Screenwriting : Your Screenplay Sucks! A Helpful Book Written by William M. Akers by Beth Fox Heisinger

Beth - Akers's book is one of the better ones out there on the subject; I refer to it often. Another good one is John Truby's book 'The Anatomy of Story'.

Beth

Sounds like a good book. I'm going to get myself a copy. Thanks for posting.

Yeah, totally agree, Doug. ;) I love the lessons/tips that deal with character and story settings. Like #10: You haven’t made “place” a character in your story. I have seen this lack of detail and nuance in many scripts that I have read. A writer will just list a bunch of adjectives to describe a place in one big blob of a paragraph and leave it at that. Or they’ll say something really vague, like “small town.” Okay? Creating a sense of place and how that environment affects characters throughout a script is really vital. This is something I’m focused on right now, working on rewrite. So it was really helpful to read over #10 again. ;)

You’re welcome, Phillip. :)

This is one of the best books out there. First time I read it, I dang near threw it in the trash can... because it busted several things I had been doing in scripts. Read this book before you write... rewriting will be easier. Love this book!!

Happy to hear that, Philip S! Thanks for commenting. :) So... what were the things you were doing that the book busted you on? Would you please share? Maybe one?

Me too, Aray!

Beth, I don't remember exactly. I've had it for quite some time. Make it a point to reread once a year or so...

Philip S: Okay, thanks. Much appreciated. ;) Then... Would you please share your own little nugget of wisdom? What is one thing or tip that you think/feel can help make a screenplay great? ;)

Well, a couple of things.

Map out your action logic. Make sure what's in your head is on the page and in the correct order.

Then, subtext. Learn what it is (responding in that indirect way that so many people do when they don't chose to give a straight answer, and within itself is more revelatory), and use it to ensure dialogue is not on the nose or expository. When I am brought in on a script, these are two things that always stand out.

Agree with Phillip Sedgwick - if you want to write a screenplay that sucks, go ahead and break the logic of your world. That sucks, and so will your screenplay.

And when I say "you", I'm not referring to you, Phillip Sedgwick - it's a generic "you" to all writers who can easily find themselves breaking logic at the corner of "Your Script" and "Sucks."

I LOVE this book! I saw it recommended by someone on this site a year or two ago, and picked up a copy. It's been a great help. I liked "The Seven Deadly Sins of Screenwriting..... okay, 16 Deadly Sins. So sue me!" Those words no longer appear in my scripts (except on very rare occasions) and are taped to the bottom of my computer monitor, lest I forget!

I'll never forget this. Several years ago, I was asked by a very highly reputable person who worked in Special Effects to write a script for a genre I was unfamiliar with but thought I'd give it a try. After I wrote it, I presented it to him and he threw it back at me (literally) and said "This sucks. You suck as a writer." Of course I wasn't happy to hear that and I'm sure I shed a tear or two (probably not), it only fueled me to work harder. Honestly, having worked in advertising, marketing and television, I was use to the harsh criticism. Anyway, I read books on screenplays, did tons of research, read several hundred screenplays, etc.to improve my craft and several years later, I became a Quaterfinalist in the 2018 Page Awards. What I learned is, accept the criticism as harsh as it can be sometimes. If it doesn't fuel you then maybe being a screenwriter isn't your thing but that's for you to decide. Just thought I'd share. Have a great day everyone!

Great words of wisdom, Philip S. Thank you! ;)

Yikes, Christine! That's tough! Happy to hear you persevered, dug in, did the hard work, and turned it onto something good—for yourself as well! Thanks for sharing. ;)

I probably should have commented under the other post but it seems to have gotten out of hand : )

Okay, so looking over the 100 ways a script may suck and how to fix it... I stopped on #58: You do not describe main characters with a concise, telling, two (or so) sentence character description.

Yup, a well-written wee bit goes a long way.

I also have always found John August's advice on the matter to be very insightful and truly helpful: "Look for details that have an iceberg quality: only a little bit sticks above the surface, but it represents a huge mass of character information the reader can fill in."

