Screenwriting : Show don't tell by Laurie Gabriel

Your best resource would be quality screenplays of a similar type. Anyone can tell you how to do it, but a well-written script would show you. So what you might want to ask is: who can help you locate good examples?

It's really quite simple. Picture the scene on the screen. If your screenplay reads: "Peggy is upset because she had a hard day at work compounded by her impending divorce." you need to think, how will the audience see that. You can write "Peggy is upset" because an actor can play "upset", upset can be seen. Being upset because she had a hard day at work cannot be seen. Too much exposition and "show-don't-tell" are not the same thing.

I agree with Andy the best way is to read successful scripts. Read your favorite films, see what it looks like one paper. Study how they did it. Another is to simply ask yourself in scenes if you can still get the point across by eliminating some dialogue the answer is always yes. Trim some of the fat and then tackle the exposition. Practice makes perfect.

I like the idea of picturing someone being upset without writing in why. As long as there's some action afterwords that explains it better. Thank you! And definitely find reading my favorite screenplays helps!!

Laurie - Are you talking about exposition through dialogue or action?

through scene descriptions and dialogue.

I think it is not problem. “There are no rules that can’t be broken.” I’m sure somebody said something like that to me early on, and it is true. Rules have a kind of fascination for us. We welcome most the ones that seem like something we already believe or do. We enjoy the silly or odd ones. We ignore the rest. But there is almost no important rule that cannot be overturned. According to the rules in screenwriting the film must have a balance between action and dialogs, no back story. But many successful films have many dialogues (Straw dogs), back story (Bladerunner, Starwars). If you have good story do whatever you want. Use your intuition, not a logic. The script is only blueprint of movie. It is director's job to bring it to life. Director can make film more visual with different blocking and different angles, many other methods. Director works with actors. If you story is great, it can be done in one location. For example The rope of Alfred Hitchcock, The Bear by Anton Chekhov and many others. All of them have been done breaking many rules and were successful.

About "Peggi is upset". If you describe the emotions in your script, most likely they will be eliminated by director. It does not mean that you should never describe any emotions. Of course, you can do to imagine your story. But most directors disregard the emotional content in the script. The job of screenwriter and job of director are completely different. How directors work? Very first step of script breakdown is elimination any emotional content from script. For example: they get rid of lines like "she cries", "she screams". Directors goal is avoiding a result-oriented directing. What is the result oriented directing? A common mistake of a Director is so called Result-Oriented Directing. This is an old method of directing when directors demanded that actors play a particular “result” as a specific emotion, feeling, or expression. Putting any emotions in the script works like emotional map. It does not work. Emotions should be stirred spontaneously. That is why directors eliminate from the script the descriptions of character's inner life. For example: "warmly" "kindly", "longingly". They cross out adjectives, adverbs, indications of transitions, psychological explanations and emotional maps. It is especially important to cross out the parentheticals: "pause", "beat" or "he takes a moment." All of them are not playable.

Don't forget to let the actor act. If what you as the writer believe a character feels in a given moment isn't coming across through action and dialogue, keep rewriting...

please excuse this random stranger chiming in here: Movies are about what your characters do and say, not what they did before the movie started. as an example, if you only had one scene to show that a character was deathly afraid of pudding, would it be more interesting to have them talk about why or how the became terrified of pudding, or to show them terrified of pudding? or, to put it another way: if you have to explain a joke it probably isn't very funny.

Dan, I agree. One of the first things I learned at film school was you need to learn the rules before breaking them. If screenwriting is just a hobby than that's probably not as important. The reason there is a certain structure is because it works and appeals to an audience.

Todd, I do agree that too much information can spoil the moment/scene. Thank you for your input. I like that you just go into a scene without telling your audience why they are doing what they are doing.