Screenwriting : The little things make a difference by Phillip E. Hardy, Prolifique

Personally, one of my main goals is to create whitespace and the economy of words. During the editing process, I look to take away rather than add more, and say more with less.

White space makes it so much easier to read a script. During rewrites, I do a run through of a script, making sure there's plenty of white space.

Yes I agree with you both. I learned that copywriting style of writing from Anik Singal

The one word line ender in a dialogue/action block is a good tip.

I saw that tip, Mark Giacomin. I mainly do it with action lines, but I've started to do it with dialogue also.

Hmmm...being an awarded and produced screenwriter makes me wanna come up with my list too... :))

Anyways, discutable...as most of the craft things...

Kiril: Congrats on your awards. I look forward to reading your list :)

Important material.

The craft is 90% editing, I believe. I can write plenty of words and pages, that's like going to the lumberyard and procuring a truckload of plywood and joists. Or maybe going to the forest and cutting down the trees I planted twenty years ago.

The editing is the architectural, sculptural and detailed process of designing and building a magnificent multi-level rooftop deck. You need the tools, the time and the expertise.

Editorial work is the writer's responsibility to learn and execute. It's an essential process that will lead to the next screenplay and the next concept and the next component of the learning process.

I was fortunate to work my way into a brief six-month hitch as a journalist and was promoted to Arts & Culture Editor, I came in as a writer and moved on as an editor, the journalistic approach helped me to develop my craft as a screenwriter.

No editor will ever devote the kind of attention to your work as you should dedicate to your own writing. Be prepared to read and polish your screenplays from 50 to 100 times before you send them to an industry professional.

This confers justified confidence and escalates your craft continuously to progressively higher levels.

Otherwise, you're just treading water in the baby pool and congratulating yourself for winning an Olympic gold medal.

Comparison may be the thief of joy, but it is also the driving force of artistic improvement. Just my opinion.

Philip. about the little things. What do you think of the overuse of the word "and," often in a way that is not correct in sentence construction?

Correct but losing tempo (and highly irritating, especially if used (far) too much)::

"She walks over to the man, and he shutters."

"The female holsters her spray-paint can and rolls up her

stencil, her job is done."

Or incorrect but speeding up the read;

"She walks over to the man, he shutters."

The female holsters her spray paint, rolls up her

stencil, job done.

Or

The female holsters her spray paint, rolls up her

stencil. Job done.

Also, which of these last two incorrect versions reads smoother?)

To speed up the read, you see incorrect sentence construction in amateur, intermediate, and professional writing.

I guess one-half of the executives that read a script will correct you on sentence construction and adding the word "and" "everywhere where needed; others tell you to cut as many "and's" as possible -- probably not even knowing the grammar rules anymore, but knowing how a 'breath of fresh air' reads.

Rutger:

Guilty as charged. I'm an and abuser.

I'm not sure, Checking out a screenplay, sometimes it feels it works, and sometimes it feels it doesn't.

You're right, Rutger Oosterhoff. "sometimes it feels it works, and sometimes it feels it doesn't." I try to write action lines without "and" to save space, but sometimes using "and" makes the action lines sound better.

Rutger, I use the least words possible, "And" is an early casualty.

A famous name on the title page crushes all theorists. Eric Roth Woody Allen, Michael Mann scripts are huge blocks of text and yet, their sentences are easy to read and flow.

So I guess if your craft is not equal to peers, start playing with page formatting.