10 THINGS NOT TO DO IN YOUR SCREENPLAY

1.  DON'T USE "IS, ARE" AS VERBS.

2.  DON'T END A CONCLUSIVE LINE OF ACTION WITH NO PUNCTUATION LIKE THIS

3.  DON'T USE "BACK TO SCENE."  DON'T CREATE THE NEED TO USE "BACK TO SCENE" BY USING "INSERT" OR "POV."

4.  DON’T WRITE MORE THAN ONE OR TWO PHONE CONVERSATIONS.  THEY FEEL INACTIVE, REMOVED.

5.  DON'T WRITE A WHOLE PAGE OF DIALOGUE WITH NO DESCRIPTION TO BREAK IT UP.

6.  DON’T USE ITALICS.  USE UNDERLINING INSTEAD AND YOU WILL FIND YOU USE IT LESS THAN YOU USE ITALICS BECAUSE IT'S MORE GARISH ON THE PAGE.

7.  DON'T DESCRIBE ANYTHING AS "TYPICAL" OR "NORMAL"  (E.G. “We see a typical bank layout.”  No, you want to find the specific term for interior design of banks, or capture this boring-as-hell bank with a fantastic three-word, two-hyphen creation.)

8.  DON'T NAME ALL YOUR CHARACTERS WITH BORING "W.A.S.P." FIRST AND LAST NAMES (e.g. Josh Smith, Joe Anderson, Brad Reynolds, Jennifer Taylor, etc.).  NOT ONLY ARE THEY DULL BUT THEY ALSO BECOME HARD TO REMEMBER FOR THE READER.

9.  DON'T NAME TWO MAIN CHARACTERS WITH THE SAME FIRST LETTER (e.g. FELICIA, FLORA) - IT GETS CONFUSING WHEN READING A TWO-PERSON DIALOGUE SCENE.

10.  DON’T CONSISTENTLY CUT TO A SCENE THAT IS NOT THE LOGICAL EXTENSION OF THE LAST THING TALKED ABOUT IN YOUR PREVIOUS SCENE.  For example, if they're excited about the baseball game tomorrow, cut to the baseball game the next day, not the post office.

-Daniel Calvisi
www.actfourscreenplays.com
copyright (c) Daniel Calvisi 2005-2006

-back to TIPS INDEX