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A SCRIPT DOCTOR'S TOP AILMENTS

18/1/2015

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Here's a summary of Fenella Greenfield's recent talk at the London Short Film Festival 2015 about the top ailments she finds in screenplays she's asked to give feedback on.


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Most stories have one main central character and about four ancillary characters.  If your cast list is looking like a telephone directory - prune.

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First act:  a rom-com;  middle act:  a slasher movie;  final act:  an interplanetary showdown? If the answer to this is 'yes' join the club - genre mash-up its one of the most common problems we see in scripts. 
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If we can't see it don't write it.  For example, don't write:  'As he enters the room she remembers that childhood playground encounter when, cruelly, he shoved her from the swing.' Have mercy on the actress asked to 'act' that. 
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Goals like, 'She believes we're on the edge of an environmental catastrophe' can't be seen on screen.  A goal like, 'She's travelling to a landfill in Indonesia to research a piece for the Sunday Times Colour Supplement' can.
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While its true some movies are 'ensemble' pieces consisting of a gaggle of central characters, most have one strong central character who drives forward the action and is on screen at least 85% of the movie.
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'But', you might be saying to yourself, 'I don't want to write some tedious agitprop, award-winning, but coma-inducing polemic' . . . 
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Get some feedback from one of Euroscript's script docs here.
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  • HOME
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