Question from a screenwriter.
Just watched a movie ‘The Presidents Last Bang.’
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2683830553Black comedy gold.
In every scene the characters not speaking or in foreground are busy doing something meaningful – not just lurking on standing in the background. I got intrigued and watched the other scenes closely. They were all advancing the mood or the story. It all felt natural like real life.
Do directors want that written out or will they scream the director scream “Write your damn script and leave the action to me. Give me better dialogue or piss off.”
My research is limited but I've learned some do's and don'ts when it comes to screenwriting. First and foremost don't tell a director how to do their job. So try to stay away from describing every camera shot. Do write enough detail to get your vision through but don't let it weigh down your script. Its a balancing act. Give the director a way to latch onto your vision but enough leeway to use their own creativity.
Well most directors will say the latter :) But in a movie where non-speaking is essential, I would add it in the script. Maybe with extra notes
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I always look to examples to understand how description can work:
From the The Bourne Supremacy (2004) (Gilroy and Helgeland)
INT. BERLIN HQ/COMMAND POST -- NIGHT
The bullpen is cranking -- phones to Munich -- lines to Langley -- ABBOTT watching from the sidelines -- KURT and KIM at their work stations -- PAMELA on mobile, turns to ABBOTT --
That's it. Doesn't describe what they are doing, or how many people. Just that it's cranking.
CONTAGION (2011) (Scott Z. Burns)
INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - FAIRVIEW SOUTHDALE HOSPITAL - MINNESOTA
BETH EMHOFF is out of it. Pupils dilated and fever spiking. The doctors and nurses work on her. She is a puzzle with few clues and little time.
In this case, it just says the doctors and nurses work on her. Doesn't call how many people or what they are doing. We just know that they are working on Beth.
However, some writers do go into great detail, which tend to be by the people that are directing the film:
AMERICAN PSYCHO (2000) (Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner)
INT. LADIES ROOM, TUNNEL - NIGHT
Brilliant white light, a bemused elderly female attendant in a black-and-white maid's uniform trying to give out paper towels. MUSIC thuds through an open doorway. Trashed-looking girls stare into mirrors repairing their eye make-up or sit on the
counter chatting to friends. There are almost as many men as women in the room. Couples stand in line, twitching as they wait to do coke. As soon as one bathroom door opens, a couple lurches out rubbing their noses while another couple rushes
past them and slams the door.
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Thanks Chris. Getting the balance just so makes the difference. I write a lot of sci-fi so when world building I write a lot of 'descriptive' action.
If not, I try to give the tone of the scene. I never describe shots and keep the famous parentheticals to a minimum.
Thanks for posting that. Hadn't watched the movie yet. Need to check it out. Used to watch a lot of Korean movies, will have to look for it.
Just adding my two sense here... yes that is an intentional double entendre. Script writing is an exercise in the creation of visualization. As Screenwriters, we want to encourage the creation of visualization in the minds of the readers. But, we do not want to necessarily define that Vision in such a specific way that there is not any other way to see the Scene or Character.
It is almost like creating a Parable. We tell a story, but do not tell people how to interpret it.