Okay, we all know, \u201cShow, don\u2019t tell!\u201d I will never forget my sophomore English teacher hitting that point home with a sledgehammer every class. As a screenwriter, I hear, \u201cExposition is bad.\u201d Now I have a better understanding of what this really means. <\/p>\n
With screenwriting, it\u2019s fairly simple, actually, but hard to do well and in few words. If you\u2019re writing someone who is cruel at heart, give them something dark and edgy in the description but when we meet that character the first time, they should do something abnormally cruel. Or, for example, don\u2019t just write, \u201cIt\u2019s raining.\u201d Have your character be pelted with rain and write it into the scene. You know where I\u2019m going with this. <\/p>\n
A bunch of scripts in this last pass had blocks of text on page that wouldn\u2019t be filmed. If it\u2019s not actually filmed, or in dialogue, then the audience will never get that info and it doesn\u2019t belong in your script. If you have info you need to communicate, make sure it is either in the dialogue or the behavior of the characters. <\/p>\n
A couple of examples of this kind of text:<\/p>\n
George\u2019s bedroom is a mess. The bedroom of an executive working 16 hour days and with no time to clean. The bedroom of a man without love. Think carefully about your choices. You only have a limited number of words \u2013 choose which ones best represent your story to heighten dramatic stakes. Laundry isn\u2019t it. <\/p>\n The house is dark, despite the holiday cheer. Christmas lights haven\u2019t hung here in years. You must include the \u201choliday cheer\u201d as a benchmark so we know this house has none. You might choose to open on a neighborhood public place where Christmastime decoration and festivity is over the top. The protagonist is there, plays into the festivities, but yet then returns home to his dark house where there is no cheer. That is more interesting and keeps me wanting to read, whereas the phrasing above just makes me annoyed.<\/p>\n I do make two pretty broad exceptions to the \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell\u201d rule: character introductions and reaction shots. <\/p>\n Character Introductions<\/strong> Character Reaction Shots Okay, we all know, \u201cShow, don\u2019t tell!\u201d I will never forget my sophomore English teacher hitting that point home with a sledgehammer every class. As a screenwriter, I hear, \u201cExposition is bad.\u201d Now I have a better understanding of what this really means. With screenwriting, it\u2019s fairly simple, actually, but hard to do well and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,9,8,7,12,10,11,6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.screenwriter-to-screenwriter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em>
\nThere are many reasons why someone\u2019s bedroom might be messy. If we see a messy bedroom on screen, that\u2019s all we get. We will not understand from this choice that he\u2019s overworked and loveless \u2013 or that his housekeeper just quit, or that he\u2019s simply just messy, or that he just got home from vacation. I would argue that this whole sequence of man-bedroom isn\u2019t that important and a more dramatic choice, instead of filming laundry, would be to show him overworked with his colleagues and not even able to get home. <\/p>\n
\n<\/em>
\nNow, the notion that there is a Christmas house that\u2019s dark offers up some interesting questions \u2013 did someone die, are they struggling, etc. However, that needs to be established and paid off. If this is how you introduce a house without any establishing contrast, then all we see is a normal, dark house. We wouldn\u2019t get any notion of Christmas, nor of the fact that this one house is dark. <\/p>\n
\nIn your 4 action lines of character introduction, it is preferred to give the reader a glimpse of insight into who that person is at their core, some broader personality trait than simply age and that they\u2019re wearing khakis (clothing, please!). I am perfectly happy in a character intro for one to use better quality prose writing to capture something essential to that character\u2019s spirit, who they are as a human being, even if it can\u2019t be shot in that moment. Better is an intro anecdote where you can do both \u2013 both film the metaphor and write it on the page. But, I\u2019ll give you some license in your 4-5 lines to paint a vivid picture for me of who your protagonist is \u2013 especially because I\u2019ll be spending at least a forty minutes of my time with that individual.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I use this in my writing when it\u2019s justified and I appreciate this technique when it is used appropriately in other people\u2019s writing: the thought reaction. Sometimes in a reaction shot, the character responds with a thought, such as \u201cWhat the hell?<\/em>\u201d or \u201cMotherfucker.<\/em>\u201d If an actor is playing the reaction, these types of thoughts \u2013 although unspoken \u2013 give us a pretty clear indication of what that actor\u2019s expression might be. And, the actor\u2019s expression can be shot. So, although it\u2019s bending the rules a little, I don\u2019t mind these types of thoughts, as long as it encapsulates a clear reaction of the actor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"