As a screenwriter, I hope you’re always listening for great dialogue “in the wild.” You know — those brilliant lines that occur while we’re out with friends, chatting with our boss, eavesdropping on the next table at a restaurant, or even watching reality television.
They could be witty comebacks, terrible insults, bad pick-up lines, bizarre life philosophies, unintentionally stupid arguments, etc. Anything that stands out as prospective dialogue gold.
When you hear such a line, make sure you jot it down right away. You never know when you’ll be able to use it, or a modified version of it, to perfectly punctuate a scene.
Defending Your Buddy
I overheard today’s dialogue in the wild at Dave and Buster’s last weekend. A female server was arguing with a drunk customer. She was trying to cut him off, worried that he was going to be driving home.
That’s when the drunk guy’s buddy (who was also drunk) piped up with the following horrifying justification to keep drinking:
It’s okay, he’s a really good driver. He drives a school bus.
Yipes.
Do you keep a journal or document with great lines you’ve overheard?
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“A big no-no is to spend your time and creative energy writing the same project in more than one medium. I’ve seen people write the same story in different mediums thinking that they will then have a better chance at a sale. It is much better to write each story idea in one format that you really love. When you do so you will write with more quality and it will show in your piece. You must always be moving forward to your next beloved project. I knew a successful writer who became too attached to one idea. He wrote his ‘story’ as a screenplay and a novel and when they didn’t sell, he also wrote it as a play. All of these efforts took their toll in time, thought, energy, and work. It was an enormous waste of all of that and it ended his career.
“A weak character cannot carry the burden of protracted conflict in a play. He cannot support a play. We are forced, then, to discard such a character as a protagonist. There is no sport if there is no competition; there is no play if there is no conflict. Without counterpoint there is no harmony. The dramatist needs not only characters who are willing to put up a fight for their convictions. He needs characters who have the strength, the stamina, to carry this fight to its logical conclusion.