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Superman, I defy you! I'm a big fan of David Trottier, AKA "Dr. Format" and his books, "The Screenwriter's Bible" and "Dr. Format Tells All." I'm also really impressed by Christopher Riley's book, "The Hollywood Standard." Between the two of these legends of...
Remembering Blake Snyder: Ten Years Later
Blake Snyder: October 3, 1957 - August 4, 2009 Ten years ago today, the world lost an amazing soul. At just 51 years of age, Blake Snyder -- author, screenwriter, educator and all-round helluva guy -- died unexpectedly and left everyone who knew him reeling. I first...
Quick Tip: No Colons After Scene Headings
CUCKOO FOR COLONS I'm seeing things like this a lot lately: MONTAGE: -- Gail washes dishes. -- Gail does laundry. -- Gail collapses on her bed. Why is there a colon after MONTAGE? NEVER put a colon after a scene heading like MONTAGE or SEQUENCE OF SHOTS or a secondary...
Should You Specify A Character’s Race?
Foot, meet hornet nest So there are a few screenwriting groups on Facebook that I belong to. In one of them, a concerned writer had posted an excerpt of a script reader's review that said, "Why does the character need to be Asian?" The writer was incensed about this...
Quick Quiz: What’s Wrong With This Scene?
Riddle me this You know those puzzles where you're shown a picture and told there are a bunch of things wrong with it? Well, this is the screenwriting version of that puzzle, and you get to play detective! In the following short scene, there are a number of problems I...
Does Anyone Really Care About Typos?
Riddle me this You know those puzzles where you're shown a picture and told there are a bunch of things wrong with it? Well, this is the screenwriting version of that puzzle, and you get to play detective! In the following short scene, there are a number of problems I...
Is Your Scene Description Too Vague?
Yes, they do. Very much. For about 25% of you, this may be the most important article you'll read this week. Writers tend to break down into four types: Those who are fastidious about their writing and take great pains to make sure everything is written perfectly....
The Most Common Writing Mistake
What do we see and hear? Fundamentally, your job as a screenwriter is to convey to the reader what they should be seeing and hearing, without bogging them down with unnecessary details. Sometimes the desire for efficiency, however, causes screenwriters to become too...
Are You Using Naked Sluglines?
Direct Address When it comes to proofreading, there’s one mistake I encounter more than any other — the failure to use a comma with a direct address. What’s a direct address? A direct address occurs exclusively in dialogue when a character is speaking to someone and...
Quick Tip: Use The More Active Verb Form
What's a naked slugline? Actually, even before that -- what's a slugline? A slugline is just another word for a scene heading. A naked slugline is a scene heading that has no action line(s) after it. It just sits there, exposed... then goes straight into dialogue....
O.S. or O.C. or V.O.?
Use the more active (simple present) form of a verb Here's a way you can immediately improve the quality of your writing. Don't do this: Jeremy is sprinting down the street. Do this: Jeremy sprints down the street. Not only does using the simple present verb form...
Quick Tip: Page Breaks
What and When? For some reason, the different initials that can appear after dialogue cues trip up a lot of screenwriters. Let's have a look at what each one means and when the appropriate time is to use them. O.S. (Off Screen) O.S. is used when a character is...