Strong Story
Here’s why a strong story structure is the absolute bedrock of a good script:
Foundation for Engagement:
The Hook (Beginning): A strong beginning captures the audience’s attention immediately. It introduces the core conflict, establishes intriguing characters, and sets the tone for the story to come.
Building Tension (Middle): The middle of the story develops the characters, explores their relationships, and escalates the conflict. Obstacles, setbacks, and rising stakes keep the audience invested in the character’s journey.
Satisfying Resolution (End): The ending must deliver a payoff. It resolves the conflict, answers the questions that were raised, and creates a sense of closure for the audience. Whether it’s a happy ending or a tragic one, it needs to feel earned.
A Framework for Success:
Clear Direction: The classic beginning-middle-end structure provides a guide for the writer. It gives a sense of where the story is going and how to develop characters and plotlines along the way.
Pacing and Momentum: Good story structure ensures the plot moves at an engaging pace. The audience shouldn’t be bored or confused. Key events and narrative beats should unfold in a way that feels natural and builds suspense.
Memorable Moments: A powerful script balances the overall arc of the story with individual scenes that resonate with the audience. Think about the big scenes that make a movie stick with you long after it’s over.
Beyond the Technical:
Emotional Investment: A good story makes us care about the characters and what happens to them. We empathize with their struggles, cheer for their successes, and feel the impact of their failures.
Universality: Strong stories often explore themes that are universally relatable, such as love, loss, ambition, redemption, or the struggle for justice. This allows them to connect with a wide audience on a deeper level.
Originality within Structure: There are countless stories told in basic three-act structures. But the most memorable scripts find ways to surprise the audience, subvert expectations, and offer fresh perspectives within that framework.
In Summary
A strong story is what differentiates a script from simply a collection of scenes. It gives the film its emotional core, holds the audience captive, and provides a blueprint for the entire production team to work towards.
Memorable Characters:
Here’s why memorable characters are essential in a great script:
Audience Connection:
Relatability: Even if the characters are in extraordinary situations, there needs to be relatable qualities – emotions, desires, flaws – that the audience can connect with. This creates empathy and makes us care what happens to them.
Complexity: One-dimensional characters are forgettable. Great characters have contradictions, internal struggles, and layers to their personality. This makes them feel more real, and their choices more surprising and interesting.
Uniqueness: Standing out from the crowd is key. Memorable characters possess unique voices, quirks, or perspectives that make them distinctive and linger in the audience’s mind long after the movie ends.
Driving the Plot:
Proactive, Not Reactive: Memorable characters aren’t just moved around by plot events. They make choices, both good and bad, that propel the story forward. Their actions and desires directly influence the conflict.
Obstacles and Growth: Great characters don’t stay the same. They are challenged, change, and potentially even overcome their flaws throughout the narrative arc. This growth creates dramatic tension and engages the audience in their journey.
Enhancing Themes and Meaning:
Embodying Themes: Characters can serve as powerful symbols or representatives of the film’s core message. Their struggles and triumphs might mirror the larger social commentary or philosophical questions the story explores.
Contrasting Worldviews: Memorable films often feature a fascinating clash of personalities and ideologies embodied by different characters. This external opposition drives conflict and deepens our understanding of the story’s themes.
How a Scriptwriter Does This:
Well-Rounded Backstories: Even if it’s never explicitly shown on screen, the writer should know the character’s history. This informs their motivations and creates a sense of a fully-fleshed-out person.
Voice in Dialogue: Memorable characters don’t all speak the same way. Their dialogue should reflect their personality, background, and even their emotional state in the moment.
Actions, Not Just Words: What a character DOES is often more telling than what they say. Their actions can reveal hidden desires or contradictions, adding complexity and making them memorable.
In Short
Memorable characters are the heart and soul of a great script. They make us laugh, cry, feel inspired, and walk out of the cinema still thinking about them. They are who we root for, who we learn from, and who we might even quote long after the movie is over.
Snappy Dialogues
Here’s why snappy dialogue is crucial for a good script, and the elements that make it work:
Why Snappy Dialogue Matters:
Authenticity: Real conversations are rarely eloquent speeches. Snappy dialogue captures the rhythms, pauses, and imperfections of natural speech, making the characters sound believable and relatable.
Engagement: Overly wordy or expository dialogue can bore the audience. Snappy dialogue keeps scenes moving at a brisk pace, maintaining the audience’s attention.
Revelation of Character: How a character speaks reveals a lot about who they are. Dialogue can showcase their intelligence, wit, humor, vulnerability, and even hidden agendas.
Advancing the Plot: Dialogue shouldn’t just be filler. Great dialogue moves the story forward by escalating conflict, revealing information, or building relationships between characters.
How to Write Snappy Dialogue
Subtext: What characters don’t say is often as important as what they do say. Imply deeper emotions, unspoken desires, and power dynamics between characters through subtext.
Specific Word Choice: Make every word count. Choose verbs with punch, and dialogue that reflects a character’s background and education level.
Keep it Short: Generally, less is more. Long, rambling monologues lose impact. Opt for short, concise exchanges that hit hard.
