by Larry Brody
In an era where screenwriting courses are rampant, available at your local adult school, junior college, university, vocational school, you-name-it, it’s easy to throw yourself into the study of format and technique.
TV Writer.Com, for example, is bombarded daily with questions about the “best” way to show scene transitions, the “most effective” way to write an action scene, and the “most subtle” way to “imply” rather than “state” a new shot.
Now, it’s a given that these elements are important, but it’s more important to remember that although many a screenplay or teleplay has gotten read because it “looked good on the page,” or was “easy to read,” or “followed all the professional rules,” I can’t think of one that was bought for any of those reasons.
Because when you get right to the heart of every sale you’ll find something more. Another kind of “heart.”
I don’t mean schmaltz or warmth, I mean SOUL.
As in passion.
As in energy.
Producers, readers, and audiences want to be moved. They
want to be involved. The best way to do this is to write with real
feeling.
The key to selling your script is to create characters who
feel passionately about something and then put them in a situation
that puts their belief to the test, and to write it in a prose that
gallops along, barely in your control because you care so damn much
you just can’t stop your words from pouring out.
A great writer writing a good script is like a great rider riding a wild horse. Don’t break it, go with it – and your readers and you will end up richer by far.
Another in what I hope will be a long run of helpful hints for TV writers here on TVWriter™ every week. Which brings up a point: If you’d like to share some writing tips with your fellow TVWriter™ visitors, please get in touch with me at larrybrody@tvwriter.com and we’ll try to make a guest post happen.
