there is some action and some dialogue going on. Let's say your two lead characters, Romeo and Juliet, are checking out library books while they argue about whether they should tell their respective families that they are dating. And there's no line at the library. Unless we have a snappy librarian, or a breakdown in the computer system, or a terrorist at the library, this is not a long discussion, and your dialogue should reflect it.
Does the discussion you've written track, time-wise, to the action you've described? Have you written 10 minutes of dialogue with only ONE minute of action to match it?
Granted, you say, the director will change things, add things, subtract things. But it is the duty of a good screenwriter to learn about How Long Things Actually Take. One of the easiest ways to do this is to sample different parts of your screenplay, and actually read the dialogue aloud AND perform the actions you have commanded your characters to perform. If dialogue and action are really out of sync, your screenplay isn't finished yet.
Knowledge is power, even if you don't use it. Are your characters, say, experienced steelworkers? Spend some time in the mill. Not only will this give you confidence, it will give you ideas, story points, little bits of truth that will make your finished screenplay all the more juicy.
Special thanks to Scott Zachek for this tip.
