The Top 5 Mistakes and What You Can Do About Them
It’s not easy writing your first screenplay. What do you put in? What do you leave out? There’s a lot of information out there – some of it good, some bad. If you’re new to screenwriting, these five mistakes are the ones most likely to send your script to the reject pile.
1. Not knowing what a feature film screenplay looks like. It’s a common mistake for beginning screenwriters to format their scripts in novel format. Scripts must be formatted correctly in order to be taken seriously by agents, managers and producers. For that matter, even if you don’t want to sell your script, it should look like a real screenplay just because it will make your life easier later on when you go into production.
2. Writing in passive voice. Beginning writers tend to write in passive voice instead of active voice because they’re more comfortable with it. But passive voice is boring and can make your dialogue sound stiff and unnatural. Active voice makes for more exciting reading and makes dialogue sound like normal speech patterns.
3. Not using proper grammar or punctuation or formatting techniques. Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, but once you’re done with your draft,
We all know that the best-laid plans can go awry, but the 5 mistakes I’ve listed below are especially common and easy to avoid. Here’s what you can do to make sure your first screenplay is a winner!
1. Lack of Structure – The first of the top 5 mistakes in writing screenplays is lack of structure. The most common mistake made by beginning screenwriters is a failure to create a compelling story structure that pulls the reader/viewer along down the path of discovery toward an ending that makes sense and surprises them a little.
2. Failure to Engage the Reader – The second most common mistake made by beginning writers is that they don’t engage their readers from page 1 with dialogue, action and/or conflict. What you want to do is hook your reader by creating a character or situation that he or she can care about.
3. Writing Bad Dialogue – Writing good dialogue is an important skill for any writer but it’s especially important for screenwriters because so much of what happens in film happens through conversation.
4. Failure to Develop Characters – A great screenplay has engaging characters. The easiest way to create engaging characters is to make them human, which means giving them flaws as well as strengths, foibles as well as great
The first screenplay I ever wrote was a disaster. One day, I walked out of my office, and didn’t go back for nearly two years.
I had been a feature film development executive for seven years, and it seemed there was nothing else for me in the entertainment industry. My career as a screenwriter was over before it had even begun.
Or so I thought.
A few years later, I began to miss working in the movie business, so I decided to try again at writing screenplays. And this time, with some luck, my script had the sort of success that virtually no first scripts ever have…
It was produced by Steven Spielberg’s company and directed by John Singleton (Boyz N The Hood), with Laurence Fishburne starring as the lead. I realized that if someone like me could do it, then almost anyone could do it.
So in 1996, I created Screenwriters University and began teaching people how to write screenplays. Over the years, I’ve found there are 5 mistakes most new writers make which sabotage their chances of selling their work and getting into print:
Most screenwriters make the same mistakes over and over again. Here are the 5 most common mistakes I see in screenplays and how to fix them:
1. Your characters talk like they’re in a play
2. Your characters talk like they’re in a novel
3. You write too many characters, they only get a couple of lines each, and we don’t care about any of them
4. You use too many locations
5. There are too many subplots and not enough primary plot
It can be difficult to correct these issues unless you have someone read your work, point out the flaws and explain how to improve the script. But that’s exactly what our First Feature program is designed to do: help you write a great screenplay by identifying the flaws in your current draft, or helping you create a story from scratch. Sign up for our email list to find out when our next course is starting!
Most people have a story or a film idea they want to write about. They sit down with a blank computer screen and start typing away. The problem is that most of them are making some very basic mistakes without realizing it.
Here are the top five…
Mistake
The number one mistake made by beginning screenwriters is creating characters that are all “good guys” or all “bad guys”. If you want your script to be compelling and have characters the audience can care about, you need to create characters that are a mixture of both. The more developed the character, the more interesting they will be to watch.
Creating compelling characters is done through character development. Character development means giving a character an inner life, conflict, motivation and desire.
A person who is motivated by money would never do anything for free. A person motivated by love would always do things for free. The same could be said of someone motivated by revenge or loyalty or any other human emotion and motivation.
The best way to think about creating interesting and complex characters is to ask yourself what motivates them? What are their flaws? What do they fear? What are their strengths?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ll have created a fully developed character and one that an audience can care about and relate to on some level.
