Sunday Picture Post 17 / Style

Screaming tattooed fashion broad
Creative Commons License photo credit: Kevin Goebel

For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.

Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, please post one or all of the following:

  • A title for this movie
  • 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
  • 1 sentence to describe the scene
  • A pitch to sell the entire movie

The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.

A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.

SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: STYLE

A good way to stand out from the pack is by having your own recognizable writing style.

Your writing should feel natural, honest, and comfortable to you, not forced or contrived.

Try to come up something different that has not been done and do it in all of your scripts.

Example: An enormously wealthy and successful screenwriter I know made his mark 30 years ago by writing scripts in a conversational way, as if he was talking to the reader.

Cultivate your unique writing voice.

June 28, 2008 | Filed Under Screenwriting Tips, Sunday Picture Posts 

Comments

6 Responses to “Sunday Picture Post 17 / Style”

  1. Mo on June 29th, 2008 10:23 am

    Title: “All Drag Queens Go To Heaven”

    :D

  2. Ellen Wilson on June 29th, 2008 11:01 am

    Okay. Here goes.

    Hercules of Hair

    One word: Hairy

    Scene: Previously a construction worker, Matt goes off broadway to make his living creating fashionistas. Matt met Lori at a biker bar. He showed her his star tattoo and told her to get out of mud wrestling.

    Pitch: Life, like hair, is full of snarls. Matt and Lori tromp through the underworld of off broadway battling drug addiction and angry theatre goers.

  3. admin on June 29th, 2008 11:35 am

    Laughing. Good ones, Mo and Ellen.

  4. Shane on June 29th, 2008 8:37 pm

    Title: The Downward Horrorshow

    Word: Terror

    Sentence: When Amy Winehouse finds out that she has used up her last vial of cocaine, that was stashed away in her hair, she begins a metamorphosis David Lynch could only dream of.

    Pitch: Haunting sexuality, vivid surrealism, penetrating shadows and fleeting glimpses of reality all comprive The Downward Horrorshow. A successful singer with a heart void of love and an addiction fueled by emptiness dreams of becoming like the people who worship her for her talents; normal. She searches for a place where the truth is further away than the destination.

  5. Ellen Wilson on June 30th, 2008 8:32 am

    Shane,

    I like David Lynch. One of my favorite movies is Drugstore Cowboy.

    Is the truth the destination?

  6. shane on June 30th, 2008 11:26 am

    Drugstore was referenced a lot in Twin Peaks. Probably mutual respect Lynch has for Van Sant. Glad to see you enjoy good cinema!

    I was going to say No, the truth is not the destination. Amy is comatose from an overdose at the Viper Room back when Johnny Depp owned it. Everything that occurred after that point was a lucid dream in her comatose mind.

    But now that you’ve mentioned it… I like it, and will leave it open to interpretation!

    Hooray Ellen Wilson!

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