Screenwriting : Creating in-depth action sequences by James Riggen

I try to keep my action to only what's necessary to tell the story.

You can write vivid/dynamic action scenes without it becoming a play-by-play account. Just a matter of choosing the right words. Overly constructed action scenes bogs down the read. Tight, concise sequences should add to the "feel" of the action - fast and furious.

Excellent feedback everyone. It makes total sense to keep action succinct and crisp. At times, it does seem counter-intuitive though as movies are all about the visual set-up/action. It's what separates movies from novels. So I end up tending to focus too much on the action. Interesting because so far the screenplays I've written have been created by adapting my own crime/thriller novels. The two mediums are very different, and I'm finding that out more and more every day. Man I love this craft!

As someone who writes a lot of action, I agree with the above. What I've learned is: 1) You can summarise far more than you think and pepper the writing with style and attitude which conveys the emotion of the action. What I like to do is find a particular music track and visualise the action taking place while listening to it. That gives me an idea of screen-time and I can then try and get in the same ballpark in terms of page-count. 2) You can cheat. While you don't want to go too far, you can break some formatting conventions to help convey action better. Check out the script for the Gone In 60 Seconds remake. It opens with one slug and then just storms into an opening car chase where mini-slugs pick out the detail. 3) You need to think of story. The more your action meshes into your story and brings out your characters, the more invested the reader is going to be in reading it. So you need beats that serve something more than just cool stuff happening. The best action has a wit to it, usually revolving around irony. 4) You need to remember who you're writing for. You are number one so you shouldn't get too apologetic if you love writing action. Your audience is a close second, if you are writing for action junkies then give them what they want. Next inline are the industry members you need to align with. Don't get to the point you are compromising just because you fear a reader doesn't like reading through action.

Wow, great feedback everyone. I'm definitely going to go back to my more in-depth action sequences and strip them down a bit. I think as much as I do love getting into the detail, I do not want to bog down the flow of the screenplay as a whole. Can't wait to get back into it!

Just like anything else: you want to use the best words so that you can use the fewest words to have the most impact. You want to focus on the story and character in an action scene and skip anything that isn't changing the course of the story or dealing with the struggle. I would suggest you read action scenes in produced scripts, Shane Black or Walter Hill or some other action writer. Here's an example of a piece of an action scene from 48 HOURS: As Luther starts to pass by... Hammond steps out suddenly... Flattens him with the car door. Luther drops, stunned. The short sentences gives you a feeling of action, and it's to the point. You want to make sure your action scenes are as exciting to read as the film will be to see.

All the great action scenes have an underlying meaning. Take the end of Avatar, everything has a purpose. I reckon it's about getting to the bottom of that.

If you write a vivid description of the action, the reader will interpret the action as happening in slow motion. Your words mimic your cinematic intentions, so brevity is key for a rip-and-roar action sequence. The sentences should cut, punch and fly.