'How To Make Your Screenplay Awesome!'

           1.    A clear setting.

When and where does the story take place? Lock that in your very first slugline.

For example:

‘INT. CAFETERIA, SOUTH ESSEX COLLEGE – AFTERNOON.’

2.    Describe that setting.

When people read your script, they probably wont know the environment you’re talking about. Describe it in a couple of short, sharp sentences.

For example:

‘INT. CAFETERIA, SOUTH ESSEX COLLEGE – DAY.

Bustling, busy, full of fashionably dressed teenagers. Chrome and glass surfaces, gossip fills the air as students talk and eat.’

3.    Introducing characters.

Throw in a couple of vivid details to make the reader picture the character in their head.

For example:

‘Kayla Frost, 19 – Stick-thin, looks like she might snap at any moment. Her Levi’s might be faded, but her eyes burn fiercely from under a gothic mop of hair.’

4.    Naming your characters.

Make sure each character’s name is different, and looks different when written down.

Give each character a surname, too. If they’ve only got a first name it comes across as an incomplete identity.

5.    Conflict, conflict, conflict.

Not only should your screenplay be based on a wider conflict of some kind, but each character should also have internal conflicts that they are dealing with.

Doubts, insecurities, unfinished business. None of us glide through life without stuff boiling away inside, and your characters shouldn’t either.

6.    She’s filled with secrets.

Giving your characters secrets, whether big or small, enables you to pick away layers and keeps your viewer interested along the way.

7.    Keep it consistent.

Make sure that you keep your characters consistent in both background and behaviour.

For example:

If Dave is an ex-con with a violent past, make sure that he acts that way when confronted by trouble.

8.    Dialogue stuff: sentences.

People don’t speak in complete sentences, nor do people all speak alike. You need to let your characters dictate where the punctuation goes. Gaps, pauses, unfinished sentences are more realistic.

Try recording people speaking and listening to it back.

9.    Stay away from the nose!

The phrase ‘on the nose’ refers to dialogue that states too clearly what a character is thinking, without filtering it through their personality and agenda.

For example:

If Dave tells his closest friend ‘I want to be a policeman,’ the chances are that this won’t play as well as having the application forms fall out of his gym bag might do.

10. Keep it unpredictable.

When Princess Leia tells Han Solo ‘I love you’ in The Empire Strikes Back, the scene is most memorable for his response of;

‘I know.’

You want dialogue to flow, but you need to rethink predictable exchanges. Throw away the first response you think of. Throw away the second one too. Maybe use the third.

11. Keep it varied.

Does a character even need to respond verbally to a statement? If someone says ‘goodbye’ to them, do they need to speak in return? Couldn’t they wink instead?

Once again, predictability is your enemy.

12. First line.

The first line that your character speaks should sum up an aspect of their personality. Your characters only get one chance to make a first impression, so make sure that it packs a punch.

For example:

If you’re introducing a party animal like Stifler from the American Pie series, his first line wouldn’t be something mundane about being late for an appointment.

13. Language = life.

Make sure your character’s dialogue reflects their life experiences.

For example:

A 70 year-old English professor won’t speak the same way as a 25 year-old football player, and a character born in 1960 will speak differently to one born in 1990.

Make their dialogue reflect this!

14. Double hyphen.

Has one character stepped on another’s line, cutting them off before they finish speaking?

The traditional way to show this in a scrip is with a double hyphen.

For example:

                                    WIFE

You know, I never told you—

                                    HUSBAND

I don’t want to hear it!

15. Fresh slang.

Why not make up your own slang? Using the latest words, phrases and cultural references will date your script extremely quickly.

Writers like Joss Whedon make up their own phrases and drop those into the script (For example: ‘What’s the sitch?’ meaning ‘What’s the situation/What’s going on?’ originated in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.)

An audience won’t know the difference between a slang phrase you’ve made up and one they’ve never heard before, but they’ll certainly notice a dated turn of phrase. You dig, man?

16. Mix dialogue and action.

In life, stuff happens all at once. People don’t stop talking because a bus is about to explode; the bus explodes whilst they’re in mid-sentence.

Don’t be afraid to have action and dialogue crash into each other, because things in real life don’t happen in a neat order.

17. Don’t tell me what I’ve seen!

If Debbie’s head just exploded, the viewer doesn’t need James to tell them;

‘My God, Debbie’s head just exploded!’

They’ve already noticed. Eliminate dialogue that narrates the action.

18. No place for closed questions.

If you’ve got a question that leads to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response in your dialogue, get rid of it. They stop the dialogue dead, and the audience can anticipate the response.

Replace them with open questions to let your characters’ personalities shine through.

19. Misunderstandings.

Characters should misunderstand and misinterpret at each other, just as people do in real life.

It gives you great opportunities for conflict and comedy, plus it makes the dialogue seem more authentic when read through.

20. Style stuff: present tense.

Always keep your action descriptions in the present tense.

For example:

‘Gaby chases Fred into the ice-cream shop.’

Not:

‘Gaby has chased Fred into the ice-cream shop.’

You need to have the action unfold in the present as it unfolds on the page.

21. What not to include.

The action descriptions in your screenplay should not include anything that can’t be shown visually, such as:

-Thoughts.

-Hopes.

-A back story.

If you want to include these things, you need to show them through events or dialogue.

22. Keep it clear.

‘The father of the bride, who runs a pizza restaurant’ is ambiguous. Who sells the pizzas? The father or the bride?

Compare it to; ‘The bride, whose father runs a pizza restaurant.’

Keep it clear - the less ambiguity, the better.

23. ‘OH MY GOD.’

Using ALL CAPITALS in your action descriptions signifies something important. It’s a way of making the important elements pop when someone reads the script.

For example:

‘The whole building EXPLODES.’

Don’t get carried away and end up with half of your action description in caps, however. Use it sparingly.

24. Keep it punchy.

Break long sentences and keep your descriptions as vivid as you can.

Is Jennie trying to keep her breathing under control as she walks across a tightrope? Sometimes fewer words work better.

For example:

Inhale. Exhale. Jennie steps out.

25. Write it first, then edit.

The script won’t be as punchy, exciting and engaging as possible on the first draft.

Your mission on the first draft is just to get the thing written.

Second, third, fourth and fifth drafts are the opportunity to make your screenplay everything it can possibly be.