Archive for the ‘screenplay dialogue’ tag

12 Characteristics of Great Dialogue

William Goldman said, “Dialogue is among the least important part of a screenplay.”

Yep, he’s right. Character development and story structure are far more valuable elements of a script than dialogue. Film is visual. Of course, good dialogue is an essential element of a successful screenplay. But the best crafted and most witty dialogue won’t make a good film if the other components are missing. Great screenplays tell the story with as little dialogue as possible (unless you’re Quentin Tarantino), so each word of dialogue needs to be the best it can be.

Creating effective dialogue is challenging for many writers. But crafting good dialogue is a skill that can be mastered by anyone (it just takes some of us longer than others to get there.) The best way to learn is by analyzing good dialogue. View a few of your favorite well-written films, or better yet read the screenplays, and note what techniques the writers use to create compelling dialogue.

Here are 12 characteristics of great dialogue to get you started:

1. Fits the genre – thriller film dialogue is visceral and terse, dialogue in comedy scripts is witty and funny, and epic adventures contain language that is heroic and grand. “At my command, unleash hell” (Gladiator)

2. Fits the specific scene – for instance, if the scene is driven by conflict the dialogue presents opposing objectives.

3. Defines character – the way characters speak reveals their background, lifestyle, education, personality, values, and attitudes. Erin Brockovich: “They’re called boobs, Ed”

4. Reveals motivation – can provide a glimpse of why a character does what he does.

5. Demonstrates relationships – characters may speak differently to each character they come in contact with, revealing the relationship between the characters. A character may talk one way to his daughter, another way to his best buddy, and yet another way to his boss.

6. Foreshadows – hints at future events and reminds the reader what is at stake

7. Reflects emotions – showing how a character feels, rather than telling

8. Has emotional impact – evokes a response from the viewer, such as laughter, sadness, curiosity, tension, or anticipation.

9. Is active and serves a purpose – good scenes often involve one character trying to get something from another in an active and purposeful manner, for instance through seduction, force, confrontation, negotiation, coercion, warning, provocation, etc.

10. Sounds real – as if the characters were actually speaking (not to be confused with real life speech, which tends to be repetitive and contains unnecessary words)

11. Moves the action forward – besides serving a purpose for the character in the scene, good dialogue advances the overall plot of the story.

12. Is unpredictable – it’s interesting, witty, sharp and unexpected. Princess Leia: “I love you”, Han Solo: “I know.”

YOUR TURN: What other elements constitute great dialogue?

3 Tips for How to ‘Show’ (and not ‘Tell’)

The first “rule” in screenwriting is “show, don’t tell”.  A screenplay is emotionally powerful when it engages the reader.  When you “tell”, you communicate facts – when you “show”, you invite understanding.  “Telling” disconnects the reader from the material, while “showing” connects the reader.

A screenwriter should show specific details that enable the reader/viewer to reach a particular conclusion.  Present the dots and allow the reader to connect them.  In other words, show smoke, and let the reader infer fire.

“Show, don’t tell” doesn’t mean you can’t use dialogue to convey information.  It means don’t use “on the nose” dialogue, like:

“Joe is miserable since Jane died”
“Larry hates his job”

Your responsibility as a writer is to create scenes to show the reader/viewer that Joe is miserable and that Larry hates his job.

HOW TO ‘SHOW’:

1. Avoid excessive dialogue.
People don’t talk in long soliqueys expressing their emotions directly (“I love you, Tom”).  Eliminate all but the most essential dialogue.  Don’t use five words, when you can use one.

2. Keep exposition to a minimum.
Real people don’t explain their backstory to strangers or, even worse, reveal information to people that is already clearly known (“As you know, Bob, you’re my brother”).

3. When possible, convey the information visually.
Film is a visual medium, the more information you can convey with images, the better (the images of the urban city in Se7en reveal much, the reader/viewer can connect the dots and conclude how the characters are psychologically affected by their environment, without the screenwriter having to ‘tell’ the information in a direct manner.)

In this scene from Kramer vs. Kramer, it’s the morning after Ted’s wife, Joanna, has left him.  Screenwriter Robert Benton never tells the reader directly that Ted is scared, that he is proud, that he is defiant, that he’s indignant that his wife would dare to leave him and provide instructions for him to help him cope in her absence, that he is unsure of his parenting ability, that he is overwhelmed by the situation, that he lacks the skills to get his young son ready for school, that he is determined, that he wants to protect his son from the reality that his mother is gone, that he is stifling his rage, that he’s frustrated, that he’s insecure about the future, or that he’s resilient. Yet, all of this information is revealed in this one scene:
Ted looks around.  There, on the kitchen cabinet is a box of natural grain cereal, a jar of honey, some wheat germ, and a banana, with carefully written instructions from Joanna underneath.  He takes one look at the note, crumples it up and tosses it in the wastebasket.

TED
I’ll tell you what kiddo – why don’t I fix us some French toast?

BILLY
Wow! French toast, really?

TED
Sure.  Didn’t I ever tell you French toast was my specialty?  I’ll bet I never told you that.  Now then, the first thing we need is…
(trying desperately to remember)
… eggs!  Right?

Billy nods while Ted gets some eggs from the refrigerator.

TED
This is teriffic… isn’t this terrific?

As Ted begins the process of making French toast, it soon becomes obvious that he has no idea what he is doing.

TED
I’m having a good time… are you having a good time?

BILLY
You forgot the milk.

TED
That’s right.  You’re absolutely right… it’s been a long time since I made French toast.

BILLY
What about my orange juice?

TED
Right.  One O.J. coming up.

Black smoke begins to billow ominously from the frying pan.

BILLY
(scared)
Daddy!!!

Ted grabs the burning hot handle of the frying pan and lets out a howl of pain.  The whole mess – frying pan, butter, bread – crashes to the floor.

TED
Goddam!  Son of a bitch!

Billy sits silent, motionless.  Ted kneels down and begins to clean up the mess.

TED
It’s okay.  It’s gonna be okay… everything’s going to be alright.