My two cents: I'll add that I have developed a dislike of character intro paragraphs, or rather dump-it-all-in-one-long-paragraph character intros. What makes a screenplay great, in my opinion, is when a character intro or aspects of a character are strung and woven through several pages and throughout the script as a whole. It better pulls the reader into and through the story. Use context, the action, subtext, relationships, dialogue, dialect, and the story environment to drip, drip, drip information and craft elements and essence about a character. A character should feel as if she/he has already been living well before your story even takes place. Many intros just plop a character in as if she/he suddenly now exists. Poof!

A fantastic example of great character development and well-crafted intros are found in MUD, screenplay written by Jeff Nichols. The first 15 pages or so can teach you a lot about how to introduce characters and capture the story world and essence of a place. Oh, especially pay attention to Mud's intro. Here's the script: https://www.scriptslug.com/assets/uploads/scripts/mud-2012.pdf. :)

I'm going to order this book. It looks very helpful.

I need to read this book. It's on the list :-)

Not sure if this makes the top 100 but something I was really guilty of when I started out was that all my characters spoke in the same voice - MY voice!

I haven't read the book but the author has a blog where I get the impression he says a lot of the same stuff there that's in his book. There's some good stuff in it if you read through it:

https://yourscreenplaysucks.wordpress.com/

I remember sending him an email years ago telling him I love the title of his book. And I recommended a blog topic to him, but can't remember what it was. Supposedly he does script consulting for like $1000 for 1 script. And he said something once like, of all the spec scripts he's read and given notes on, only 1 was good enough to send to an agent.

Over the years, I've collected probably a couple or yards of screenwriting related books on my shelves. The vast majority of them simply re-hash the same old stuff. The three books constantly on my desk are: Trottier's The Screenwriter's Bible, Truby's The Anatomy of Story and Aker's Your Screenplay Sucks. Combined they take up about three inches of space and are a pretty complete contemporary library by themselves. No to downplay the more notable historical books.

I just don't know how this guy found out my screenplays suck. Maybe he talked to my wife.

Dan - maybe he's a N Korean computer hacker. Go back to writing with a #2 pencil on a legal pad, under the bed covers, with a flashlight. And don't under any circumstances ever let anyone read your scripts.

What really registered with me was Save the Cat--it helped me to understand structure in a way that was practical for me. I'm in the second half of Act 2 in my sixth franchise script--the beat sheet has made it and the other scripts so much easier to write.

I start with the opening and closing images which mirror each other (my scripts make a complete circle) and with the midpoint of the story. I then determine what each of the other beats will be in the story (sometimes these can change as I'm writing) and write the script in chunks from one beat to the next.

This works for me and makes script-writing so much better than what it was when I first began.

Btw, an example of the opening and ending image mirroring each other is in Sleepless in Seattle: In the first scene, Sam and Jonah say good-bye to their first wife/mother while in the last scene, Sam and Jonah say hello to their new wife/mother.

Well, with this book it isn't about structure, per se, it's more about the actual writing itself. ;)

I'm afraid I've never read the book. Instead, I pay readers one at a time to tell me a screenplay sucks. While readers range widely in their skill and even their approach to the task, they still read what you wrote. The best ones can identify and articulate critical issues (if there are any). The poorest ones can also be the great sounding boards; they're engaging like an audience member. They agreed to devote some time to your work, but you have to win and reward them. Look past the exact words of the poorly articulated critique to understand why they were not entertained or enlightened. Use their eyes to see if anything they felt resonates with that critic inside you that isn't completely convinced everything is working. You have to build a fan base for your movie, starting with the first person after yourself who reads it and loves it.

Developing and honing your own barometer for knowing and recognizing good writing is not only vital to your own work but a good skill set to have as well. This book gives you much to think about, certainly, if you are new to screenwriting. ;)

Great comments, thanks! Anyone have their own tip to share? What do you think makes a screenplay great?