by Trevor Mayes | Dec 23, 2009 | Style |
What’s a slug line? It’s another way of saying “shot heading” or “scene heading.” What’s a naked slug line? A naked slug line is a scene heading that has no direction below it — only dialogue. It’s considered bad...
by Trevor Mayes | Dec 20, 2009 | Movie Reviews, Script vs. Movie |
This is the first in what may become a series of articles where I’ll take a look at an early version of a script and compare it to the resulting movie. SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! This article discusses everything from plot twists to the ending...
by Trevor Mayes | Dec 18, 2009 | Dialogue |
Preamble In a previous post, I discussed some of the concepts and examples behind the expression, “Show don’t tell.” A picture says a thousand words — imagine how many words motion-pictures say. That’s why it’s a well-regarded rule...
by Trevor Mayes | Dec 17, 2009 | General |
Jeffrey Hirschberg has written a great article discussing the 11 laws he believes are critical to your script’s success. While it is impossible to have a foolproof formula, I have learned certain principles dramatically increase the probability of your story...
by Trevor Mayes | Dec 17, 2009 | Dialogue, Formatting |
Time for a pop quiz about using numbers in your dialogue. Part 1 – Regular Numbers Is the following usage correct? MARK TWAIN I can live for 2 months on a good compliment. It’s actually incorrect. Numbers should always be spelled out, as follows: MARK...
