Master Screenplay Dialogue: The Ultimate Practical Guide On How To Write Dialogue Like The Pros

By Al Bloom

LEARN HOW TO WRITE
DIALOGUE LIKE THE PROS

Without needing to spend a small fortune on screenwriting books, take a class in dialogue writing or get mentored by Quentin Tarantino.

ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO WRITE GREAT SCREENPLAY DIALOGUE?

Don’t worry, we know how you feel, as learning how to write good dialogue can be one of the hardest aspects of screenwriting to master.

This is the first book on writing dialogue of its kind: full of theory hacks, practical exercises and resources that will get your script’s dialogue up where it needs to be.

Theory Hacks. This book contains a set of three theory hacks that dispel many of the myths when it comes to writing dialogue and make it that much easier to craft conversations that sound authentic and engaging.

Practical Exercises. Inside are three super hands-on, rarely discussed practical exercises used by professional screenwriters. Add these to your writing routine and watch your dialogue writing improve 100 percent.

Resources Toolkit. Also included is a set of resources and worksheets that compliment the previous two sections, plus suggested further reading.

Think of the book a 3 step plan to dialogue mastery

1. Identify the reasons why your dialogue isn’t working. One of the biggest problems aspiring screenwriters face is being able to RECOGNIZE poorly written dialogue in their own work. It can be hard to step back and look at the dialogue objectively when you’re deep in the story, and so in the book we show you some practical methods you can use to do just that.

2. Eliminate the main problems holding your dialogue back. We break down the three most common mistakes aspiring screenwriters make when it comes to dialogue: 1. It’s too on-the-nose, 2. There’s too much of it, 3. All the characters sound the same, and show you how to identify and combat each one.

3. Improve your dialogue with a new weekly writing practice. Not only will the theory hacks and practical exercises help you identify and eliminate bad dialogue, they’ll also provide a solid GAME PLAN on how to write interesting, effective dialogue going forward. Implement these exercises into your weekly writing routine and learn how to master dialogue.

In the book will learn…

How to give each one of your characters a VOICE that makes them stand out as individuals through what they say and how they say it.

How to use dialogue examples from poorly written scripts to IMPROVE your own.

How to write VISUALLY and use the dialogue to support a scene rather than drive it.

Conversely, how to craft conversations full of subtext and layers that subtly reveal character and/or drive the scene and plot.

How to know what dialogue to leave in and what to cut.

How to recognize poorly written screenplay dialogue within your own script BEFORE you send it anywhere important.

How to format screenplay dialogue using our definitive, no-nonsense guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Script Reader Pro
• Release date: Jan 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386061397

Book preview

INTRO

As an actor, you are in a unique position because you’re not only memorizing dialogue but really embodying it. You naturally feel the rhythm of good writing.

– Jesse Eisenberg

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Great dialogue not only entertains but also builds conflict, increases tension, propels the story forward, and reveals character and theme. You’ve probably heard this before, right? However, it can a very tricky thing for aspiring screenwriters to pull off because we often tend to approach dialogue as just characters talking. But it isn’t... On the one hand dialogue needs to feel casual and real, just like how people talk in real life. But on the other hand dialogue in a movie isn’t how people talk in real life at all. Instead, it’s a heightened reality in which people never stumble over their words or go off-track, are much wittier than usual and always know just the right thing to say at just the right time. The trick, then, is in making dialogue feel like real life, but with every single word chosen for a reason and earning its place in the script.

Please note: this book probably won’t elevate your screenplay dialogue to a level found in Casablanca overnight. What it will do, however, is get your dialogue working for your script rather than against it, through a series of Theory Hacks and Practical Exercises designed to combat the common pitfalls aspiring screenwriters fall into when it comes to characters’ conversations.

Before we start, we’d like to dispel some of the myths surrounding dialogue—that it’s somehow a bad thing that should always be cut in favor of an image. The show don’t tell advice usually goes something like this: Film is 80 percent visual and 20 percent audio, so you must always use pictures over words. If your script was turned into a silent film, we should still be able to follow what’s going on. While true to a point, this advice is misleading because it fails to account for the fact that if you put on any movie at random, chances are you’ll land on a conversation, not a silent scene or image.

The problem with this advice is that it implies all dialogue is un-cinematic. It implies Tarantino shouldn’t have opened Pulp Fiction on a long conversation between Pumpkin and Honey Bunny in a diner, but instead on them immediately sticking up the place. Likewise, maybe Jon Favreau shouldn’t have opened Swingers on Mike sat opposite Rob in a diner, but instead on him standing outside his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in the rain calling up to her window.

There is, of course, certainly a place for implementing the show don’t tell maxim within scenes, which we’ll get into later. Sometimes it’s better to show a character’s intention or emotion through action rather than dialogue, or by writing a whole scene with little or no dialogue. But if you want to become a screenwriter, you’re going to have to learn how to push scenes forward through the characters’ conversations as well as images.

In order to help you do this, we’ve broken down the three most common mistakes aspiring screenwriters make regarding dialogue, and provided a Theory Hack and a Practical Exercise designed to combat each one.

Firstly, here are the three most common problems:

1. Too much dialogue. Characters ramble, hold speeches and generally waffle on about things with no purpose.

2. Conversations feel clunky, unnatural, cheesy, expository, or what is often referred to as on-the-nose.

3. All the dialogue sounds the same. No matter who’s speaking, every character sounds suspiciously like the writer.  

Eliminate all three of these problem areas from your characters’ dialogue by implementing the techniques in this book—as well as other exercises designed to elevate