30 Screenwriting Tips to Make Your Writing Seriously Amazing

Screenwriting Tip #26:
Avoid using specific ages

This might seem like a small, irrelevant tip, but using specific ages for every character can be a professional reader’s first clue that you’re an amateur.

Unless a character’s age is essential to telling your story (i.e., the movie takes place on your Protagonist’s 32nd Birthday, or your story is based on actual events), use age RANGES or DESCRIPTIONS for most of your characters, including the first one.

Why? Because if your screenplay is optioned, a lot can happen between your final draft and what gets shot. And that includes, amongst other things, casting. And in casting, you don’t look for a “27-year-old woman” or a “63-year-old man.” Instead, you look for a woman who looks like she’s in her “mid-twenties” or a “youthful senior” man.

Examples of how to write ages in screenplays

• mid-thirties
• forty-something
• early 20s
• 50s
• 2nd grader
• teen
• middle-aged
• elderly
• preschooler

So instead of introducing a character as “Emma, 32,” you could write “Emma, early 30s” or “Emma, 30-something.” Or instead of writing, “Harry is 68, but acts 50,” you could say, “Harry, a youthful senior.”

Using a specific age in a character’s description is an easy Reader Red Flag to avoid. So why not skip ’em? As a bonus, it’ll make your script read less like a “manual” and give it more personality. If you can creatively imply age quickly when introducing a new character, it makes your screenplay more interesting to read.

EXERCISE 1: Check out listings for casting calls to see how they describe actors’ ages or parts available. (While you wouldn’t put “15-21” as an age for a role, you could just put “teenager.”)

EXERCISE 2: Go through your screenplay and replace any specific ages with more colorful yet quick-to-read descriptions.

Screenwriting Tip #27:
If you can’t see or hear it, don’t write it!

You’ve probably heard this before, but film is a visual medium. (I know… I know… you’ve only heard that a million times!) But let’s that that a step further:

Movies are a visual and AUDIBLE medium.

Any information that can’t be conveyed to the audience via the camera (visual) or microphone (audible) should not be included ANYWHERE in your screenplay. Including unseen/unheard details in your script is a dead giveaway to any Reader that a screenwriter is inexperienced.

This means that if you write what a character is thinking, feeling, remembering, contemplating, or wondering, an audience member would not understand what’s happening; they can’t see or hear it.

As a screenwriter, it’s your job to SHOW what’s happening at all times. If you were writing a novel, you could put in as much inner monologuing as you like. But if it’s in a movie, you must show what a character does or says to illustrate their thinking.

That last one is a big, often unrecognized red flag: “shortcuts to relationships between characters.”

A movie audience never reads your script; they watch and listen to the film. So if you tell the Reader about a relationship between characters (or otherwise describe who they are) in the Action paragraphs, you will lose your audience. They can’t see that. So you must include something to SHOW or TELL the audience who the characters are in your Action.

EXAMPLE: Say you have a scene with two men in a bar. You introduce a new character like this:

Jack’s brother, SETH, walks in and scans the crowd. Seething because Jack is mistreating their mother, he brusquely pushes through revelers until he spots his little brother. Seth grabs a pitcher of beer from a passing WAITRESS, pours it all over Jack’s head, and leaves without a word.
Jack doesn’t care. He just goes right back to talking with his buddy.

Well… okay. The Reader knows what’s happening: who is throwing the beer (Jack’s brother, Seth) and why (he’s mad at how Jack treated their mom).

But the audience would just see a mad guy come in, throw beer, and leave — and not know who he is, why it’s happening. Because that part is just in the written word, with no way for the audience to glean what’s happening. Granted, maybe that could be the point of the scene: an unknown guy comes in and does something out of left field. But then, why mention the character relationship? Why say “brother?”

Now, let’s look at the same two men in a bar scene — but without all the exposition:

Putting their relationship into Dialogue instead of the Action means the audience can see/hear it — so they will understand that they’re brothers. (And notice how much faster it is to read the Action/Dialogue/Action of the 2nd example — instead of the dense paragraphs of the 1st example.)

Of course, you can ALWAYS include whatever is required to tell your whole story — anything your plot NEEDS can be in your action.

Sometimes it just takes a little creativity to SHOW it on screen, not cheat and tell it directly to the reader.

EXERCISE: Read the first act of three *recently produced* screenplays. Notice what’s said, what’s shown, and that words like “think,” “feel,” or any other inner realization words do not appear — unless they’re shown somehow.

*Why “recently produced” screenplays? Because script writing and formatting trends change. What was written in Chinatown in the 70s, or even in the early 2000s with Social Network, won’t necessarily fly now. It’s great to read the classics, but when it comes to structure and writing trends, make sure you stay current.

Script Writing Basics Rule: If it’s important enough to write, it’s important enough to show.

Screenwriting Tip #28:
Avoid Using Character Names as Exposition

This screenwriting tip builds off the guideline above: “don’t write relationships you can’t see.”

It’s best to steer clear of naming characters in such a way that only the Reader will know who they are.

When you name a character by their ROLE or JOB, ensure their ACTIONS back up that job. For example, an audience can’t read “JURY FOREMAN” or “LEAD PROGRAMMER” in the script; they need to see that this character is in charge through their actions.

EXAMPLE 1: Let’s say we have a scene in a diner. A minor character is introduced into the scene like this

Now, the script reader would immediately know this woman’s role — she is someone’s mother. But to a movie audience, they just see a middle-aged woman stalk in.

EXAMPLE 2: Let’s say we have a scene in an office break room. We could introduce a character like this:

Now, the script reader would immediately know this man’s role — he is the firm’s accountant. But to a movie audience, they just see a middle-aged man sitting at a table.

So if the conversation that follows either of these scenes is dependent on the knowledge tucked into the character names, a movie audience would be lost.

As always, you can break this rule. If you want to use a Role or Job as a character’s name, just make sure you back it up with Action or Dialogue.

If Amelia walked up to his lunch table and said, “Hey, can you get that cash flow report to me after lunch?” then the fact that he’s an accountant is SHOWN, not just exposition in his character’s name.

Screenwriting Tip #30:
Brainstorm Before You Write

When you first start, screenwriting may seem intimidating. This is because there are soooo many rules, tips, and requirements to keep in mind while you write a script!

But if you brainstorm and develop your story before you start writing a script, you’ll be more successful.

3 Ways to Develop Your Story Before Writing a Script

When you do not know what’s going to happen before you write, you end up with a Main Character who wanders around their world. Sure, it’s an exciting world. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be writing this idea, right? But not knowing where you’re going usually means ending up with a 200+ page first draft — or worse, an unfinished script.

When you know where you’re writing to (The End) and who you’re writing for (your Protagonist), and you know what they want (their Goal), you won’t have to “fix it” in a rewrite or, worse, not finish it because you don’t know what comes next.

That’s why we made our Story Development Software. So screenwriters can worry less about all the technical rules of story structure, and concentrate more on the fun stuff: making up stories!

With Screenwriting Ninja, you stay in a creative space while our software ensures you have what you need to create a solid, sellable story – before you start writing your script. It’s full of fun, easy-to-use tools, prompts and Brainstorm Boards® – so you can branstorm before you write.