| [BACK]
A common mistake made by younger screenwriters is to make a character sound older than he really is.
For example, I recently read a script in which the main character is 53. He develops a friendship with a guy in his 20s. The way the screenwriter handled the dialogue for the 53-year-old was to make him sound like an 80-year-old.
The story was good, but virtually 90% of the 53-year-old's dialgoue was unbelievable and unrealistic. The author had to do a page one rewrite and recreate the character.
Remember: men and woman in their early-late 50s are babyboomers. They came of age in the Sixties when sex, drugs and rock n' roll was the theme. The so called Summer of Love was 1967. That 53-year-old character would have been 15 in 1967. He most likely had long hair, smoked grass, maybe got laid or tried to and was informed about the pop culture of his time.
Often, Twenty-and-Thirtysomethings forget that their Fifty-something parents were young once.
So if you're going to write dialogue that is "old" make sure you give it to someone in his or her Seventies and Eighties.
|
