Comments on: Words Into Pictures

By: Karel

Karel — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:41:54 +0000

Thank you for the reply, Julie.

My confusion arose from the fact that most screenplays I read have WAY TOO MUCH description, creating a reader’s experience close to that of a novel.

Perhaps we will agree to disagree: I believe professional readers see through this seduction, you can’t con them if the drama, tension, anticipation aren’t there. If they are, no need to hypnotize.

I urge people to make the story move as quickly as possible, help the reader FLY through the story with lots of white and a tight page count.

Then again, depending on the genre and the pace of the story stage you’re in, you might indeed linger on an image just a little longer. This might work at the beginning of a new sequence, right after a climax, but to my taste it wouldn’t anywhere else.

I surely wouldn’t recommend it as a rule throughout the script.

Perhaps it’s just me: I prefer ‘crafty’ writers over ‘artful’ ones. (LOL)

By: JulieGray

JulieGray — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:27:30 +0000

@Karel – we are using our words to not only tell a story but to tell it in a way that seduces the reader into the mood and tone you are striving to establish. The woods, with the sharp scent of pine and sun dappled leaves is extremely evocative and because the human mind is so suggestive, suddenly the reader is IN that scene, smelling pine. I agree about the 3 c’s – very much – but artful writers have room for a tiny bit more. It’s about being almost hypnotically manipulative of the reader.

By: Karel

Karel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:27:40 +0000

Over at the Story Dept. we’re puzzled about the smells.

If the audience can’t see or hear them, why would you dedicate valuable page real estate to it?

And how do you do it without leading the reader into believing ‘amateur’?

Personally, I stick to the “3 C’s of a Scene”:

Clarity
Concision
Color

In that order.

By: J

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:17:44 +0000

I pay special attention to adjectives.

One false adjective move and your script is suddenly annoying.
Especially if the adjective is one no one’s ever heard of.

By: James

James — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:04:58 +0000

Sounds like it was fun! Great job

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:16:05 +0000

Good post Julie, as well as the last several. This post definitely comes at a right time since I’m in polishing mode. Definitely pumps me up to, in a way, create poetry out of my action lines.

I also looked into your Script Department’s sample notes. Very valuable stuff. I will have to try your service out soon.