Yesterday, I went over location descriptions; today, I’ll go over character action.  Character action is a little bit subjective.  Some writers prefer to leave it up to the actors, others believe they should put in every movement and gesture.  I think it’s best to work somewhere in between. Less is more A simple rule of [...]

Movies give the impression that scripts are comprised mostly of dialogue, but film and TV are audio-visual media; what you put on the page should be what we will see on the screen.  Beginning writers often make one of two mistakes: too much or too little description. The problem of too much description We all think every minor detail [...]

By now you have the series act breaks, story lines and story arc.  You’re not done yet!  You need to break down each act into scenes and note what happens when.  If you’re thinking, “I already noted what happens when while looking at the story arc”, you may have noted the major plot points for [...]

Screenwriting is not just about telling a story through people.  You have the ability to tell stories with one picture or sound as much as through people talking. Many writers seem to forget that they’re writing for the screen.  Their scripts become more like stage plays or outlines with actor instructions and lines of dialogue [...]

The first rule of writing anything is “show, don’t tell”.  The worst thing a writer can do is fill a script with exposition.  Sometimes it’s hard to recognize exposition or see that you’re telling rather than showing. Tips to recognize the telling: Dialogue is too on-the-nose.  You could be using your characters to spell out [...]