More tips from “Screenwriting Tips, You Hack”
More tips from the script reader blog “Screenwriting Tips, You Hack”:
Screenwriting Tip #49
Everybody names their protag ‘Jack’ or ‘Zack’. Everybody names their preppy douchebag character ‘Chad’. Try to pick something cool, weird and/or memorable.
Screenwriting Tip #47
You came all this way in your story just so your protagonist could stand around and watch a CG effects light-show at the climax of Act 3? Try harder.
(Why yes, I have seen RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Here’s the thing: it didn’t work that well even for Spielberg.)
Screenwriting Tip #46
Do you really need a splashy title page with images and crazy fonts? Keep it in your pants until at least Page 1.
Screenwriting Tip #43
Don’t describe anyone or anything as ‘portly’. This is what people type when they have no freaking idea what their character is supposed to look like.
Screenwriting Tip #42
Don’t have your protagonist’s family members keel over dead in lieu of having an actual Act 2 Dark Point. Random events like this should be the icing on the cake of your protagonist’s misery, not the sum total of it.
UPDATE: Bumping around my own blog, I found this post called “The Importance of Character Names.