How to Instantly Level Up Your Writing

A professionally written script may seem like a hard nut to crack for fledgling writers; but with programs like Final Draft, Writer Duet, and Celtx that are easy-to-use and handle the formatting for you, there’s no excuse not to at least format your script correctly. There’s also a free Chrome extension that will transform google docs into a screenwriting powerhouse for you, which is great if you’re just starting out and want to dabble with the medium without committing to expensive screenwriting software. But even if you have a handle on sluglines, action description, and dialogue, you still have to make a lot of choices which can make the difference between a finished product that reads like a professional at work or an amateur messing around. If you want to level up your writing and be viewed as a professional, there are a few surefire things you can do right now to make that happen.

A quick disclaimer before moving on: There is an element of subjectivity here. Certain choices, like using bold or underline to denote emphasis, will come down to personal preference. There are plenty of ways a talented writer can display their personality on the page that will vary depending on each writer’s unique style. I’m not going to be talking about that. I’m talking about easy changes you can make to drastically improve your script’s readability. 

Readability is king. Readability is everything.

I can’t stress that enough. If you’re submitting your script to a company or competition, odds are good that whoever is reading it has read many, many other scripts that week. Your script will be facing an uphill battle to keep the reader’s attention and interest. The last thing you want is for them to be taken out of the story due to the way your script is formatted. I don't mean things like centering dialogue or using INT vs. EXT. There are a thousand screenwriting books and blogs that cover those basics in exhaustive detail. Once again, I’m talking about readability. Did I say that already? I’ll say it again.

READABILITY IS EVERYTHING

Let’s start with some of the best advice new screenwriters get: show don’t tell. A screenplay is a blueprint for what will end up on screen. The action description should contain only what will be seen or heard, etc. This is fantastic advice, but it can lead to overly-rigid thinking that can block creative writing. This brings me to my first and most important tip:

Eliminate Bland Action Description

Example of bland description:

Kelly and John sit at the table. Kelly stands and looks at John with an angry expression on her face. John looks back at Kelly with a defiant expression. John sits in his chair and looks away from Kelly.

Pretty boring, right? But this is how a lot of scripts are written. Even though talented actors and directors could bring this moment to life, the script will never get that far if it’s written this way. As screenwriters, it’s our job to be concise and economical with our words. We shouldn't use overly-indulgent prose, but we can at least expand our vocabulary beyond basic, overused verbs such as “looks, sits, stands, etc.” Let’s see if we can liven up the above example.

Kelly shoots up from her chair, her cheeks flushed and eyes narrowed at John, who crosses his arms and pointedly directs his gaze anywhere but back at her.

The content of this beat hasn’t changed, but it’s more fun to read. It displays a little more personality and just glides a little more smoothly across the page. It might seem strange to obsess over a single line, but a script isn’t like a novel where a reader can skim over a boring section. Every line in a script is important and serves a purpose. Even the amount of white space between blocks of action and dialogue can be consciously optimized. 

There’s a happy medium that all screenwriters must find between writing robotic stage directions and overdoing the action to include unnecessary details that slow the pacing. Working towards finding that middle ground is the lifelong work of the professional.

Overuse of Parentheses

Parentheses in scripts are a little like semicolons; most people use them incorrectly and should probably avoid them. I just used one in that last sentence. Did I use it correctly? Are you sure?

In a screenplay, I like to think of parentheses as a tool that should only be used in an emergency. If there’s no better place to include a piece of information, maybe I’ll put it in parenthesis.

For example, if you have a scene with multiple characters and you don’t want to waste a line of action on something boring like “Steve looks towards John,” to show who Steve is about to talk to, you could do something like this:

STEVE

   (To John)

Hey, I’m talking to you!

It’s making the action clearer, so it’s probably ok. What you should avoid doing is including action in parentheses, like (Steve picks up the phone). Action belongs in, well, the action description. What you should never do is include a character’s emotion (sadly, angrily, happily). If you’re doing this, you’re failing to communicate the emotion through the dialogue or action like you should be doing. The only exception I would make to this is: (sarcastically) if it wouldn’t be clear otherwise that a character is being sarcastic.

Camera Directions

Another screenwriting cardinal sin is including camera directions such as CLOSE UP, CUT TO, or MATCH CUT. These decisions are up to the director, and including your suggestions on what shots or cuts they should use is like telling them how to do their job, which is annoying. 

That isn’t to say that you can’t make your vision clear in other ways, you just need to be clever about it. Say you’re envisioning a match cut that would make a perfect transition between two scenes. Rather than include a MATCH CUT transition, you could end the first scene by describing, in detail, a character’s eyes. Then you can begin the very next scene by describing another character’s eyes in a very similar way. You don’t need the match cut because you’ve made the cut subconsciously in your reader's brain through your writing. By the way, this works for other transitions, too. You don’t need to write CLOSE UP if your action description is describing a narrow field of focus around a character or object. The close up is implied. And never write CUT TO. Just don’t do it. Every scene has a cut between it unless you’re writing 1917.

Unnatural Dialogue

My final tip in what’s already a too-long post (ok, screenwriters aren’t always concise) has to do with unnatural dialogue. Writing strong dialogue is a skill that all writers have in different measure, but it's something that can be worked on and improved. If we’re speaking from a perspective of readability, then natural-sounding dialogue is extremely important. You don’t need to be Aaron Sorkin, but your dialogue should at least sound similar to how human beings actually speak. A shocking amount of scripts fail to meet this bar.

The good news is there are two exercises you can put into practice right now which will help you write more naturalistic dialogue.

1. Listen to and Observe Real People

When I was getting my MFA from DePaul University (Go Blue Demons!) we had an assignment to sit in a public place like a park or coffee shop and just eavesdrop on people and write down their conversations. A little creepy, sure, but it was a great way to learn how real people actually spoke to one another.

1. Read Your Dialogue Out Loud

Dialogue is meant to be heard, so it only makes sense to read your script out loud. Whether you rope a friend into reading lines with you or stage a full table read of your script with a group of actors, hearing your words read back to you will help immeasurably. You’ll be able to hear which jokes landed and which didn’t, which lines caused actors to stumble, and which monologues felt clunky and awkward. I can’t emphasize enough how important hearing your script read back to you is as a tool of self-evaluation and improvement.

Final Thoughts

Screenwriting is a journey, and writers are constantly growing and improving. But I guarantee that if you follow the above tips you will be miles ahead of the competition. A subpar script can be revised. A solid premise with mediocre execution can be developed and the writer can be worked with. But a script that appears to be written by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing – someone who makes many typos and formatting mistakes – won’t be taken seriously. If your aim is to be a professional writer, then it's time to start writing more professionally.