by Trevor Mayes | Aug 24, 2010 | Plot, Quick Screenwriting Tips, Writing
Avoid a deus ex machina ending to your story. What is deus ex machina? According to Wikipedia: A deus ex machina (Latin for “god out of the machine”) is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the...
by Trevor Mayes | May 8, 2010 | Characters, Pre-writing, Quick Screenwriting Tips
Don’t get hung up on writing character backstories. What’s important is knowing how your character will react to situations right now. We all react differently to trauma and events. For example, someone who grows up in an abusive household may become an...
by Trevor Mayes | Apr 28, 2010 | Dialogue, Formatting, Quick Screenwriting Tips
If a parenthetical provides obvious information, it should be removed. Example of UNNECESSARY parenthetical usage — (angrily): JAKE (angrily) I’m going to kill ALL of you! We know Jake is angry because of what he says and how he says it. The parenthetical...
by Trevor Mayes | Apr 26, 2010 | Quick Screenwriting Tips
When proofing the final draft of your script, don’t forget to do a homonym pass. While we’re blazing through our first draft, it’s easy to inadvertently mix up words or contractions that sound the same in our heads. We need to weed-out any of these...
by Trevor Mayes | Apr 23, 2010 | Quick Screenwriting Tips
Make sure you only have one blank line after FADE IN: If you’ve set up your screenwriting software to use two blank lines above your scene headers (triple spacing), you need to ensure that there is only one blank line (double spacing) after FADE IN: Failure to...
by Trevor Mayes | Apr 15, 2010 | Formatting, Quick Screenwriting Tips
Any time you have dialogue that spells out a word, acronym, or initials, there are a couple of rules to follow. 1) Make sure letters are capitalized. INCORRECT Usage: SLACKER Dude, you know what sucks? I have to get up tomorrow at nine a.m. CORRECT Usage: SLACKER...
