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My POV
by Brian A. Wilson
The Basics
TOP TIPS FOR READER-PLEASING WRITING
In the last two columns, I provided a brief overview of coverage and its components.
For the next three columns, I want to suggest ways you can enhance your chances of advancing your script, as seen from the reader's perspective. Naturally, there are exceptions to every observation. Extract what you can from my experiences and use the information as you see fit.
Here are my Top Tips for thrilling the reader and getting your script to the next level:
*At the outset, tells us when we are and where we are in your story. Get the reader settled into your tale right away. Instead of just EXT. TOM'S HOUSE - DAY, consider EXT. SUBURBAN MILWAUKEE - TOM'S HOUSE - DAY (PRESENT DAY). This can be as simple as putting PRESENT DAY or the year at the end of your first slug line. Don't assume just because you know it's 1981 in your story, that your reader will know, or that your reader will figure out where this is taking place by page 20. Be clear, be concise, set your story immediately and move on.
*Write a big idea. Scripts that try to make 120 pages out of winning the big high school game, pulling a big heist or thumb-sucking and musing about a big relationship now ended usually feel small and flat. This doesn't mean your story has to be as epic as Gladiator, nor as manic as Gone in Sixty Seconds, nor as disturbing as Chuck and Buck.
It means it has to have another level of interest, beyond simply winning the big game. Shakespeare in Love wasn't an epic, but it was a resonant, fresh idea that explored the richness of human experience. Be sure your story has high stakes, both emotionally and visually, high enough that it's worth watching for two hours to see how it all shakes out.
*Admittedly, this is a personal quirk. But what's the point of writing a column if not to address personal quirks? Do me a favor: Write something besides a Mafia movie! I'm not sure why, but every third script that shows up seems to be another take on the mob movie. Funny ones, serious ones, smart wise guys, dumb wise guys, cowboy wise guys, all replete with "Fugeddaboudit"or "Forget about it" or even "Forgeddaboutit." Not to say a mafia movie won't open next week and do killer box office. Not to say that you're not writing the mob movie that's better than The Godfather; perhaps your last name is Puzo and you're about to top yourself. But if not, your effort will slide into the pile with the dozens and dozens of similar scripts populated with an ensemble cast, overly-familiar dialogue and a caper plot.
Good luck and keep writing.
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