Scriptwriting

ThreadKiller

I wrote a treatment for a film I had an idea about, sent it on to someone in the business (the head in Ireland of a huge movie company) & they now want to see a finished draft with a view to producing it, which is great. The only problem is, I've been told that the dialogue will have to be pretty damn hot.

Now I can "hear" the dialogue in my head, but when I write it down it doesn't seem as hot as it sounds. Does anyone have any experience of scriptwriting & can they please give me some tips ?!?

Thanks in advance.

BEAT

congratulations!
If you would like I can take a look at it and offer some advice...you can forward a link in a pm

ThreadKiller

I'm only a couple of pages into it beat, nowhere near ready for someone to look at it yet, but thanks for the offer...

Jim

Tbh I wouldn't worry about it sounding better in your head, most scripts are like this if you read them before seeing the film. It can sound very cheesy, but then again most films are if you pay attention.

I'm sure whoever they get to direct it will understand it, it'll sound better coming from the actors mouth. Try acting it out yourself.

This is all assuming it isn't actually ****e, like you said it is.

carpocrates

The only tip I can give is not to rely too heavily on swearing and colloquialisms to give your script added weight. I've nothing against swearing in drama, even used freely and without purpose, but its a surefire crutch for uninventive writing a lot of the time and people reviewing scripts know this. Look to david mamet and what he can wring from what would otherwise be a bland sentence just to get some plot point across. Try establishing a rhythm if you can and use that throughout.
Hope that helps

*Sinéad*

when i write scripts they're generally for theatre, which is fairly different, but the best advice in regards to dialogue is to keep it simple. Don't think about it when you write it; get into the characters heads and listen to what they say. You might think simple is boring but look at Tarantino how he creates an interesting atmosphere by placing simple conversation in times of tension.But just don't think about what your writing ,even if you don't like it at the time, you'll know when you read back over it what to fix.It's hard to give advice though when you don't know the type of film it is. Good Luck!!