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7 WAYS WRITING A SCREENPLAY IS DIFFERENT THAN WRITING

A NOVEL

Categories:Brian Klems' The Writer's DigTags:Brian Klems,online editor blog.

November 27, 2012 |Guest Column|Comments: 0

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Its happened to the best of us. We walk out of a movie theater thinking I could have writtensomething better than that!.Or we see a story in a newspaper and think that would make agreat movie!. However the thought pops into your mind, as a writer, every now and again, a

little visual voice in the back of our heads say Hey! Hollywood! Have I got a movie for you!
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2/13

So, for all you writers out there who have even a passing interest in writing a screenplay, thisarticle is the A to Z guide to helping you turn your usual beautiful prose into a great script for afilm:

***********************************************************************************************************************

Guest column byMichael Ferris. A former

Hollywood Lit Manager, Michael startedScriptAWish.comas a way to help other writers gettheir foot in the door and has helped several writers sell their scripts (like Travis Beacham ofPACIFIC RIM) and set up projects with producers like Academy Award Winner ArnoldKopelson. His new Studio Networking and Screenwriting Conference(StudioNetworkingConference.com)is a weekend event geared towards helping writerslearnhow to writescreenplays and get direct access to producers, agents, managers, and

other professional writers.

***********************************************************************************************************************

1. FORMATWhen I was a kid, my uncle showed me the script for Casablanca. Even though I was an avidreader, I thought I was looking at a foreign document. It was unlike anything Id ever seenbefore, and it made absolutely no sense to me. Over time, as I read more and morescreenplays, I began to understand the ebb and flow, the rhyme and reason.

As authors, most of the rules were taught go out the window when writing a script. Do this,dont do that, definitelydont do THAT all of that goes out the window. It can get confusing.So, allow me to assuage your anxiety. Lets get into the nitty gritty details:

Every paragraph of action lines should be 3 lines or less.

No Tom Clancys allowed! Entire scripts, as a rule, are like poems. As such, you use the leastamount of words possible, and dont spend any time describing action or setting than weneed to move the story forward. Every now and again, you can describe something that helpsto round out a character, but keep it brief and rare.

Character backstory and motivations will come to be understood through their actions anddialogue, as opposed to in the prose of the description.

As well, remember to keep everything in present tense. This keeps things moving which isreally the only name of the game.

The best screenwriters keep their action description at two lines per paragraph throughoutmost of the script, while still describing a heck of a lot.
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3/13

Write Visually!

Remember, you should only describe the things we can actually SEE or HEAR onscreen.Anything else is superfluous, and in the interest of using as few words as possible, itsencouraged for you to use short sentences with terse description. Its encouraged for you touse evocative verbs that paint word pictures.

Here are some examples from the opening to the screenplay for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN:

The THUNDEROUS SOUNDS OF A MASSIVE NAVAL BARRAGE are heard. The power isastonishing. It roars through the body, blows back the hair and rattles the ears.

The ROAR OF NAVAL GUNS continues but now WE SEE THEM FIRING. Huge fifteen inchguns.

SWARM OF LANDING CRAFT Heads directly into a nightmare.

MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS from German artillery shells and mined obstacles tear apartthe beach.

Hundreds of German machine guns, loaded with TRACERS, pour out a red snowstorm ofbullets.

THE CLIFFS at the far end, a ninety-foot drop. Topped by bunkers. Ringed by fortifiedmachine gun nests. A clear line-of-fire down the entire beach.

Notice how the verbs paint a vivid picture. SWARMof landing craft. Tracers POUR OUT ared snow storm of bullets. We can see the carnage in our heads, and all in very little timeand page space.

Also notice how some of the sentences would be considered incomplete, or grammaticallyincorrect. While it might be a cardinal sin in a book, for screenplays its encouraged becausewe can SEE IT in our mindswhich is the point.

This is how aspiring writers need to execute their script if they are to be taken seriously.

If you can use an arresting verb in place of a ho-hum or standard one, DO IT. For a simpleexample, its much more interesting to read, The script slides across the table than thescript gets passed across the table.

Every single one of those four aspects is important (short sentences, terse description, easyto visualize and evocative verbs), so take each one into account and study how its done inthe SAVING PRIVATE RYAN example. And though this is an action script, yes, these idealsapply to all genres.

As well, dont be afraid of white space on the page. White space is your total BFF, and the

key to an easy read. As long as you can balance action description that only tells us what weneed to know with the dialogue, it will keep that speeding script on full throttle.

