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THE 21 COMMANDMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE

SCREENWRITING

1. If the story doesn't work, then the script won't work. If at any given time,
your reader is not wondering, "What's going to happen next?"--you've got a
problem.

2. Author Julia Cameron says, "The singular image is what haunts us and
becomes art." Think about that! At last "a place" to put all of your little insights,
moments of truth, fascinations and unique experiences that previously lacked
a "file." If you access that "file" while preparing your script and use these hot
little tidbits as springboards for scenes, your script is going to be buzzing with
honesty and life. This is what audiences crave.

3. There is no such thing as a throwaway or a transitional scene. Scenes


should not only add value to the overall story but should also have intrinsic
entertainment value as well.

4. Writing a script is relatively easy. The real work is in preparing, building and
"arc-ing" out the story and defining the characters. Once the "blueprint" is in
place, the writing itself is usually a welcome enterprise. Many writers have
trouble being patient enough with this process and it can cost them dearly in
the long run.

5. There are many "techniques" for creating and developing characters some
of which are effective. However, the single most important thing you can do is
to have a strong emotional connection with your character. Intellectual
platitudes and techniques are OK, but audiences want characters who are
alive. Find your most visceral emotional connections. Don't settle on a
character until you do.

6. Remember those POW movies where the prisoners tried to escape by


digging a secret tunnel? Then they'd get rid of the dirt by putting it into the
cuffs of their pants and spread it around the camp? That's how exposition (ie:
info that the audience needs to be told) should be handled. Hide it. Spread it
around. Keep it as invisible as you can and always try to convert it into
ammunition (ie: action).

7. Subtext is the name of the game. Potential lovers nervously conversing


about train schedules (when you know their real underlying "conversation" is
about their aching desire for each other), is usually more compelling and
effective than the same twosome spilling every thought in their head. In
Casablanca the entire relationship between Rick and Renault was completely
subtextual. (Rent the classic and see what I mean).

8. When it comes to dialogue, less is better. Pick up the most successful


screenplays and you'll notice great economies when it comes to words.
9. "Who is your hero? What is his/her goal? Who or what is preventing
her/him from reaching that goal?" (Intense pressure on your hero in an
atmosphere of conflict will help keep your story mobile and entertaining).

10. If you have to stretch reality, do it judiciously and surround it with a


bedrock of credibility and truth in other issues.

11. "Layer" your scenes. One of the most effective strategies writers use (like,
for example, Quentin Tarantino) is to add extra juicy tidbits and mini-subplots
within scenes, while the main story continues to unravel.

12. Make room for surprises. Audiences love them.

13. Surrender to this fact: writing is rewriting.

14. The moment you throw something in that doesn't belong in your story,
solely for the sake of appealing to some imagined reader who you think wants
a bit more sex or sentimentality--at that moment, your story dies a little and
becomes a little more of a lie.

15. Don't start with a mystery and end with the hero finding great love. End by
solving the mystery.

16. EXPERIMENT: take a couple of pages out of your script. Are your
characters distinctive enough that, if you REMOVED THEIR NAMES from the
pages, you could tell who they are JUST FROM the dialogue? If not, you need
to do more work.

17. Don't mix forms to "cover" all bases. If you're going to do a movie where
people throw pies, then let them throw pies. Save your Oscar winning love
scene for another script.

18. Rule of thumb: get into scenes as late as you can and get out early.
Forget about the "glad to meet you's" and the "what would you like for
dinner's." "How can I start a scene as close to the end as possible?"

19. Before writing anything, you should be able to tell someone the story (and
have it worked out so smoothly) that it's practically ready to write itself.

20. If, in the course of a screenplay Tom Dick and Harry need to be provided
with the same info, tell Tom and when we get to Dick and Harry, let's assume
that they've been told off camera.

21. Have another (nice) way of making a living while you're trying to make it
as a writer. This will give you space to grow and create without going nuts.
Waiting by the telephone is a prescription for despair.

Copyrighted 1999

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