October’s Buzz:

DON’T BE VAGUE
(Copyright 2006)
by
Kathryn McCullough

If you want the producer, agent or story analyst reading your screenplay to be completely engaged by the world you have created, then it is important that you be as specific as possible in bringing your tale to life. The vaguer and blander your writing, the harder it is for a reader to visualize and become emotionally involved in what they are reading. This does not mean you need to include chunks of description or minute physical descriptions of your characters. However, you do need to be clear and specific about who your characters are, where the story is taking place and what exactly is happening.

CHARACTER

It is not necessary, and in fact is frowned on, for you to describe your characters down to their shoe size. Unless it is essential to the plot, there is no reason to specify hair color, whether or not a character is short or tall, or even the character’s ethnicity. Being too specific merely limits the casting choices. However, an age range, such as “CHARLIE (40s)” for instance, gives us a general idea of where this character is in their life. For any character under 20, give the exact age. A child who is nine is lot different from a child who is eleven.

It also helps to have a few cogent traits for your principal characters. If you can show this in action and/or dialogue, great, but there is nothing wrong with adding a line after your character is introduced telling us that he is “organized to the point of obsession” or that she is “unrelentingly cheerful.” The best introductory descriptions foreshadow conflict, because we know this trait will be challenged somehow, and also make the character someone we want to know more about.

While we don’t need to know every beat of the character’s backstory, it is essential to place your character in a dramatic, emotional and physical context. In other words, if your character is an adult and employed, then we need to know what his profession is. If he is out of work, make this clear and show us why and what this means for him financially and personally. The character’s relationships with those around him are also important. The script may be a romantic comedy and focus mainly on the protagonist’s relationship with the love interest, but in the real world, she will also have friends, colleagues, and family.

DIALOGUE

Don’t have characters speak in generalities and don’t have them talk in a circular manner. While you want to avoid being on-the-nose, if you are too ambiguous, it will be impossible to tell what you are trying to get across in the dialogue. If a character is purposely avoiding answering a question or addressing a difficult issue, make sure that what they ARE saying is specific, even if it is off point. Comedies especially need strong, clear dialogue. Humor relies on concrete words and images. Ambiguity weakens the joke.

Also, make sure that each of your characters speaks in a distinct voice. If all of your characters sound the same, they will blend together and will fail to come to life. Think of memorable characters from movies you have seen. Most likely, their unique way of speaking is one of the key traits that helped to define them.

PLOT

To keep a reader or viewer engaged in your film story, it is important to be specific about what is happening and why. Movies that fail to explain clearly why an event occurred or why a character has come to a certain conclusion are frustrating for the audience. Also remember that film is a visual medium. When you are writing, visualize what the audience is actually seeing on the screen, and then convey this on the page. Avoid description that tells us what the character is feeling. Instead, show us what she is feeling by describing what she is DOING.

SETTING

Setting is an area that many writers falsely believe SHOULD be vague. Establishing a specific location, as with describing a character in too much depth, would seem to limit the script’s potential, but this is not the case. Location is often a character itself in a film, and the more specific you are in describing it, the more it, the events taking place within it, and the characters participating in these events will come to life. Setting your story in Seattle, for example, paints a clearer picture than merely setting it in “a city.” Seattle, like most cities, has a particular personality. Include specific characteristics the city is known for, such as its weather and landmarks. If your story has a surreal quality that demands it take place in a fictional urban location, you still need to be specific about what this city looks like, how it is laid out, what type of people live there, etc.

The same is true for suburban and rural settings. It is not necessary that a suburb or small town exist on a map, but the town in your story should have a name, even if it is made up, and you must have a clear picture of what it looks like. What is the population? Is the town old or new? What is the ethnic make-up? Is it located in the South? North? Midwest? What is the architecture like? Is it hilly or flat? Not every one of these details needs to be spelled out in the script, but you should be able to answer any of these questions about the town if asked. The more real the location is to the writer, the more believable it will be to the reader.

It is true that a location may very well change by the time the movie is made. THE BIG EASY, for example, was originally set in Chicago but ended up taking place in New Orleans. However, both the script and the film used setting as a character. Had the original screenplay taken place in a generic city, it is quite possible it would not have been as compelling to the filmmakers.

Screenplays are not novels, which require that every aspect of the story be brought to life for the reader. A screenplay is merely the blueprint for a film, but scripts are read before they are made. The more specific you are in getting your story across to the reader, so that they can “see” what you envision happening on the screen, the better your chances of success. Vague scripts are forgettable scripts. Vivid screenplays are compelling and memorable.