Writng Dialogue & Advice from the Pros

Writng great dialogue is considered an art form. Listening to real-life conversatons, watching award-
winning flms, and learning from the masters will help you craf dialogue that shines on the page.
The following writng thoughts and advice are excerpts from arl !glesias" #oo$, The 101 Habits of
Highly Successful Screenwriters. %n&oy'

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Writng Unrealistc and Boring Dialogue
!n real life, dialogue is mostly polite conversaton. !n flm, polite conversaton is considered #ad
dialogue, unless it"s wi)y, sarcastc, or has a uni*ue voice. The reason is that polite chat lac$s tension,
and tension is the $ey to dramatc storytelling. +s +lfred ,itchcoc$ once said, -.rama is real life with
all the #oring parts cut out of it./
The $ey to good dialogue is to understand that it"s not conversaton, it"s acton. What characters say
in a scene should #e said to get what they want in the scene. +nd to determine whether or not your
dialogue sounds realistc, read it out loud. 0arrison eillor once advised, -!f you read your wor$ out
loud, it helps to $now what"s #ad./ Try it. !t wor$s. .ialogue always sounds #e)er in your head. 1e)er
to #e em#arrassed in your room than on the set.

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Read Your Dialogue Out Loud
Writng authentc, well-crafed dialogue that spar$les, individuali2es characters, and entertains the
reader is the ultmate challenge for screenwriters, who otherwise may have solid script elements. !t"s
crucial to a)ractng talent, which can green-light your script. Writng great dialogue can also sell the
writer, for those who excel in this area are highly sought afer to the tune of six fgures per wee$ for
dialogue rewrites.
That said, dialogue is not as important as character development or structure #ecause you"re not
writng a play. 3creenwritng is mostly a#out what you see, not hear. 4emem#er that you"re writng
moton pictures, not visual radio, and all the wi)y dialogue in the world won"t sell your script if it fails
on everything else.
1o)om line, you want as li)le dialogue as possi#le, #ut what- ever dialogue is on the page, it must #e
great. 4eading your dialogue out loud is a useful ha#it to test it. 5ou"ll #e ama2ed at the di6erence
#etween reading it and hearing it. 5ou"ll not only hear what your lines sound li$e to other people #ut
also see if the character"s uni*ueness comes through in that person"s speech.
Derek aas (The Courier, The Double, 3:10 to Yuma, ante!, " #ast " #urious$7 5ou should #e a#le to
loo$ at some page in the middle of the script and $now which character is spea$ing &ust #y reading a
dialogue #loc$. %ach character should have his or her own voice. eep an ear out for the way people
spea$ when you"re in a co6ee shop, having dinner, or out in the street.
!ichael Brandt (The Courier, The Double, 3:10 to Yuma, ante!, " #ast " #urious$" The #est dialogue
sounds natural. 5ou should #e a#le to read it aloud and then transcri#e that cadence to your
characters. We use contractons when we spea$, we stop in mid-sentence, and we change what we
were going to say halfway through spea$ing. 8ot everyone can spea$ li$e a poet or a professor.
Akiva #oldsman (%ngels & Demons, ' %m (egen!, The Da )inci Co!e, Cin!erella *an, ' +obot, %
,eau-ful *in!, .rac-cal *agic, (ost in S/ace, ,atman & +obin, % Time to 0ill, ,atman #ore1er, Silent
#all, The Client$" 3ometmes, ! do read my dialogue out loud, especially when !"m #rain-fried, though
!"m glad no one"s around to see this. 9ltmately, !"ve #een really luc$y to #e on sets, so ! ofen get to
hear my dialogue spo$en #y professional actors. This never stops #eing a thrill.