Only write what we can SEE or HEAR on screen and nothing more.This is where your normal prose writing differs most from what Im suggesting you do whenwriting a screenplay. Remember, youre notwriting a novelthis is a screenplay. If you writewonderful prose, the audience wont ever know it. Youre wasting the readers time on thingsthat either wont end up on screen anyway, or illustrate to them that you dont know how toproperly write in screenplay format.Screenwriting 101 is about finding ways to convey characters feelings, emotions, and layersthrough their actionswhat they literally do on screen. This is an example I encounteredwhen reading a script recently:

Sheshurting inside, and we can see it. Shesa fighter though, so finding her innercomposure, she puts the journal down on the table.Thats amateurish screenwriting for several reasons:
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4/13

1: Have the character DO something. Movies are about the external, novels are about theinternal. Remember the format, always.

2: This is a characters turning point, and its not only lacking visual dynamics, but evenworse, its boring.

An example of how this could have read:

She angrily wipes away a tear before slamming the journal down on the table. This is more visually interesting and tells us much more about her internal feelingsallwithout dialogue. As opposed to a novel, where you have the time and ability to conveytheme, characterization, plot, etc. in the prose, with a screenplay you can only convey thesethings in the literal actions of your characters. What your character DOES. And as we allknow, what our character do matter far more than what they say. But, speaking of, lets talkabout how writing dialogue in a screenplay is different.

2. DIALOGUEFirst, lets touch on some basics:

Too Much Dialogue

A script is not a playyour goal is NOT to have dialogue that looks like a bunch ofmonologues.

Try to keep 95% of your dialogue lines to 3 lines or less. Clever dialogue is found in quick back and forth exchanges, not prose-y speeches. Thinkabout one of the best screenwriters known for his dialogueAaron Sorkin. Have you everwatched a scene fromThe West Wing? The characters talk in quick, snappy sentences. Backand forth banter that keeps things moving. And a fast moving script, like a fast moving story,is entertaining andsometimesit can move so fast that you dont have time to realizewhether its great quality or not. You just know youre entertained. So, use this to youradvantage. Keep the dialogue short, quick back and forths, and youll be golden.

Now, a side point I want to make about this, and what Sorkin does so well in one of my otherfavorite shows,Sports Night, is he uses quick back and forths to set up one brilliantmonologue. You dont get a whole bunch of monologues during the course of one show, butyou get one that really sticks you in the gut. And THAT is how you use a monologue like a proscreenwriter.Subtext

Subtext is when a character says something and we (the reader or audience) can tell or knowthat there is something behind the words of what is being said. For example, lets take aprotagonist we know is hurting from a break up, and he runs into his ex on the street:

EX-GIRLFRIENDThe weathers pretty nice today.

PROTAGONISTSeems kind of cold to me.

Now, its not the worlds best writing. But you get my example. We, the reader, know theressomething behind the protagonists words. Hes making a dig at his ex, and referencing the irbreak-upall while on the surface talking about the weather. Thats subtext.

When it comes to dialogue and subtext, never ever have a character come out and say whathe is thinking or feeling. Brilliant characters have us discover/uncover whats goingon insidetheir heads by their actions, or how they dance around important topics when theyre talking not how they address them head on.

Characters Need to Sound Different

Now, unlike in books, where we have the time and space to set characters apart by how wedescribe them, or describe their inner thinking, or describe their actions and how they dothemin a screenplay, the main tool we have to set our characters apart is their DIALOGUE.


5/13

How they speak, what they say, and how they say it. A common culprit that keepsscreenwriters from making their work studio quality material is characters that all soundexactly alike. Remember, each character in your script is a living, breathing, thinking personwith different wants, needs, and point of view from the others. And the only way todifferentiate them in to make HOW they talk, WHAT they say, and WHY they say it differentfrom each other.

A good exercise to fleshing out characters is to figure out what each characters superobjective is. It sounds like a hokey term, but in essence you figure out what a character trulywants in life (not necessarily in the story). These are the big things, the ones in our very core

to love, to be loved, to be powerful, to be respected, etc.

Once you figure that out, realize that this is JUST to determine their core character howthey approach every situation and character they encounter during the course of your story.Its the foundation, and while its certainly the most important layer, there are more layers: thestyle, and the details.

A characters style is not about their fashion, but about how, knowing their core, theyapproach life and other people. Things like humor, vanity, selfishness, selflessness, etc. You

can think of a characters style as a collection of their coping and defense mechanisms. Howthey get by on their day to day life.

The details are how, knowing their core and their style, what little actions they take frequently.For instance, if he drinks a lot, or is always fixing his hair or keeps a pack of cigarettes rolledup in his sleeveeven though he never actually smokes. Each person has their own uniqueticsand as they say the devil is in the details.

