Okay, this one is more as advice or how to. If you have a script, in which you made deliberate grammatical errors because you had to, at what point you explain these errors? Let me be even more clear about this.One of the most shameful parts of human history is also known as SLAVERY. It happened before, after and it's happening even today, in some forms. Let's say, a person was brought from Africa and sold as a slave. He or she doesn't speak English, not grammatically correct anyway. If in a small part of the script this person speaks incorrect English, HOW OR WHEN do I explain this to manager or the producer. When they get to this part they will see dozens of grammatical errors but this is how it should be. Do I mention this in the pitch or should I use P.S. Be aware of some errors....? Any advice will do. Thank you!
Screenwriting : Deliberate grammatical errors? by Niksa Maric
Deliberate grammatical errors?
Other topics in Screenwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
Anything goes in dialogue as long as it is understandable (and not confusing to the reader). No one cares about grammar in dialogue. You want to give it the flavor of the person speaking.
Thank you both, I appreciate your response. I wasn't sure how someone who reads the script (if they ever read it) will react to this "Errors". You know how some people in MOVIE business try to perfect things 110 percent and there's only 1. living person that I consider perfect.
Thank you both I think Sam has a solution here. Write this in the character bio, that should do the trick. But if I compare this to, let's say, a couple who moved from Germany to U.S, they will speak English with accent but their children will speak English with no accent at all.
3 people like this
It is not a grammatical error when it's dialogue. No need to explain anything. No need to write anything in the character bio - let your characters actions and dialogue speak for themselves.
1 person likes this
If there's also an accent involved, best to avoid writing that character's dialogue phonetically. Just suggest the accent through word usage and sentence structure. Even if Faulkner did this with a vengeance, doing it in a screenplay will give your readers' eyeballs a fit.
I had a kid that was a dropout and wannabe gangster in a script. There was plenty of bad grammar in his dialog. "'Cause, that's how he do it, a'ight?"
You write how a character would speak. In one of my screenplays, I have a prison scene with the gang leader and the hero talking in non-grammatical slang. In the next scene I have scientists speaking in medical and scientific terms with proper grammar. Neither is wrong, its just how people from different backgrounds and in different environments speak.
Try to keep it to a minimum. Some will be as understanding that it is dialogue as the average screenwriter, some will have absolutely no understanding of this and probably never will. Therefore, the best option is to reflect the character's voice, possible slang and/or intellectual limitations as error free as possible. Otherwise, you are playing the odds. Especially when first establishing a working relationship.