Hi All,
I know the common ones:
Show don’t tell.
Start late, end early (or however you want to say it)
Less is more
What others do you good people know. I am putting together some articles for each saying. Just realised I couldn’t remember many.
Thanks again.
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* Make your lead ACTIVE.
* Don't CAP everything.
* Rising Tension, all to the end.
* Don't spill/use all of your beans/powder too early.
* Paul Ruven's dogma and true for many action -and thriller screenplays (and other genres):: only the 'fifth time' trying, our hero gets what he wants.
* Don't use too many characters.
* Do not use character names that are similar to each other or are used too often in other movies.
* Introduce all your main characters, the theme, and basic obstacle(s) as early as possible. Before page 17.
* Use the basic "Save the Cat" beat structure...
* And...
(Und so weiter, und so weiter, und so writer...)
...forget all of the above (except an' active lead' and Paul's dogma making it as hard for the lead to get what he/she wants as possible) and just write a cool story!
Thank you kind sir.
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A tip from Lubitsch: "Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever."
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... Yes, fat Tootsie -- Film Courage -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aprQXvWRXU
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Rule of Four:
No more than 4 lines of action in a paragraph
No more than 4 paragraphs of action, then dialogue or new scene
No more than 4 lines of dialogue, then new char or action
No more than 4 char dialogues, then action or new scene
No more than 4 pages in a scene
This assures a varied look when reading, and lots of white space. Also, it teaches very economical writing. :)
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Yikes I got so many can’t even remember them all. So here are nuggets from zoom room mentors during mundane apocalypse. Apply more pressure on protagonist to turn coal into a diamond. A nemesis is too weak unless they are an inescapable agent in protagonists downfall. @Craig you will already know characters must jump off page, there are no rules and every sentence must move plot to build towards irreversible change. (Unless a film highlighting stasis, simple story or tragedy.)
@Debbie, love love this one -- "A nemesis is too weak unless they are an inescapable agent in protagonists downfall."
Here are a few more:
• Obstacles, Obstacles, Obstacles.... overcome...overcome...overcome!
• Character who most transforms is your Protagonist.
• Current world flips upside down, or introduce new world near midpoint.
• No directing on page, its a guarantee the director won't use it. They enjoy creating.
• Expose the vulnerable heart of a character to get reader/viewer to root for them.
• The more unexpected TWISTS, the more you TURN-ON your audience.
• Faster-Action down to one line to speed up script.
• if you can get your audience to intensely hate a character, then later severely love them, or visa versa, you have a dynamo character and the audience in the palm of your hand.
• All black ink is for two things only: (i) forwarding Story, or (ii) revealing Character. All else is needless and to be discarded.
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Stories are for sharing. So consider the person at home or the theatre watching your work, because once its out there it belongs to the audience.
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Whole bunch of script gurus and rockstars setting out the rules over social media, next thing you see them doing quite the opposite...makes me wander...
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Never follow a trend, always start one.
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Payoff what you plant. We want the satisfaction of observing something seemingly innocuous that leads to a logical conclusion, rewarding us for paying attention.
Ooo, @Anthony - that's a great one! Love yours too, @Ewan!
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Oooooo, Kay, that deserves a meme--
@Pidge LOL! Love it!
Karen, paying off what you plant is something that I truly love to see, especially when it’s done beautifully. My favorite example would be Breaking Bad, where season’s-old storylines are suddenly major plot points to the story’s conclusion.
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"Write without fear. Edit without mercy" is also a good one.
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Some more obscure ones:
- your star actor appears by scene 2
- 5 min rule: the audience knows what is going on within the first 5 minutes ie. who is the main character, what do they want, where's the bad guy, what are the rules etc
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I'm an anarchistic punkrocker. I say throw all the rules out. Create a good story with strong characters that are relatable to the audience/,readers. And keep a good pace. Now everyone ignore what I just wrote.
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What I've said to my students for years: "You can do anything, but you can't do everything."
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I haven't heard this anywhere, but it should be — “For every screenwriting advice there will be an equal and opposite, and often applicable screenwriting advice.”
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Sandeep: Newton's Third Law of Screenwriting.
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Here are Billy Wilder's:
The audience is fickle.
Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.
Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
Know where you're going.
The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.
In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they're seeing.
The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that's it. Don't hang around.
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Here's a few that I've taken from Instagram - Outstanding Screenplays feed (had to credit them - it is a good feed, lots of tips):-
Don't get it right, get it written (applies to first draft, of course)
Writing is rewriting
The story is king
One page at a time
Every scene needs to have a point
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If you are writing for money and fame you're writing for the wrong reason... Actually I kind of like that one.
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spending twenty years researching is not writing. WRITE THE DAMN THING THEN FIX IT