Screenwriting : This is A Tight Question by Vanshdeep Singh

Using the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet is a good helping tool for tighten it. :) Do you use this?

Identify the scenes or parts of scenes that are crucial to the plot. Then look at everything between those scenes. Is it necessary? Does it move the story forward? If not, cut it or rewrite.

Also, do your characters talk too much? I saw a good tip somewhere, which was basically: Come into a scene as late as possible and leave as early as possible.

Do you enter a scene as late as possible? Do you leave it as soon as possible?

This is a. easy way of making a script tight.

Loose version:

EXT. SHOP

Craig walks up to the shop.

INT. SHOP

He enters, he approaches Vanshdeep who looks at craig and see the anger in his eyes.

V: What wrong.

C: I’ll tell you what’s wrong

....... Tight version

INT. SHOP

Craig and Vanshdeep are brawling in a battle to the death on the floor of the shop.

In the loose version we argue and eventually come to blows. The fight is the point of the scene, start there.

Have you checked out the flow of dialogue? Sometimes adding a few lines here and there can add some flavor to characters or situations but other times it can just be distracting. Does it stay focused?

Thanks Stephanie for the suggestion on Snyder's Beat sheet. I wasn't using it till now. :)

Thanks Christiane, Craig and Bill on the dialog. I think this is my main weakness. I noticed my characters talk TOO much.

Thanks Nick and Julia on the advice for sculpting more details. Some of my characters lack certain personality and hence feel bland. I'll look into it more :)

It could mean many things. Removing the "ands", "buts", "ifs", "then's", for example, will tighten it up. Go easy on the narrative and make dialogue count without being too wordy! Eliminate the fat, use only what can be seen or heard on the screen. Go over it again, and again, and again. You'll drop pages like crazy if you do this.

Thanks A Lot Gary :)

I agree with Gary. Obviously you can't remember everything here but you can do a word search and tighten up your screenplay later on.

Screenwriting is different than other forms of writing. They have a certain cadence to them that comes from writing economically. Here are a few tips when writing action and descriptions.

Keep action lines to three lines or under and four at the very most.Write only what we can see and avoid character’s thoughts. You should only write the physical manifestation of their emotions.

Keep a single event, shot or sequence within one description. Have the sentences that compose your description all related to one another then if the action changes you should start a new paragraph.

Don’t describe every detail in the scene. Avoid describing character’s every movement. Paint your scenes with broad strokes and let the reader’s imagination fill in the rest.

Make all your action immediate so eliminate words like "suddenly", "then", "begins to", "starts to", as” and just make the action happen without any sort of temporal qualifier. For example: "Suddenly, he runs off." becomes "He runs off." "She starts to climb" becomes "She climbs." Replace the "to be" verbs with an active verb or eliminate them entirely. For example, "She is in uniform" becomes "In uniform.” "It is dark outside" becomes “Dark, " etc.

Avoid words that can usually be eliminated such as “are”, “and”, “there”, “it is”, “it's”, “to go”, “to say”, “is”, “to be” and words ending in “ly” and “ing”.

In dialogue you can usually eliminate first words of dialogue such as "Well", "No", "Yes", "Of course", "I mean", etc. Eliminate words like "hello", "goodbye", "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" unless used for irony or emphasis.

Avoid having your character ask questions but when they do don’t have the other character answer if the audience will automatically assume what the answer would be.

Thanks A Lot Dan. It's really Helpful :)

One advice that I was given and works for me when I'm revising and rewriting: cut out any scene that doesn't move the story forward. Good luck.

Thanks Adite :)

Just to add to the variables of this meaning, it could also mean that you are stating the obvious, such as: using too many parentheses, using unnecessary transitions, explaining things in the action lines, poor grammar, using past-tense, not having any conflict in a scene, irrelevant subplots, no character changes (arcs), poor readability or simply no one cares about your characters etc... It's not easy, but remember the current trends are 'less is more'. Write well and enjoy the rewrites :)