Hi all, so last night my sister was watching a film that I won't mention the title of here, but it got me thinking of things that are included in stories that really bug me, and was wondering what are people's biggest peeves in scripts or stories? So for example my biggest peeves are stories that include a prophecy or a 'Chosen One', and the line 'Let's get outta here'. Does this ring true for anyone else?
Screenwriting : Writing Peeves by Callum McKay
Writing Peeves
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The dork/nerd who is revealed to be unsuspectingly beautiful when they remove their glasses.
Exposition bombs on insanely advanced technology (although I understand why they don't just do a powerpoint presentation)
The bad dude in the bar, who will always get his ass handed to him later on.
I'm sure there's more, this is just going off my recent watch list
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Assassins, hit-men, or even the average henchman who can't ever hit anybody. And in the same movie, a person who's never even held a gun before taking out several assassins, hit-men and even the average henchman.
Doing things that don't quite work because of plot, over politicizing a story, keeping characters around because they can but not because they work or contribute to a story (talking television here), poor story structure and writing, knowing the potential was there and seeing them fall short.
I absolutely hate westerns that introduce the same anti-hero man over and over again, horror movies that involve awkward and unnecessary sex scenes and sexism, forced romantic relationships that are underdeveloped and don't make any sense in the context of the script, stories that half-ass political and social commentary, and scripts where a man has a mentor that has all the skills necessary to be the hero of the story
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Too many "jump the shark" moments.
Reading stories I have read before. Revenge movies; bad guys kills cop's wife and kids, cop kills them all.
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Anything that bores me. Scripts lacking white space.
Films that treat their audience as if their stupid to figure out what's going on in the story, so they spell it out on screen.
Definitely predictability is a big one for me too. I hate characters who have no real emotional depth or complexity, cliches or copies just plucked from other movies, shows a lack of imagination and makes it difficult to care that they live or die, or win in the end of the movie. Cheesy dialogue between characters in a supposedly intense dying scene, or smack talk between the antagonist and hero of what could've been a decent action or thriller. Also, I'm so over the damsel in distress trope already.
"I'll be right back." (most often in horror films) It's such a cliche! Plus, everyone knows you won't be right back. Seriously, just leave the room and die so we can get on with it.
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For me, it's the same story, same plot, same same same, no matter what movie you're watching - the theme is always the same - I want to watch movies that are "unpredictable" and certainly not yet another remake, redo, do-over. As an author of one book, working on several others, and interested in learning script-writing, I feel like Hollywood is grasping at straws to come up with ideas that are new, invigorating, and challenging. Why put millions into yet another remake, when there are so many awesome stories out there? As a viewer, I'm baffled and frustrated with going to the movies
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https://mountainstatesman.com/article/local-writer-has-screenplay-picked...
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Major peeve in thrillers: when a character pulls a gun on someone, they insist on getting close to the person they pulled the gun on and end up getting disarmed.
This is one of the most stupid things that anyone who knows guns in real life would never do. The whole point of pointing a gun at someone is so they can be kept at a distance. It makes no sense to get up close to them without getting them to turn their backs, get on their knees and put up their arms so they're less likely to attack.
I don't have any.
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Characters needing to be good to seek redemption. The most overdone storyline ever and more often than not it just ends up being cliche and boring because the writer doesn't really understand any of the moral principles. I for example once read a screenplay where something I would consider rape was not even made a great topic of discussion. It was just a factor everyone overlooked. Well, unless you understand moral principles you will for sure miss something like this. And changing to another human being is not really a thing. You cannot just become someone else unless you have a magic wand.