$d %olomon ('magine That, The 'n2(aws, (e1ity, Charlie3s %ngels, hat .lanet %re You #rom4, *en in
,lac5, (ea1ing 6ormal, ,ill an! Te!3s ,ogus 7ourney, ,ill an! Te!3s 89cellent %!1enture$" :ost people
feel a great &oy when they write something *uic$ly, #ecause they"re una#le to distnguish #etween
the elaton of transcri#ing their thoughts onto the page and the &oy that comes from actually
organi2ing thoughts in a way that will have some meaning for someone else. 3ometmes, we feel
something is great #ecause it felt great to write it. 3o it"s valua#le to have a reading of your script, and
listen to it with other people in the room. ;urther, if you"re really serious a#out it, stage a few scenes
from it, and direct them. <ut yourself through what would seem li$e a ridiculous exercise. !t"s a good
way to get a feeling for how a scene really wor$s. Those of us who"ve had movies made have had the
#eneft of seeing how some things wor$ and others don"t. 3ometmes it"s really painful to hear your
words read.
Ro&in %'icord (The 7ane %usten ,oo5 Club, *emoirs of a :eisha, .rac-cal *agic, *a-l!a, The .ere;
#amily, (i<le omen, The +e! Coat, Shag: The *o1ie$" ! read my dialogue out loud all the tme. That"s
how you $now if someone would really say something. !f you can"t say it, cut it.
%teven de %ou(a (,last, 0noc5 =>, 7u!ge Dre!!, ,e1erly Hills Co/ ''', The #lintstones, +icochet, Hu!son
Haw5, Die Har! ", Die Har!, The +unning *an, ?@ HrsA$" !"m guilty of what many executves do, which
is to give scripts ten pages to hold my interest. ! can #e enthralled #y a historical drama=or even
>gasp'? a chic$ @ic$=if it"s well wri)en. 3ometmes, !"ll &ust read the dialogue, then alternatvely only
the stage directons. !deally, one without the other should not #e a#le to get the story across. 3o a
good test of dialogue is to &ust read the dialogue for a secton of the script. !f that leaves you hungry
for more, that"s good. 1ut if ! get the entre story with &ust the dialogue, then all that stage directon is
&ust dead weight and useless.

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Random )houghts and Advice on Dialogue and Writng
%teven de %ou(a" AWhen ! frst started outB ! got a couple of #oo$s that ! stll read to this day and
highly recommend. Cne is Dale"s TechniBue of Screen an! Tele1ision ri-ng, which is stll the #est
#oo$ on the craf !"ve ever read. The other is The %rt of Drama-c ri-ng #y La&os %gri. The two
complement each other #ecause %gri"s #oo$ is mainly a#out character while Dale"s is more a#out
structure and plot.
:ost of all, you need to see classic movies. The pro#lem with most movies made today is that they"re
imitatons of last year"s movies, which are imitatons of the previous year"s. 3ometmes ! menton a
classic movie at a conference and no one in the room has ever heard of it. That"s scary. !t"s li$e writng
plays and never having read 3ha$espeare. 5ou need to see all $inds of movies. Loo$ at the silent ones,
especially, #ecause they had movies #efore they had dialogue. 3ee how much they get across without
dialogue. !f you"re depending only on dialogue to ma$e your screenplays wor$, you"re only wor$ing
with half the ammuniton that ma$es you a good writer. 3ee a movie, then read its screenplay to see
what was #rought to the ta#le #y the actors and the director. %ven a #loc$#uster can #e a #e)er
learning tool than spending a wee$end at a seminar.
Akiva #oldsman" ! try to #uild the story as cleanly as ! can, ma$e sure the structure wor$s, then ! write
it really #adly, as fast as ! can, ten pages a day of shit, sometmes actual dialogue, sometmes notes to
myself a#out what people will say in the scene, &ust to get some feeling of the shape of the piece,
trying not to rewrite it, unless !"m feeling !"m so cheatng myself. Then ! go #ac$ and start rewritng.
+nd ! go over and over and over it, scene #y scene, then act #y act, then se*uence #y se*uence, untl
it"s as tght and clean as ! can possi#ly ma$e it.
