Comments on: Writing what can’t be shot

By: Shelley

Shelley — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 05:53:45 +0000

Why **ck around? Just say she’s too worried to sleep.

By: a person

a person — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:22:22 +0000

------ Quote:

Robot Porter says:

April 14th, 2006 at 4:16 pm

If sheâ€™s too tired to worry, how can she be too worried to sleep?

She can't be. It should be, "She's too tired to worry, yet too tired to sleep."

By: Gray

Gray — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 07:33:43 +0000

For-the-reader-snippets are part of the fun of reading screenplays. The good ones, that is.

By: david O'Hara

david O'Hara — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:33:27 +0000

Steven Bray - hurray! The best reply of the bunch.

Don't know how many of these people have read a Shane Black sript. HE TALKS TO THE READER! ACTUALLY TELLS THEM HOW GOOD THE NEXT SEQUENCE IS GOING TO BE!

I can't stomach the way he writes, BUT HE SELLS SCREENPLAYS! There are always ecxeptions to the so-called Rules - if your story is hot enough you can break them all.

By: Devin

Devin — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:58:09 +0000

It's funny... when I started writing my first spec, I remember being worried that I wouldn't have enough to fill 120 pages. In the end, I found that actually the exact reverse occurred -- I now have too much, how do I get it below 120?! As I found out, much of the lengthiness to my script was in unnecessary exposition. Once I trimmed that down, removed all extraneous phrasings or descriptions without losing any of the storyâ€™s impact, I had it made. Iâ€™m more proud of my 116 pages than I ever was of the 127 before the edit. Now weâ€™ll see if I can sell the sucker!

It's a fun, maddening, intoxicating process -- hats off to those who can successfully parlay it into a career. Maybe someday, I'll be lucky enough to join their ranks.

Best Regards (Good Weekend to All), ~Devin

By: MBatchellor

MBatchellor — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:03:20 +0000

Vertical reads are the preferred industry standard these days? Says who?

By: Aaron Giles

Aaron Giles — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 23:16:14 +0000

exÂ·poÂ·siÂ·tion (ksp-zshn) n.

The part of a play that provides the background information needed to understand the characters and the action.

For my friend Johnny.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:46:18 +0000

I think people are mixing up screen directions with exposition… Just make sure you don’t use big words like ‘wunderkind’ or a certain someone will plunge his head into ice to stop his brain from steaming!

By: Devin

Devin — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 12:27:05 +0000

Minimizing exposition was one of the most difficult tasks I had to go through in the editing process. For me, I fell in love with a lot of it. But from what Iâ€™ve read, exposition needs to be kept at a minimum (cleverly woven into dialogue, or left to the readerâ€™s imagination through carefully planted snippets). Once I went through my most recent spec and trimmed it of exposition, it went from 127 pages to 116, without losing much in the process. It was a learning experience, to be sure.

I recently read a good example of this in the script for the recent â€œThe Chronicles of Narniaâ€? film. It was a very â€˜verticalâ€™ read (consisting of mostly dialogue). This seems to be the preferred industry standard these days. For myself, Iâ€™ll just have to leave all exposition to my future short stories and novels â€“ screenplays must be lean-n-mean.

By: Ajay Shroff

Ajay Shroff — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:19:08 +0000

Oh My God! I am so glad I found your blog. Loved Big Fish :) Ajay

By: MaryAn

MaryAn — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:56:54 +0000

Off topic. Sorry, but had to say that I saw you on My Date With Drew. What a great guy you must be to go along with someting like that. If you’re not a great guy, please ignore this post.