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Guest Post: Raising the game – How Fluid Descriptions Can Fuel Your Script

Here’s a guest post by the lovely Michelle Goode of Writesofluid – helping you write so fluidly! Since launching proofreading services alongside script reading services, I’ve begun to appreciate format and style on a whole new level. It’s about more than just spotting a few typos and correcting a few misplaced apostrophes; proofreading your script can highlight some really interesting issues.Repetition. For example, you may not be aware that you are repeating words or phrases throughout your entire script. Your characters may have a penchant for picking up their bag or sitting down. Sure, picking up a bag may be… Read More »Guest Post: Raising the game – How Fluid Descriptions Can Fuel Your Script

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Screenwriting Tip: Audio Description For The Blind By Eleanor Ball

I’ve just discovered a brilliant new source of writerly inspiration. And if you’ve not already discovered it yourself, I recommend you plunge right in: Audio description for the blind.It happened the other day when I was checking out old episodes of The Apprentice (yep, I’m still livin’ large and workin’ hard). The recent series is the first I’ve ever seen, and I’d noticed no sign of Alan Sugar being anywhere near as abrasive as people warned me, so I thought maybe he was worse in previous series and wanted to sample this for myself. Anyway, it took me a few… Read More »Screenwriting Tip: Audio Description For The Blind By Eleanor Ball

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4 Big Non Linearity Mistakes In Screenplays

Non Linearity is big news I’d venture for every ten spec screenplays I read, at least three will feature non linearity. Renowned non linear movies include Pulp Fiction, Memento, Twelve Monkeys, The Bourne Supremacy, Slumdog Millionaire, Groundhog Day and Premonition. Non-linearity sometimes finds its way into TV spec screenplays too  – particularly of the supernatural genre – usually in the form of flashback. (For the purposes of this post, note that when I say “non linearity”, I mean the “beginning, middle, end” will not necessarily be in *that* order). I love non linearity. Done well, it can really add a new… Read More »4 Big Non Linearity Mistakes In Screenplays

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Scene Focus 3: Readers Versus Writers

As my final word on this series, I thought I would take a look at the decisions we make in pushing the story forward with our scenes throughout our scripts. Very often scenes are good in the spec script: the dialogue may be well-drawn, the characters interesting – yet the scene does little to move the story forward. But what does this mean? Well, as a reader, very often I will read a scene and wonder how it “fits” in the bigger picture of the script itself. It’s as basic as that. It appears to me as a reader (rightly… Read More »Scene Focus 3: Readers Versus Writers

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Scene Focus # 2: The Literal Versus The Universal

I read a lot of scripts that essentially retell people’s personal experiences. This is really interesting to me because I am in actual fact one of the nosiest people in the entire world. I want to know everything about everyone, whether it benefits me or not. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not the net-curtain-twitching-type and nor do I spy on my neighbours with the aid of a telescope or binoculars. I’m nosy, not freaky. However, I figure that if you’re actually talking to me, you’re fair game. So, if you’ve ever had a conversation with me in real life, whether… Read More »Scene Focus # 2: The Literal Versus The Universal

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Scene Focus # 1: The Ordinary Versus The Extraordinary

Very often when I’m reading a script it doesn’t feel “tight” enough. It’s not that it’s badly structured, with bits missing or sprawling all over the place like a teenager in tracky bottoms hogging the sofa and the remote; instead it just feels “lumpy”. It’s more of a sense, something you can see only in your peripheral vision. It’s also something that seems able to strike any writer, at any time, new or professional. What’s more, script readers themselves are not immune to it – and it can only be diagnosed by someone else, for it’s impossible to see on… Read More »Scene Focus # 1: The Ordinary Versus The Extraordinary

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