Screenwriting : Author attempts to be a screenwriter, needs help. by Don Coulson

Hey D.B. I can help you with that. pm me and we can discuss.

Write it all. Then go back through it and look for duplicate things, like showing someone is heartless over and over. The first draft of Nanny McPhee was over 300 pages. Just get it down then start rewrites. Once you have done everything you can ask for help. Don't try to edit during creation.

Definitely check out Pierre's work, and also Stage 32 member Danny Manus, who is very much a part of the Hollywood system.

Define "affordable"? Ballpark numbers please.

This could help you write more economically.

Unlike most forms of writing screenwriting has a certain cadence which comes from writing economically. Since it is usually the one thing that gives newer screenwriters the most trouble and takes a lot of practice to get over people will assume the writer is inexperienced if their script is overwritten. Also, the script is going to make the reader work twice as hard and if the reader has a pile of scripts to read through the trash can is going to look awfully appealing to them.

Anyway, here are the tips for write more economically.

Avoid large blocks of dialogue. Keep action lines to three lines of 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.

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” and replace “and” with a coma or start a new sentence when possible.

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 assume what the answer would be.

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.

Make all your action immediate so eliminate words like "suddenly", "then", "begins to", "starts to" 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."

Also, when writing action try to 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.

Hope this helps.

Great lists! I was not aware of a lot of the eliminated words like "are" "there" "it's" "it is" but I am adding them to my list and checking them per instance.

Hey D.B. I'm an award-winning and distributed film producer looking for a writer with an interesting script for an episodic series. From your post, it looks like you might be interested in collaborating.

Best advice - if you're describing the wallpaper you're overwriting. Yes, cut out all unnecessary descriptions and let the scenes have room to breath. As they say, a lot of white space on the pages helps the read.

Also, if it takes you five pages to get your character out of the bathroom you're overwriting.