Leaving the Obvious OutIm not going to get too deep into this, as its pretty self-explanatory. Basically, another aspectof great dialogue is about leaving the obvious out. This does go hand in hand with subtext,but it comes at it from a different angle. On its most basic level, its when we as an audienceare expecting a character to say something and then they dont. Maybe they give a look, or

say something else, or dont say anything at all, but we get it anyway. An easy example wouldbe if were in a romantic scene, and we are expecting the Protagonist to finally(!) say I loveyou. But instead, he looks deep in her (or his) eyes and:

PROTAGONISTI want you to know-

LOVE INTERESTI know. You too.

They kiss deeply.

3. WHITE SPACEIn stark contrast to a Tom Clancy novel, when looking at a page of a screenplay, the morewhite space you see, the better.

Aspiring screenwriters can impress by doing one thing: writing a fast read. Sometimes, thiscan compensate for lack of things like character arcs, or the occasional on-the-nose dialogue.Mind you, this wont fix poorly plotted or structured stories, but writing a fast or quick readcan make you seem like more of a seasoned pro than you might be. If you read scripts fromthe 50s, for instance, it will be light years different from the type of scripts written nowadays,and one of those key differences is how the physical pages of the script look. Back then, theylooked much more like novels. Now, they look like someone took a chop shop to a novel, andleft the body of the car on bricks.

Whether its a consequence of our shorter attention spansor not, industry people have evenless time than ever to read scripts from aspiring writers. One of the ways to set yourself apartand become their best friend is to give them a quick read. So what does that mean?


6/13

On the physical pages of the script, you never want the page weighted down with heavyaction lines or with heavy dialogue, as this slows down the read. This is the biggest culprit todistinguishing between an aspiring writer and a professional one. An industry vet can tell inthe first couple pages whether youve got it or not and it usually has to do with how yourscript PHYSICALLY looks on the page.

They have to be adept at sorting through all the bad scripts quickly because theres a neverending cycle of scripts that hit their desk. In fact, many times industry players will just flipthrough a script to see how it looks visually to see whether its worth their time to read. Dontgive them an excuse to miss reading your work, so make it look good (see: easy to read)visually on the page.

So, whats the fluff to cut? You want to cut:

1. Anything we cant HEAR or SEE on screen

2. Cut anything we dont need to know to move the story forward

3. Cut anything about your characters or their actions that doesnt add depth, layers, or

insight into their state of mind. I dont care if they take a drag on a cigarette. I do care if theytake a drag on a cigarette in order to impress someone/blend in/etc.

Okay, I know you guys are smart. So I know you got all of that.

Now, heres where it gets tricky:you also dont want your pages to look too sparse, wheretheres too much white space on the page (for instance, if you have snappy dialogue line aftersnappy dialogue line with little action breaking it up).

Remember, yourewriting a SCREENPLAY,not a play. We (the reader) and they (theactor/director/producers/etc.) need to know what is actually going on onscreen in betweenthose snappy dialogue bits. Think of the action as a window to show the actors and directorwhats going on beneath the surface for each character, and as a way to supplement the

subtext in your dialogue.So you want a good, quick balance of both dialogue and action. My rule of thumb is to alwaystry and stay 3 lines or less with action, and 3 lines or less with dialogue, back and forth, backand forth, and keep it MOVING. This is how you get to quick read status.

Selling Scripts to Hollywood: How to Prepare, Submit, and Sell Your Script
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7/13

The Screenwriting Formula: Why It Works & How To Use

TV Scripts Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript eBook Excerpt

4. ENTER LATE, LEAVE EARLYAgain, for authors used to writing novels, where you have the time and space to get into thebeautiful details, this may seem crazy. But, the name of the game when it comes to writing formovies and TV is to enter every scene late, and leave it early. So, what does this do? First, ithelps to cut out any extraneous details. Second, if the audience is working to catch up, orfigure out whats going on in a scene, they are more engaged than it you spell it out for themevery step of the way. If you give us just enough to help move the story forward, thats thegoal.

This goes hand in hand with what I was just saying about writing a fast read, but at the end of

the day, you dont want to describe every little thing. Whether its setting, or character actions,or anything else. Give us just the essentialsand no where does this apply more than toentering late and leaving early.

For example, if I had a scene that read:

INT. BARNYARDMORNING

Brads truck pulls to a stop in the yard. He wipes his sweaty brow and puts his handkerchiefinside his pocket before getting out of the truck.

Walking across the muddy fields, he squints, looks back at the truck. He takes hishandkerchief out of his pocket and wipes his brow again.