!ichael %chi*er (The #our #eathers, The .eacema5er, Crimson Ti!e, (ean on *e, Colors$" Cne thing !
found helpful was ta$ing some 9EL+ %xtension classes in actng and directng. They gave you a sense
of what a good scene is, what dialogue is all a#out, #y seeing what actors do. !t showed you how
you"re writng for people to say these words, and it gave you some experience in drama ma$ing. !
highly recommend that #eginning writers ta$e an actng class. 1e actve in it, direct a scene with
actors and see what animates the scene and what you can leave o6 the page. 5ou can #uild muscles
for writng good dialogue. !"ve never ta$en a screenwritng course so ! can"t really say any- thing a#out
them. !f you ta$e the occasional seminar and come away with one great tp you didn"t $now #efore,
that"s a good thing. 1ut !"ve come to #elieve you only learn on your own #y doing it, #y trying to tell
stories that wor$. When you write twenty screenplays, you #egin to internali2e a sense of tming and
movement of the story, structure, and dialogue. !t"s not some#ody else"s rules that ma)er, it"s your
own. !f you do it #y trial and error from the inside out, your wor$ will fnd its own uni*ue storytelling
voice.
+im ,ouf" 5ou $now #ad writng when you read it. The dialogue is not sharp, the characters are not as
interestng or as funny or as charming as they should #e, the story is not as clever as it can #e.
9ltmately, good writng can"t #e #oring. 5ou"ve got to #e clever. Why are we going to sit through it
for two hoursF
%co- Rosen&erg (0angaroo 7ac5, Highway, :one in C0 Secon!s, High #i!elity, Disturbing ,eha1ior,
Con %ir, ,eau-ful :irls, Things to Do in Den1er hen You3re Dea!, %ir Time$" !t"s very diGcult to teach
someone how to write characters and dialogue. ! #elieve that with the #est screenwriters, it"s a 0od-
given talent. What you can learn, however, is structure. +nd you don"t even have to go to flm school
to learn. 5ou can pre)y much get that out of a couple of #oo$s. The #est course ! ever too$ was
taught #y ;ran$ .aniel, who used to #e a dean at 93E. ,e"d show you a flm, then the next class, he"d
show it again #ut with the volume on low and he"d tal$ over the movie, #asically explaining how the
whole thing wor$ed structurally, what was planted here and how it was paying o6 there. ,e would do
this on all $inds of movies, and it taught you everything you need to $now a#out structure. Cnce you
have structure, and if you can write character and dialogue, it"s only a ma)er of coming up with good
ideas. +nother good thing a#out flm school is that you have this shared experience with other writers
and you don"t feel so alone. 5ou"re also constantly geHng feed#ac$ from other writers. %very wee$
you have to turn in ten pages to your classmates to read and comment on. What was also great a#out
9EL+ is that you had to write six screenplays #efore they let you graduate. When you lef school,
you"d already #e armed with a lot of material.
+im ,ouf (*oney for 6othing, 6a-onal Treasure, Ta9i, Snow Dogs, +ush Hour, :ang +elate!,
=/era-on Dumbo Dro/, %nother Sta5eout, Disorgani;e! Crime, Sta5eout, *iracles, Secret %!mirer,
Sha5er +un, %merican Dreamer, Class, D/ the Cree5$" 5our characters have to #e so interestng and
compelling you can"t wait to get an actor a)ached. +fer all, why do people sit through certain
moviesF 1ecause the dialogue is great, and something a#out the characters ma$es you love them or
hate them. !t"s &ust li$e life. Why do you sit with a few people and have a conversaton, and other
people, you decline when they invite you to dinnerF
%teven de %ou(a" ! #elieve in free associaton. ! always carry a #unch of three-#y-fve cards where !
write ideas that come to me=#its of dialogue or odd o#servatons. %ventually, a couple of them will
collide to form a whole new idea, or they"ll achieve a critcal mass, and a light #ul# will @ash in my
head and !"ll say, that"s a story.
!ichael %chi*er" !t"s really cool if your characters are among the most vivid people you"ve ever
$nown. We"re not that vivid and colorful every minute of our lives. 3o what ! try to do in successive
drafs, once the story is s$etched in, is wonder with each line of dialogue, -!s this the most interestng,
vivid, and colorful way to say thisF ,ow can ! #oost this up so that the people !"m watching are people
! wish ! encountered every day in my lifeF/
To do that you have to constantly *ueston every line and every character and intensify every single,
#oring moment in your script. +s$ yourself, -Would ! want to #e at a dinner party with this personF
0ood guys or #ad guys, are they interestng enough to #e in my lifeF/ !f they"re not, ma$e them more
interestng. 5ou owe your audience the gif of good company.
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