Five Screenwriting Tips For A Hot Summer
Part 2 of our "Survival" series for screenwriters:
- DON'T BE THE PERFECTIONIST
- WHY I WALKED OUT ON LITTLE CHILDREN
- DUMP THE CUT TO'S
- AVOID FLASHBACK PING-PONG
- WHY I WALKED OUT ON BENJAMIN BUTTON
Three Oscar wins, dozens of awards and nominations around the globe. Great blood lines with the F. Scott Fitzgerald source material. Incredible effects, beautiful look to the film. Brave performances by Pitt and Cate Blanchett. What's your problem with this one, genius? Why walk on it?
Because it booooored me!
2 1/2 hours? Of what? Felt like I was trapped watching a slide show of Benjamin Button's life. "In the 20's I was..." "In the 40's I was..." Structurally perfect sequences, but dull. I always feel a bit guilty telling folks I walked on Benjamin Button for...Paul Blart, Mall Cop! Truth be told, I'd do it again!

God speaking to you lately? It doesn't happen. There are going to be so many rewrites, polishes, trims, tucks, cuts...the script in constant revision mode. Don't be a perfectionist. Don't keep rewriting the same 30 pages.
I've seen good writers lose confidence this way. They can't get the scene down, but they won't let it go. You have to push forward. That's the purpose of the rough "discovery" draft. Push forward, say everything you want to say in rough form. If, at the end, you're looking at 140 pages, so what? You'll know what needs to be done by the time you reach the end. Don't censor yourself. Push out. Get the rough draft done, then refine.
Trust yourself!

If you're using voice over, please, examine the necessity of it. What's your voice over adding that we can't discover visually? This is not to say it can't be done well. Road To Perdition, Goodfellas, American Pyscho, Forrest Gump all had voice over essential to the narrative.
Still found-for whatever reason- in Final Draft software under the "Transition" tab, CUT TO is a useless and redundant device. Why would I need CUT TO to indicate a new scene? A slugline, by definition, indicates a new scene.
I've heard the argument that they help visualize the movie, a hard cut looks different from a dissolve. That is a director/editor's call, not the Spec Screenwriter. You want you script visual? Don't slow the reader's eye with 100+ pointless CUT TO's. Dump 'em.
Bouncing from FLASHBACK to PRESENT is not ideal. Like voice over, use FLASHBACKS if there's no other way to tell the story. Use FLASH TO's for shorter time frames, to go into a character's mind for a recollection or moment. FLASH TO's appear in movies as five or ten second bursts of memory, as visions of the past, but are not flashbacks. You never leave the present moment; only go back in time inside the character's mind, then return just as quickly to the present. Do not force the reader into reading the visual equivalent of ping-pong. If you can tell the story without any flashbacks, do it.
Updated: 07/28/2011
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!We Wrestle Not With Flesh And Blood - 2nd TV episode of Free Indeed
Our hero is gifted to see into the supernatural if someone is in need.
Free Indeed
When our heroine sees more than what meets the natural eye, she knows she is on a divine assignment, if she doesn't free a woman from spiritual bondage the woman will die.
HOSEA
The son of the superintendent of international churches is convinced he hears a divine word which he follows, only to face ridicule from his family circle and friends and threats to lose his life from the drug and human trafficking world.
SEE JANE RUN
A young teacher moves back into her hometown.
FINDING CHRISTMAS
A woman gets threatening emails and anonymous calls about her little girl, who had drowned with her husband three years ago.
True Tears - Timeless Fairy Tale
A young princess who grew up hidden in the woods must find her father, the King, to save the kingdom from doom – His twin sister and self-appointed Sorceress Queen, who banished him about 18 years ago, uses all her powers to prevent a successful journey.
The Puzzle People
Berlin cold war aftermath: A Woman reconstructs shredded Stasi documents and stumbles upon a murder committed days after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Adapted scene from The Seven Rays
This was the Seven rays Script-a-Scene contest, for the book THE SEVEN RAYS, by Jessica Bendinger.
BORN TO BE YOU
A female seagull gets stranded and injured on an island of flightless cormorants.
Mineral Rights
"An ex-con returns to his hometown and becomes an unlikely leader in the resistance against a powerful mineral drilling companies quest to destroy their community"