✍️ Can’t afford an editor? Don’t have access to Final Draft’s ‘Speech Control’?
Read your script aloud. This will help you learn your flow.
- You’ll discover stilted dialogue.
- You'll find mistakes and language that could be simplified.
- Plus, you'll trip over sections of your script that are too long and get ideas for breaking them up.
✍️ Want to hear script out loud without reading it yourself? Can’t afford a table read?
Gather a group of friends to read your script aloud. Even if they’re not professional actors, you’ll learn which areas of your script need a further rewrite.
However, make sure you’re clear on whether you’re asking for feedback or not (and if so, remain open to ideas). Also make sure you’re asking for help from supportive friends. The table read should help you improve your script, not tear it apart causing you a p.1 rewrite.
✍️ What helps you improve your scripts?
✍️ Have any burning questions about proofreading and editing for screenplays/scripts?
Let me know in the comments!
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A couple other ways I proofread my scrips are, 1) Print out the script and read it line by line with a bookmark. Isolating each line essentially "highlights" that line so that your focus is entirely on it. 2) Export it to a PDF and, if possible, read it on another device. Once it is etched in stone, outside the software you're using to write it, your brain works differently and detects errors, etc.
Great points Ty! Thanks for sharing those!
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Angela, I do the same things Ty does: I print out the FDR version of each script of mine...plus I save each screenplay as a PDF.
Can't afford a proofreader...so I need to act as my own proofreader. (And I'm okay with that!)
So glad you're here on Stage 32...all the VERY BEST to you!
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I should add that for my novels, I do hire a copy editor. The denser format and volume of content exceed my patience.
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Thank you for the resources.
Thanks Jim Boston - that's still a great way to do it that I used until I found Speech Control! Sounds like you're doing a great job being your own proofreader!
Sounds like a good choice Ty. I can understand how that would be difficult. Anything that helps, especially because you learn so much from the process after seeing what another person's eyes catch!
You're welcome, Tasha!