Dialogue Secrets: From Subtext to Banter to Exposition (Screenwriting Blue Books)
William Martell
Language: English
Pages: 112
ISBN: 2:00215125
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
[epub conversion from retail]
What makes great dialogue? How can I make my characters each have a different and unique voice?
A step-by-step guide to improve your screenplay's dialogue. How to remove bad dialogue (and what *is* bad dialogue), First Hand Dialogue, Awful Exposition, Realism, 41 Professional Dialogue Techniques you can use *today*, Subtext, Subtitles, Humor, Sizzling Banter, *Anti-Dialogue*, Speeches, and more. Almost 200 pages of tools you can use to make your dialogue sizzle!
Special sections that use dialogue examples from movies as diverse as "Bringing Up Baby", "Psycho", "Double Indemnity", "Notorious", the Oscar nominated "You Can Count On Me", "His Girl Friday", and many more!
Professional Screenwriter William C. Martell (19 produced films) shares professional dialogue techniques, showing you step-by-step how to write great dialogue for your screenplay.
About the Author:
William C. Martell has written seventeen produced films for cable and video including three HBO World Premieres, two Made For Showtimes, three CineMax Premieres, two films for USA Network, and many others. Reviewer David Nuttycombe of The Washington Post calls him "The Robert Towne of made for cable movies" and he was the only non-nominated screenwriter mentioned on Siskel & Ebert's 1997 Oscar Special "If We Picked The Winners". He doesn't teach screenwriting, he writes for a living.
The naval warfare action film "Steel Sharks" (HBO) stars Gary Busey and Billy Dee Williams, and was made with the cooperation of the US Navy and Department Of Defense onboard an actual aircraft carrier. "Hard Evidence" (USA) was released to video the same day as Julia Roberts' film "Something To Talk About" and out-rented it, landing at the #7 position nationally while the Roberts' film ended up #8 ("Hard Evidence" was the better reviewed film). Submarine thriller "Crash Dive" (HBO) starred Frederic Forest, and introduced "JAG"s Catherine Bell and Christopher Titus from Fox's sit-com "Titus". "Treacherous" (Cinemax) Starred Tia Carrere, Adam Baldwin and C. Thomas Howell. His family film "Invisible Mom" starring "ET"s Dee Wallace Stone won Best Children's Film at the Santa Clarita Film Festival. Mr. Martell is currently working on several projects for major studios.
is dialogue at odds with the situation. It can be used to show a character is world-weary or clever or unfazed by the situation. It's a great dialogue tool to show character... and sometimes get a laugh. 28) HUMOR Every character should have their own sense of humor. Not the writer's sense of humor, *their own* sense of humor. The big problem with Woody Allen movies is that all of the characters sound exactly the same and tell exactly the same style jokes... though “Midnight In Paris”
why don't you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty. He'll be in then. NEFF Who? PHYLLIS My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren't you? NEFF Yeah, I was, but I'm sort of getting over the idea, if you know what I mean. PHYLLIS There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour. NEFF How fast was I going, officer? PHYLLIS I'd say around ninety. NEFF Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.
to know, but not really required. You could read a whole book and ignore all of the footnotes - most people do. So the VO on the show is not required... not the cake, but the sweet icing that makes the show unique and really cool. 6) Voice Over is often used with book ended stories - where we begin after the story is over and flash back to the story in progress. “American Beauty” does this very well. Again - you could remove the Voice Over from “American Beauty” and the story would still
wanders away. The fiance goes into a panic, and they search the grounds for him. Hirai finds the boy sleeping with his drawings in a hiding place, calls his fiance on his cell phone and she comes over. He picks up the sleeping boy, and his fiance asks if the boy is too heavy for him to carry. That line is *not* about the weight of the boy, but about whether Hirai is really ready to be a father. Ready to care for her child. Subtext is a second layer of meaning in a line of dialogue, often
could be talking about their pet goldfish for all we know. In that case, you might just say they are having a conversation in German (in your action), or maybe even do something like this: KLAUS (mile a minute German) BERNARD (replies in German) You don't need to write what they actually say, because the audience (and reader) will never know what they actually say. I have a script called “Viper Force” about commandos behind enemy lines who are discovered by a patrol. They