COMMON SCREENWRITING MISTAKES THAT RUIN YOUR SCREENPLAY
In each of the examples cited below, the professional reader records these as mistakes and pulls the reader out of the script.
It’s the last thing you want.
WE SEE, WE HEAR, WE FOLLOW, WE ANYTHING…all redundant. It’s a given that anything on the page is heard and seen. It’s the definition of REDUNDANT.
CUT TO: Unneeded. Old school. Skip an extra line between scenes and that will make it easier to read.
CLOSE UP, WIDE SHOT, MATCH CUT…any calling of shots is verboten. The last thing anyone cares about is how the writer, the lowly writer, would shoot this script. There is an exception, when, to make a story point that is absolutely necessary you can call the shot. Call me first.
WRITE THE TOUGH SCENES. Too often, I think out of fear, screenwriters fail to write the money scene. They don’t realize it but they’ve cut the scene off prematurely. Check your screenplay to see if you do that.
EVERY SLUG LINE NEEDS A SCENE DESCRIPTION UNDER IT. The reason is when the script is broken down for production, on the production board the scene is always described so Production knows the contents.
ETC, AND SO ON. It’s your job to fill in the blanks, not the reader.
ALL PRODUCTS ARE CAPITALIZED. Coke, Corvette, The Wall Street Journal.
MONTAGES distance the reader from the material. They work great on film, not so much in screenplays.
WHEN THE SAME CHARACTER HAS CONSECTUTIVE DIALOGUE BOXES, THE SECOND NEEDS A (CONT’D)
WEIGHT YOUR WRITING. Write important parts with more detail than the unimportant parts so the reader can sense which is the most important.
EVERY SLUG LINE NEEDS A TIME REFERENCE (DAY, NIGHT, DUSK, MORNING)
EVERYTHING WE READ ON SCREEN (NEWSPAPER HEADLINES, NAMES ON DOORS, NOTES, LETTERS, EMAILS) NEED TO BE UNDERLINED.
HE RUNS LIKE AN ELEPHANT. SHE SWIMS LIKE A SHARK. Similes and metaphors don’t work in screenplays as they conjure up images in the mind of the reader that are not on the screen.
EVERY QUESTION NEEDS A QUESTION MARK.
