Susan E. Connolly, one of the writers of popular RTÉ One crime drama Hidden Assets, offers some handy hints for the budding screenwriter...
The most important thing to know about screenwriting is that it's a collaborative experience – the final product is the culmination of the efforts of a wide variety of people, each bringing their expertise which bubbles together to create something far greater than any of them could have achieved alone.
In the spirit of that collaborative essence, I’m sharing some of the work of others that I’ve found helpful in levelling up my own writing.
Pacing and tension
An oft-repeated piece of screenwriting advice is to avoid "directing on the page" and while I think this should be interpreted with some nuance, as someone who invariably defaults to "pan" and "zoom" as the only possible camera movements, it’s advice I personally tend to heed.
That said, often pace and tension require clear indication of what viewers should experience and when. David Wappel’s article on 'Anchoring Nouns’ provides an amazing way to do so without resorting to camera direction or a thousand uses of the phrase "we see".
The most important thing to know about screenwriting is that it's a collaborative experience.
In his book Techniques of the Selling Writer, Dwight Swain introduces a fascinating way to think about how and why pacing changes over the course of a script. For screenwriters, it’s important to note that this ‘Scene and Sequel’ concept uses definitions of "scene" and "sequel" very different to their usual use in the screenwriting world.
Structure
There are a lot of books on the structure of screenplays, and even if one intends to read all of them, it can be difficult to know where to start. Then when you have read them all (as I have, for my sins) it can be equally difficult to remember which book described which framework. The worksheets on Jami Gold’s website are a handy way to get an initial overview or to refresh your memory of some of the more well-known approaches.
I would strongly recommend reading as many different books on structure as you can (your library is a good way to do this without breaking the bank). You never know which turn of phrase or method of analysis is going to give you the little "a-ha" moment that finally gets everything to fall into place in a way that works for you as an individual. For me, as far as features go, that little "a-ha" moment came from the book Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach by Paul Joseph Gulino.
‘Pinch Points’, or reminders of the antagonistic force, are also something to consider for use both in terms of structure and in pacing. A lot of different structures make use of Pinch Points, and I think this terminology may have originated with Dan Wells’ 7-Point Story Structure – but don’t quote me on that!
In terms of TV structure specifically, Laurie Stack has analysed half-hour dramedies in a useful online article, and Jennifer Dornbush dives into police procedurals in her book Forensic Speak.
Characters and arcs
Bizarrely, two of the most helpful online articles I’ve encountered on character arcs both use the animated movie Shrek as their main example – Janice Hardy explaining ‘Want vs Need’ and Ken Miyamoto discussing ‘Identity vs Essence’ from Michael Hauge’s Writing Screenplays that Sell. In non Shrek-based resources, Tony Tost’s article offering his thoughts on creating complex characters is *chef’s kiss* as is K.M. Weiland’s on considering character relationships as an entity in and of themselves.
And finally, for the best resource of all, find writer friends – whether other screenwriters, novelists, non-fiction writers, or poets – there’s always more to teach and to learn.
A handy reading list for the budding screenwriter
Techniques of the Selling Writer, Dwight Swain (University of Oklahoma Press)
Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, Paul Joseph Gulino (Bloomsbury Academic)
Writing Screenplays That Sell, Michael Hauge (Harper Collins)
Forensic Speak, Jennifer Dornbush (Michael Wiese Productions)
About The Author: Susan E. Connolly is a screenwriter working in a broad range of genres, from near-future sci-fi and paranormal police procedural to contemporary YA, folk horror, and dramedy. TV credits include Redemption, Iris and a pair of episodes of the latest season of Hidden Assets
Hidden Assets, Sundays, 9:30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player - catch up here
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