the mythical orthodoxy of screenwriting

[Guest Close noh1]

all the good ones have been taken.

[Guest Close refriedwhiskey]

Rule 1: Write as original a story as you can, write it as well as you can, make it look as much like a screenplay as you can.

Rule 2: There is no Rule 2.

[Guest Close A Pathetic Writer]

Totally unfair. I attempted twice to start a thread on the rules of Brads, and they both got deleted.

I'll add these:

All dialogue must have subtext. If your characters EVER actually say what they're thinking, then you've failed.

[Guest Close William Haskins]

kullervo:

great article. highly entertaining and informative. thanks for sharing the link.

noh1:

pssst... "we see"

[Guest Close English Dave]

What do you mean APW? Damn!!

[Guest Close PipeWriter]

Tony: I got it. That was ****in hilarious.

I only have one rule, but it's nothing I have to enforce. I just do it anyway.

If you say

EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - DAY

Do you really have to describe it?

[Guest Close noh1]

never use "we see" or "we hear". Never. If you do, you will be mocked from Chatsworth to the O.C., from Santa Monica to San Bernadino.





pssst... William. Thanks.

[Guest Close refriedwhiskey]

The Zen Koans of Screenwriting. :lol

[Guest Close English Dave]

Oh and if you're in England don't write another god awful Sarf Lundin gangster movie.

[Guest Close ComicBent]

The prohibition against '-ing' verbs as in: Bob is nodding off when the telephone rings and wakes him.

[Guest Close Rose]

"Don't use adverbs in your exposition." Yet I always see them used in professional scripts. The first ten pages of the script "Sideways" contains: Instantly, fitfully, hurriedly, finally, carefully, blandly.

Why do the gurus deliberately, repeatedly, and carefully warn us that such verbalism undoubtedly screams amateur. Many pros contstantly do it.

[Guest Close phoenixwriting]

* don't even bother typing FADE IN at the top of the page if you don't live in LA.

* all your writing shortcomings will be forgiven if you have a killer story.

* all your story shortcomings will be forgiven if your writing is awesome.

[Guest Close kullervo]

Don't Suck.

kullervo

[Guest Close Mike Samonek]

Myth: you need 'connections' to get into the business.

Maybe that's not a screenwriting "rule/myth" but it comes up a lot and it's bunk.



Edited: of course you need to create relationships with people, but you don't have to be born into the business.

[Guest Close refriedwhiskey]

The prohibition against '-ing' verbs as in: Bob is nodding off when the telephone rings and wakes him.

I agree with that one. When you have a construction like that, there's almost always a better way to write it.

But that's not just true of screenwriting. And I forgot we're not discussing the rules. Never mind.