Screenwriting : Against the Rules. by Sean Chipman

Sean Chipman

Against the Rules.

Is there anything that you should never do in a screenplay? Keep this in mind, I'm talking about absolutes, not personal preferences and not just "the rules", but anything, characters, dialogue, prose, etc. Let's make a list of things that you would honestly put a script down over, regardless of content. 1. Size 72 font.

Jay Pulk

I'm not sure if there are any absolutes, but there's only one thing that's ever prompted me to drop a script in the trash - written camera direction, along with a description of how each actor moved and emoted during each scene.

Sean Chipman

So, limits the parentheticals and things of that nature?

Amos Richardson

Three things I require of myself when writing are 1)conflict, 2)doubt, 3)growth. I would never write a script without those.

D Marcus

You should never write boring. My list of things that I would honestly put a script down over begins and ends with boring.

CJ Walley

For me it's writer angst, when the characters start working as mouth pieces for the writers views on the industry, more often than not ranting about remakes that suck. I'm out at that point.

Sean Chipman

D, what do you mean by boring? Do you mean dramas and things like that or moments in the script where nothing is actually happening? Boring, like most things, is subjective, so I'm curious about your opinion on specifics. CJ, that's a good one I hadn't thought of. Literally, when you can feel the writer is almost preaching to you. I get the same way with prose where the writer talks to me, but I'm definitely in agreement on that one.

Laurie Ashbourne

As a reader, typos and exclamations points make me nuts and where there's the former you can almost always count on an excess of the later. When every line of dialogue and bit of action ends in an exclamation point they lose their value to emphasize anything.

D Marcus

No, I do not mean dramas and things like that. Well written dramas can be moving and exciting, "The Shawshank Redemption ", "The Godfather", "12 Angry Men", "Mystic River", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Grapes of Wrath". But I do mean scripts where nothing is actually happening.

Sean Chipman

Laurie, I agree wholeheartedly about bad grammar. It's worse now because even internet browsers have spell and grammar checks built in, so there's really no reason to get things like that wrong. Okay, D, so scripts that are static, not genres as a whole. I'm sure most readers will agree with that.

Jean-Pierre Chapoteau

@ CJ, I hate that too. I'm like, we get it... " A tears runs down the cheek" Oh my gosh if I hear that one more time...

Monique Mata

Here are 2 absolutes: DON'T confuse the reader. DON'T bore the reader :)

Sean Chipman

Do two wrongs make a right? If you bore and confuse the reader, will you have a success on your hands?

Monique Mata

Are we talking "rules" or how to write a successful script? In this case, two wrongs DO make a right. I don't know about you but I don't like being bored and I don't like being confused.

Marvin Willson

Avoid large over-elaboration and large paragraphs of action. The reading speed of your screenplay should reflect the on-screen pacing of your story,

Alex Sarris

The better you get, the more you can do what you like. Many rules don't apply to the Pro's.

CJ Walley

The rules don't apply to anybody.

Jean-Pierre Chapoteau

lol you guys are hilarious. I'm agreeing with all of this and at the same time breaking most of them as I write. Haha.

Ralph Shorter

Can you cast my daughter?

Jessie Bernard

One thing I was told recently to NEVER do (which I thought was interesting because I do it all the time) is to never say "WE" in action. So "Through the glass we see Bob sitting in the conference room." would be wrong and only reserved for writing legends, supposedly.

Sarah Walker

I always find that too much dialogue makes me want to put a script down. I once proofread a script that regularly had 2-3 pages of dialogue (no action). Even though I loved the idea of the story, I was bored out of my mind after the first 10 pages.

Marvin Willson

Another thing - Over use of names. "Hi, Mister Jones?" "Hello Mister Smith. How are you?" "I'm well, Mister Jones" ARRRGH!!!!

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