The description is entering too early and leaving too late. Instead it should read:
http://www.writersdigestshop.com/screenwriting-formula-why-it-works-how-to-use-it-paperback?lid=wdbkblog-screenwritingformulahttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/screenwriting-formula-why-it-works-how-to-use-it-paperback?lid=wdbkblog-screenwritingformulahttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/screenwriting-formula-why-it-works-how-to-use-it-paperback?lid=wdbkblog-screenwritingformulahttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/formatting-submitting-your-manuscript-television-scripts?lid=wdbkblog-formattingexcerpt-tvscriptshttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/formatting-submitting-your-manuscript-television-scripts?lid=wdbkblog-formattingexcerpt-tvscriptshttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/formatting-submitting-your-manuscript-television-scripts?lid=wdbkblog-formattingexcerpt-tvscriptshttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/formatting-submitting-your-manuscript-television-scripts?lid=wdbkblog-formattingexcerpt-tvscriptshttp://d3k9gxxxyh3lif.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/oeb-TV-Formatting-Excerpt.jpghttp://d3k9gxxxyh3lif.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/oeb-Screenwriting-Formula.jpghttp://d3k9gxxxyh3lif.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/oeb-TV-Formatting-Excerpt.jpghttp://d3k9gxxxyh3lif.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/oeb-Screenwriting-Formula.jpghttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/formatting-submitting-your-manuscript-television-scripts?lid=wdbkblog-formattingexcerpt-tvscriptshttp://www.writersdigestshop.com/screenwriting-formula-why-it-works-how-to-use-it-paperback?lid=wdbkblog-screenwritingformula


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Are you asking yourself this question when youre formulating ideas or inking out an outline?Whos going to plop down 20 bucks to watch this? If you dont have a definitive answer, or ifyour answer is a very limited market, like, say sweatshop workers in Thailand, then itstime to re-examine your idea. Im not saying its time to change it, just maybe re-examine itand change an element or two that would make it appealing to a mass audience (say, males18-45).

Let me give you an example:

A movie about the trials and tribulations of a sweatshop worker in Thailand.

Whos going to watch that? Not a lot of people. What about this:

A movie about three Americans who rescue a sweatshop worker from his factory in Thailand.

Okay now were getting somewhere. Now youve added a point of view that moreaudiences can understand (American), but it still sounds a little too depressing. In fact, itsounds like an interesting plot to a novel, which has page count and ability to take its time,and can explore a number of themes to their fullest extent. Which brings me to:

Are you asking yourself: Does this need to be a movie? Is that the best medium for thisstory? I cant tell you how many great stories are crammed into the small square hole that isa movie script that would have been better served as a novel, or some other form ofstorytelling, and not in a screenplay. Many times, these scripts are about inner demons, orinner conflict, or a protagonist that is his own antagonist (with no other outside force or personthat is a real antagonist), or a protagonist that never DOES anything, just thinks about it etc. If youre best, juiciest, coolest, most interesting bits are internal, and not external, thisquestion is especially important to ask yourself.

Lets try one more version:

When three Americans encounter a sweatshop worker during their blow-out bachelor party in

Bangkok, they take him out on the craziest night of his life.

ItsThe Hangover 2if you replace sweatshop worker with monk. Kind of. Either way, you

get the point. We started at A, and got to comedy worthy of a movie. So make sure youre always looking at any new ideas that pop into your mind through theeyes of a studio executive. Ask yourself whos the audience? Who will pay 20 bucks to watchthis? Does this need to be a MOVIE? and youll be ahead of the game.

7. AIM BIGAs weve covered, Movies are a visual medium. But more than that, studio movies areincreasingly relying on things called Set Pieceswhich are sequences that are high impact,and either big, interesting, captivating, hilarious, grandiose, or all of the above. In the

Avengers, one of the biggest set pieces is the 3rd

Act final showdown action sequence. In 21JUMP STREET, one of the set pieces is the attempted drug bust early in the first act.Film being all about the external, set pieces are the ultimate expression of this external-ness

and a newly necessary part of modern screenplays. And its not just the action movies thathave set pieces eitherthink of Woody Allens MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. One of the set pieces isthe first time the protagonist gets in the car and gets transports to 1920s Paris.

Some people might call these sequences trailer moments, and that helps to put them intoperspective as to why they are quickly becoming increasingly necessary in screenplays.When a movie idea comes to you, your first thought should be How in the world has acorporate owned studiothat takes zero risksNOT made a movie like this yet? That soundssilly, but your litmus test should be if you think a corporate fat cat, who doesnt give a figabout story, or characters, would hear your idea andplace a 100 million dollar bet on

it. Because even low budget studio movies are costing way more than 100 million once youadd up publicity and advertising costs. So this should be your bare minimum test to see ifyour idea has a chance at being bought if it were a script.


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