Just starting a new script and was wondering how much detail is too much detail? Describing a location for instance. Do you mention the leafs on the sidewalk, the flower baskets on the lamp posts and the outfit the girl is wearing or d you just make it and autumn afternoon and let the imagination fill in for itself?
IMO, details, like leaves, add texture, help fleshout characters, and provide metaphors! They're not necessarily just indicators of autumn. I like to use them to add to the picture I'm building. Maybe the leaves are chasing in circles in the wind... or they're being raked into neat piles by the protagonist...
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Well, generally speaking, no, you don’t. It’s rather choosing and utilizing the right details, creating effective, broad strokes to paint a vivid picture in the mind of your reader—to ignite their imagination. Use pithy words and phrases that are loaded with meaning, and only use details that are relevant or vital to the story. Trust the intelligence of your reader; allow them to fill in the rest for themselves. Purple prose is generally regarded as “overwriting” in screenwriting. It can also bog down your script’s read and test your reader’s patience.
So, really, for your example, all you generally need is a few pithy words or one effective sentence to give your reader the time and setting. “Fall” or “autumn” works well—your reader knows exactly what that is and what visual images it evokes. ;) Hope that helps!
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This guy, Bryan, explains the craft (and the job) in a series of brilliant tweets.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1189232998077681664.html
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Are the details important to move the plot along? I was very wordy and descriptive on my first script and was told that unless it moves the plot forward, there's no need for it.
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No to all your questions. Describe only the relevant information to the story. Also if the film does not have to take place in Autumn then don't even say that.
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Thank you for all the replies. It is much appreciated
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Just give 'em what's needed for the story and let the Director, prop folk, location manager & everybody else do their job.
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Is that stuff important? This is also the time you get to be a little bit flowery with your language.
In my script The Valley “... the cloudy winter sky paints the forest blue and grey...”. I wanted to get a bleak monochromatic look in the mind of the reader.
Everything is okay as long as it is being done to get a clear imagine in the readers mind. But talking about leaves and flowers that have no impact on the story takes up unnecessary space in the readers mind. Why tell them if they don’t need to know.
Most important, don’t fall into the trap of under describing the scene because someone tells you that is the director’s job.
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Some great answers already. Personally, I like to read a script that has lot's of white space where economic, well chosen words flow across the pages. So take out anything that doesn't move the story along or add value. Examine each block of narrative and each piece of dialogue not with the idea of adding but doing the opposite. Big blocks of narrative and long passages of dialogue slow the reader down.
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I use a very simple formula. The 5-5-5 Rule.
Character introductions, 5 words that give a general impression of how a character looks, unless there's something specific that NEEDS to be shown.
Location descriptions, 5 lines or less. If you cant do it then you have too much unnecessary detail. No one needs to know what color the bathroom towel is.
Dialogue, 5 lines or less but if its a long speech then no more than 5 additional lines before breaking it up somehow, with movement or a response from another character, and then letting them continue.
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Do what the 2 or 3 dozen screenplays that you read before writing one did.
Anthony Moore I like to keep things as short as possible, but I do what I think is needed. I also like to describe in ways that are visual as such.
A big guy, chains, tshirt, the kind of guy cops search for no reason.
That tells you his attitude, his look, how he holds himself, how people react to him. I would hope this would tell the reader how to interpret his actions.
If your showing the detail in frame write it all in. Don't write something that's not framed.
Thanknyou so much for the input. Appreciate the help without judgement