by Trevor Mayes | Feb 19, 2019 | Dialogue, Modern Craft, Parentheticals, Writing |
(beat) it Sometimes you need your actors to pause in your script. One of the common ways to convey this action… or rather, inaction, is to use the word “beat.” Here are three ways that people typically misuse BEAT: 3. At the beginning of a dialogue...
by Trevor Mayes | Feb 11, 2019 | Acronyms & Abbreviations, Dialogue, Words, Writing |
Screenwriting is Weird There are tons of “rules” in screenwriting that take a long time to figure out. Many of these so-called rules are shibboleths or leftovers from a bygone era that are handy at weeding out the amateurs from the pros. However, most of...
by Trevor Mayes | Jul 8, 2018 | Style, Writing |
When do you start a new paragraph? One thing that tends to confound new screenwriters is the issue of paragraphs. Some scripts have longer paragraphs. Other scripts have shorter ones — some as short as one word. So how do you decide it’s time to start a...
by Trevor Mayes | Jun 13, 2018 | Modern Craft, Style, Writing |
Efficiency Screenwriting is all about efficiency. Maximum impact with the minimum number of words. So one of my biggest pet peeves is when I see the following in scripts: She shakes her head no. There are two big things wrong with that action line: Why is the word...
by Trevor Mayes | Dec 20, 2017 | Style, Words, Writing |
Dude, aren’t all verbs active? Good question, smartass! The truth is, there are passive and active forms of verbs. The active form (without the “ing”) is almost always the best one to use. For example, I often see a variation of the following...
by Trevor Mayes | Jan 22, 2017 | Writing |
When do you capitalize god, mom and dad? Based on the frequency with which I encounter these capitalization mistakes while proofreading scripts, there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding this question. Luckily, there’s a really easy trick to...
