Been thinking a lot about growth in filmmaking lately. Even though I’m mostly focused on screenwriting, I’ve been paying attention to the craft behind the camera — the visuals, pacing, and how a director’s choices can completely elevate a script.
Curious: as filmmakers, what’s one underrated skill you think every writer should learn from directors? I’m finding that understanding shot composition and rhythm really sharpens how I write my scenes.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
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Great idea for a post, Chikaima Uwakwe! It's helpful for screenwriters to learn about different areas of the industry. I'm definitely looking forward to the answers!
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Chikaima Uwakwe Generally speaking, stay in your lane as a writer. For specifics - stick to the dialog and basic action. Don't put directions in your script, either for acting or camera. Those things will usually end up being expunged before going to creative team, and can flag your script from the start as amateur. Because they are the province of the director, the actor, the DP, et al, not the writer. Don't be too specific on background or set description or wardrobe, etc. unless it actually impacts character and story. The dialog is the thing (which is why they call it a script in the first place). If you want to know how what a writer does helps or hinders the translation from page to screen, take someone else's script - not you own - and direct it with your own vision in mind (which is what a director is hired to do). Then you will see first hand why I say these things and you will write scripts more appreciated by directors.
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Hi, Chikaima Uwakwe ! I think directors’ sense of visual rhythm is key. It’s not just about dialogue, but about pauses, beats, and when the camera would ‘breathe.’ Writers who pick this up can shape scripts that flow more cinematically, making them much easier to visualize.
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Chikaima, One of the more challenging aspects of screenwriting for me is pacing. Assuming you are not bogging things down in a script, isn’t it the directors job to take a scene or series of scenes to pace those with interesting angles, edits and such. As writers we can contribute to pacing with snappy dialogue or character self reflection to slow things down. Have I got that right? What are people’s thoughts?
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I think it's a director's job to take a scene or series of scenes to pace them with interesting angles, edits, and such, Mark Osborn, but I also think it's a writer's job to control pacing with dialogue, action, transitions between scenes, etc.
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I entered screenwriting to communicate ideas to people that I felt they would not care less about if it were not dramatized in an attention gripping way so the visual aspect of it has to complement the written or less palpable aspect. Eventually it evolved to wanting to tell stories and also give voice yo underrepresented people, slow processors, autists and other marginalized people or people left out altogether. After the divorce I stopped going to restaurants or movies, at least sit-down restaurants. I moved to TV and movies had less interest to me. Seeing some amazing shows for their humor and presentation of human interactions shifted my interest away from visual and audio effects to story itself. But spoken dialogue remained important to me. So I have less interest in camerawork other than standard.
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I believe the one underrated skill a writer should learn from a director is the element of continuous polarity within scenes and understanding what choices a director makes with his shots to convey this and. produce a clear objective for why a character does what they do or suffers as they have.
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If that helps you, that's create. It is better for students of writing for film and TV to understand these two different medium and what works in script and what doesn't. Fortunately, though not exclusively, most of my ideas, or at least the ones I have put the most into were influenced by a prior work in the genre. Interestingly, DNC Chairman, inspired and influenced by The West Wing ran into pacing problems that made chopping the final draft down almost impossible. I was trying to craft a film script based on a TV show. There was too much intellect and not enough of the film sensibility. Chrysalis - The Family Adventure(s) otoh has no such trouble. It follows the basic formula of its inspiratory TV show, All in the Family and takes some directional liberties but stays within the situational setting. If anything, I may have yo micro-direct it but I am trying yo be an assistant director to a real director. Because I need Dob Reiner for the cast, it makes sense to hVe him be the lead director and take cues from him. If I am stuck in the writing process, I may consult with production scripts of itger shows to get the idea. Usually, because of the nature of this type of show I rarely need help explaining in my directions qhat I neex at each moment in the script. I try to avoid overparemtheseizing the poor actors becauae it's usually clear from the context how a line should be said, although newer actors may have to be coached a few takes.
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@Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg great answer
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It is GREAT that you want to learn how a director thinks. That being said, focus on good writing. Download a bunch of screenplays in the genre that you are writing in. Study them.