Advice to a young screenwriter

I'm going to start a series of entries here called "Advice to a young screenwriter." Exactly what the title says. Hopefully these notes, based on long and wide experience, will save the beginning screenwriter some time and grief.

The first and most important thing for the beginning screenwriter to do is learn how NOT to shoot yourself in the foot. Let me explain. Now and again I'm called upon to be a judge in a screenwriting competition. I'm given a stack of scripts to evaluate, from which to choose one or more "winners." I may get as few as 15 or 20, as many as 100 or more, depending on the size of the contest and the way the judges are assembled. In all cases, no matter how many scripts I'm given, I eliminate OVER HALF of them quickly, in a few minutes, reading only a few pages, because the screenwriter shoots him/herself in the foot. These writers commit the first cardinal sin of spec script screenwriting: they let their writing get in the way of their story.

Let this sink in. They let their writing get in the way of their story. What a thing to say about "writing"! One would never, never say this to a novelist or to a poet. Often writing IS the story, so to speak -- style is everything. But screenwriting is not driven by rhetoric, it's driven by story. The job of "writing" in screenwriting is to present the story clearly, passionately, suspensefully, efficiently.

Also notice that I said "spec script screenwriting." Beginners write "spec" scripts, scripts written on speculation -- as opposed to scripts written on hire, which is what professional screenwriters write. Pros get paid first, an advance, and then they write. Not so beginners. They write "on spec" and then try to sell or win a contest. Along with thousands of others.

All writing in the marketplace is related to reading in some way. So with spec script writing. I used to be a reader for a direct-to-video company. Other former screenplay readers have shared their experiences in books, one of the best being The Savvy Screenwriter. Read this book. Here you learn what it's like to be a professional reader of screenplays, and then, and only then, the strange "requirements" of spec screenplay writing begin to make sense. Consider ...

1. Readers get paid by the script, not by the hour. What does this mean? They want to read and evaluate your script as quickly as possible! What gets read more easily, Henry James or "see Spot run"? Duh. Screenplays are written simply, with simple sentences and fragments favored over plush complex sentences, in order to present an easier reading experience. I tell my students, write to be skimmed before being read carefully. Because, in fact, your reader may be reading your script while multi-tasking, eating lunch, talking on the phone, and evaluating your script all at the same time. Your script must be an easy read at the level of writing style, at the level of rhetoric.

2. Readers read with a pile of scripts on the desk. If your script causes too much trouble, you'll be rejected after a few pages and the next on the pile picked up. I did this all the time. I still do it as a judge -- your script, your wonderful story, which you worked on for a year, gets rejected in 90 seconds after reading two pages. I never even get into your wonderful story. Your overly complex, overly written, writing style got in the way of your story and made reading too difficult. Another mantra: write for people who hate to read. Make it easy! If you want to show off your language skills, write a novel. This is the wrong place for such a talent.

3. Write vertically. A text-dense script -- say on page one is an action paragraph with a dozen or so lines, single-spaced -- gives a negative impression. Lots and lots of white space on the page give a good impression. Write action in small paragraphs -- certainly no more than 5 or 6 lines per paragraph, preferably even shorter. Let the normal reading habit as a horizontal experience, the eye moving left to right, become a vertical experience, the eye moving top to bottom, as much as possible.

4. Use conservative formatting. Tight, clear sluglines. Don't describe anything in a slugline. A slugline that has a preposition in it is probably wrong. Use DAY or NIGHT and don't complicate the mix with AFTERNOON or EVENING. Most of the time it doesn't matter and, at any rate, the scene will be shot at the convenience of the schedule, not the story. Always, always, remember: a screenplay is a practical document, a blueprint for a movie, and not a literary document. Make format as simple as possible. If the story demands that a scene happens in the afternoon, keep DAY in the slugline and add Afternoon in the action ... or write DAY (AFTERNOON). You want to keep DAY in the slugline so it turns up in a search when an asst. is making a shooting schedule. S/he wants to isolate all the "day shooting" scenes ... and if you have synonyms for day in the slugline, such as afternoon, you are making his job harder. Be wise, be a good collaborator, and in this subtle way let the reader know that you know you are writing a blueprint for a movie, not a literary document.

If you follow these simple rules, you should be able to write a script that won't be rejected unread because it doesn't look like or read like a spec screenplay. You won't be shooting yourself in the foot, inviting rejection before the reader even gets into your story.