I'm too lazy to quote right now and go over point by point. So I'll just address my overall one.

I agree with a lot of the stuff you wrote above Dreamscale. My point is why should a writer get confined to using rules most have shown no regard for? Why should I be careful that my action lines don't go past 4 lines, when I see writers have success with 5 or 6. You might be turned off by it, but a lot of people that buy scripts don't seem to care if you use asides, we see, we hear, overuse parenthetical and so on.

People are having success writing the way they want to write, so people should not be discouraged from doing so if they choose to go down that path. It makes no sense to be a stickler about things that have proven not to be much of a factor.

Thanks, Demento.  It's so hard to strike that balance between taking advice and sticking to your style.  I guess we should strive for a combination of both...

Rob

Me too...no more quotes!

I guess for me, it comes down to this...

Why would I want to write or do anything, for that matter, something that doesn't make sense or is just downright incorrect?

Why would I want to use extra words that only make the script harder to read or take longer to read?

Because we all have a very finite amount of words to use in each and every script, why wouldn't we want to make each and every word count...at least for something?

"We see" and "We hear" completely waste 6 and 7 "spaces" every single time they're used.  There's no getting around that.

Repeating the Slug location in the opening line, under a new Slug completely wastes as many spaces as it takes to repeat that word(s).  There's no getting around that.

Countless examples of this are possible, and very often, this causes the line to spill onto another line, so you now have a completely wasted line (orphans and at times just overwriting or repetitive writing).  There's no getting around that.

Obviously, writers can write any way they choose to.  My point is always to make peeps aware of things and how they can work for or against you.  As long as everyone actually understands the plusses and minuses of what they're doing, it's up to them how to proceed and write the best possible script they're capable of.

Quoted from Rob Barkan It's so hard to strike that balance between taking advice and sticking to your style.  I guess we should strive for a combination of both...

Just something for future reference...

...at the end of the day it matters far less how many words you use, than if you are using the right words.

I try to let this guide me.

Happy Trails

Ghost

Quoted from Grandma Bear I just finished The Babysitter. One of the highest rated scripts on The Blacklist. It was definitely written in a very unconventional way. The action writing is stretched to a single sentence per line making the script longer than what it would normally be. The script is only 85 pages if you don't count the one page near the middle that has only the words WHAT THE FUCK in ridiculously huge fonts on it. It that script was filmed, I doubt it would even make a 60 minute film. The script is not bad though. It kept me reading, but I'm not a big fan of some of these ridiculous lengths some writers go to in order to try to create their own voice.

Hey Pia -

Yep, read the Babysitter, recently too.  The WHAT THE F*CK page really horrified me.  Not because of the language, just the unnecessary gimmick.  (And it rather shocked the lady sitting next to me in the subway who peeked over.    ) Basically, it was The Purge meets Home Alone....  and you're right - it was extremely light in story.  Breezy writing, I'll give it that.  But very lightweight.  And it does go to show... the rules do get broken in the biz regularly.  Which doesn't mean us writers shouldn't hold to the highest standards of formatting ourselves...

i always like Kevin's mantra of 'turn the page'

however you have written it, whatever style you choose, does it compel the reader to carry on, turn the page...because they want to (ignore competitions in this).

surely thats what we strive for.

a good story.

well told

clear and brisk,

and...

compelling


perfecting format, language, tone etc should all help in this but they can be written in many ways.

now, back to real writing

There can be many reasons why a badly written script gets made... but how many of those badly written scripts started out as spec's?

Quoted from wonkavite Hey Pia - Yep, read the Babysitter, recently too.  The WHAT THE F*CK page really horrified me.  Not because of the language, just the unnecessary gimmick.  (And it rather shocked the lady sitting next to me in the subway who peeked over.    ) Basically, it was The Purge meets Home Alone....  and you're right - it was extremely light in story.  Breezy writing, I'll give it that.  But very lightweight.  And it does go to show... the rules do get broken in the biz regularly.  Which doesn't mean us writers shouldn't hold to the highest standards of formatting ourselves...

The writing looks terrible on that script...but frankly, I would be sold on your pitch alone:

Purge meets Home Alone.


If I was a Production company with money, that sounds like a no-brainer. You don't even need to read the script. Even if it's garbage, you would just trust the director you hire to sort it out.

I think most amateur scripts fall down at this very first hurdle, tbh. The premise isn't fit for Hollywood purpose.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films The writing looks terrible on that script...but frankly, I would be sold on your pitch alone: Purge meets Home Alone. If I was a Production company with money, that sounds like a no-brainer. You don't even need to read the script. Even if it's garbage, you would just trust the director you hire to sort it out. I think most amateur scripts fall down at this very first hurdle, tbh. The premise isn't fit for Hollywood purpose.

Hey Rick...

Actually, the writing's pretty decent in the Babysitter.  And you're right - the premise does get one's attention.  My personal problem with it (my opinion, of course) is that the script is so DARNED light.  There's no subplot.  The writer has a tendency to do one line descriptions, one after another - which artificially lengthens the page count.  And, when it comes down to it, the "big bad" in this one is very one dimensional.  She's Michael Meyers with a little more depth and character - but not lots.  (Halloween meets the Hand That Rocks the Cradle?)    Do I think it could be beefed up to fill in the gaps?  Yep.  But there's not much meat on the Babysitter's bones as-is...