Dialogue RSS

Dialogue is one of the trickier aspects of writing because, unlike elements like structure or format, there are no hard-and-fast rules to act as a guide. But we still know dialogue is good or bad when we hear it. Dialogue is one of the main lures for attracting name talent (i.e. movie stars) to a project. Given that financing is often contingent on name attachments, the level of dialogue can have a direct impact on a script getting traction toward production. One of the main things we want to achieve is to strike a balance between clarity and character. In...

The lowly script reader, tucked in a windowless back room at a production company or agency, holds massive power when it comes to newer writers breaking in. A poor reader’s report will sink a script from a newer writer. That lowly script reader is often the one who decides what his or her boss is going to read (or in plenty of cases, is not going to read, but will simply trust the reader’s report about). For this reason, it is in a writer’s best interest to write a script that a reader will like. This seems obvious, but there...