Visual storytelling
Film is a visual medium. This sounds obvious, but the implications for how you write a screenplay are profound. Everything in your screenplay must be visible.…
Posts tagged: screenwriting
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Screenplay dialogue: the art of less
In prose, dialogue can meander. Characters can talk the way real people talk — with tangents, repetitions, verbal tics, circling around points before making…
Why screenplay format matters
I have to hold my hand up, I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to screenplay formatting. Screenplay format seems arbitrary. Courier font? Specific margins?…
Screenwriting isn't writing (but it is)
If you come to screenwriting from prose — novels, short stories — you'll need to unlearn almost everything. The skills that make you a good novelist can…
Films vs. Novels
I spent most of my writing life in screenwriting before transitioning to novels. I assumed the skills would transfer smoothly. They did not. The most important…
Trust your readers
One thing I've really had to rely on while cutting the book down was the idea that your readers are smarter than you think. They don't need every connection…
Say it loud
Following on from yesterday's post on how I cut 45,000 words without losing my story, I've realised there's one more trick for getting your word-count down.…
House of Donn
I always have such good memories of getting to know Ken Colley during the filming of this little ditty. For years, he'd always been 'that bloke wot was in Star…