The screenplay dialogue that characters say to each other is the one most vital element of a screenplay that often lacks a feeling of ‘real speaking’. We’ve all seen a scene in a movie and we’ve asked – ‘did a screenplay writer truly write those words for real?’
New screenplay writers often make simple errors that once corrected, can move their writing from the ‘I’ll pass’ position at the studio to ‘recommend’. Here’s a few of those problems and more significantly, solutions.
The problem is that often screenplay writers try to write dialogue in a manner which doesn’t sound like people talking and having real conversations. We don’t all talk like we’re learning a second language. Most of us say ‘that’s’ instead of ‘that is’; we also say ‘let’s go’ rather than ‘let us go.’
A lot of normal speaking is just plain boring. How are you? What a nice day? How’s the weather where you are? That’s fine is you’re talking to a friend, but not in a script where every word counts towards your academy award. Make talking real, but please make it interesting.
Different characters need different speaking voices. They can’t all sound like one person; that of the writer. A script must sound like a collection of fully rounded characters and it’s their dialogue that leads them there.
Try to keep dialogue short, crisp and moving along. We don’t all speak in full Shakespearian language with a thesaurus overflowing from out throats. If your character does need to say a lot, then break it up with actions and description. A studio reader will want to ‘file’ your script if they see large blocks of black on script pages. They’ll feel more relaxed when reading a screenplay that is broken up with plenty of white space.
Experts agree that you should be able to mask the names of the different characters on a page and when reading the various different parts of dialogue, you should know which character is speaking. You should know if the voice is a girl or a boy. A man or a woman.
You must be able to tell the distinction between men and women speaking. Let’s face it, we don’t speak like the other sex, but how often does a script represent this difference? If you’re a female screenplay writer, you need to have your male characters sound like men.
You should be able to tell the difference between a child speaking and an adult. You don’t get many adults saying ‘cool’ too often, but teenagers do. Okay, some adults do, but you get my drift.
Actions speak louder than words. Your characters don’t have to say more than a little if they’re action shows the rest of what they would have said or what they were thinking. Remember then, characters don’t talk just to fill up screen time; they are saying important words that move the story along. Often what is not being said is just as important as what is being said. The words behind the verbal skill can mean so much. Like a woman’s ‘fine’ or ‘whatever’ they actually mean many sentences more. Subtext is a most useful tool for the writer.
Finally, silence is also a good use of dialogue. Show, not tell the story and showing someone’s silence can mean more than a thousand words. We all learn more from what we see rather than from what we hear.
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