Conflict and Contrast: The best dialogue has sparks. Characters should sometimes disagree, banter playfully, or try to outmaneuver each other in conversation.
Read it Aloud: The best way to tell if the dialogue flows naturally is to read it out loud. Stumbling over lines or awkward phrasing becomes more obvious when spoken.
Snappy Dialogue Isn’t:
Clichés Overused and tired phrases slow down dialogue and make it feel generic. Try to find original ways for your characters to express themselves.
On the Nose: Don’t have characters state the obvious or explain their feelings directly. Trust the audience to pick up on the nuances you create.
Unrealistic: Even stylized films need dialogue grounded in some element of reality. Avoid having characters speak in ways that feel unnatural for who they are.
In Summary
Snappy dialogue is the difference between lifeless characters and dynamic scenes that crackle with energy. It makes the script more enjoyable to read and translates into a film that’s engaging to watch.
Visual Storytelling
Here’s how visual storytelling in a script goes beyond mere words to create the “movie” in the mind of both the reader and the filmmaking team:
How Visual Storytelling Works in a Script:
Setting the Stage:
Location & Time: Simple descriptions like “INT. GRIMY WAREHOUSE – NIGHT” instantly transport the reader to a specific atmosphere. This impacts everything the audience comes to expect about the scene.
Details Matter: Specific details in scene descriptions bring the world to life: “Sunlight streams through DUSTY WINDOWS” isn’t just a warehouse, it has a unique character.
Guiding the Eye:
Camera Direction (Implied): While the script shouldn’t dictate exact shots, descriptions can subtly suggest camera angles or movement. “A CLOSE UP on trembling hands” tells the director to focus in.
Composition: Descriptions of character placement, objects, and the space itself suggest what should be in the frame of the shot, and what it might emphasize.
Creating Mood and Tone:
“Show, Don’t Tell”: Instead of saying “the character was afraid”, a description like “Shadows twist on the walls as her eyes dart nervously” conveys fear visually.
Evocative Language: Sensory details and careful word choice make the reader feel the atmosphere the film crew needs to recreate.
Why it Matters:
Unified Vision: The script’s visuals are the blueprint that the director, cinematographer, and set design teams work from. A well-painted picture ensures they’re in alignment about how the film should look and feel.
Emotional Impact: Visuals evoke feelings just as much as dialogue or plot. Think of iconic film scenes; they leave an impression through how they look as much as what happens in them.
Practical Efficiency: Detailed descriptions aid departments like props, costumes, and even special effects. It answers the question of “what do we actually need to create this?”
Visual Storytelling is NOT:
Novelization: Script descriptions should be lean and evocative, not bogged down in excessive detail. Leave room for the film crew to contribute their artistry.
Prescriptive: A script isn’t a shot list. It’s a guideline to be interpreted by the director. Overdoing specific camera directions stifles them.
In Summary:
Visual storytelling in a script helps transform the writer’s ideas into a tangible experience the whole production team can understand. It creates a blueprint for the atmosphere, imagery, and emotional resonance that will end up on the screen.
Importance of Pacing
Here’s how pacing is a vital tool in keeping the audience engaged:
Pacing as a Balancing Act
Avoiding Stagnation: If events unfold too slowly, the audience gets bored. Tension fizzles out, and they may lose interest in seeing the story through to the end.
Rushing vs. Lingering: On the flip side, rushing can create confusion. The audience doesn’t have time to process events, understand character motivations, or feel the emotional weight of important scenes.
Variety and Rhythm: A well-paced script balances moments of high intensity with quieter, introspective scenes. This creates an ebb and flow that mimics real life and prevents the film from feeling monotonous.
How is Pacing Achieved in a Script?
Scene Length & Variation: A mix of long and short scenes keeps the audience guessing. A series of short, punchy scenes can ratchet up the tension, while longer, slower scenes allow for intimate character moments.
Plot Progression: The rate at which plot points are revealed and conflicts escalate impacts the pacing. Are there long stretches without anything significant happening? Or is the audience bombarded with information without room to breathe?
Dialogue & Action: Dialogue-heavy scenes naturally tend to be slower-paced. By contrast, action sequences full of movement and quick cuts have inherently faster pacing. A skilled scriptwriter weaves these together strategically.
Internal vs. External: Internal conflict (a character’s psychological struggles) tends to require slower, more contemplative pacing. External conflict (fights, chases) lends itself to brisker scenes.
Pacing’s Impact
Emotional Engagement: Good pacing allows the audience to feel the full force of emotional moments. A rushed scene dilutes the impact of a tragic death or a hard-fought victory.
Tension and Suspense: Slow-building tension is crucial in certain genres like thrillers or mysteries. Pacing plays a huge role in making the payoff of a reveal or twist satisfying.
Attention Span: Modern audiences have shorter attention spans due to the fast-paced nature of content consumption. A well-paced script doesn’t give viewers the chance to get distracted.
In Short
Pacing is the heartbeat of a film. It determines how invested the audience becomes in the story and characters. Masterful pacing keeps them on the edge of their seats or allows them the space to fully connect with emotional depth.
Literary Latitude 