On editing a script
In the recent “Handling Exposition” class I taught, we had a great group and some outstanding discussions about a multitude of subjects. One area of significant focus was editing. Here is my response in one of the threads:
It’s amazing how many pages lie there in almost any early draft of a script that are just waiting to be pulled out to the benefit of the story. Many of them easily cut by trimming tricks like the ones I suggested, but also upon deeper reflection and simply asking these questions of each scene, each side of dialogue, each line of scene description: Is this necessary? Does this have? to be here? How does this contribute to the story?
In my experience, editing is one of those aspects of the craft we learn to love over time. At first it can feel incredibly onerous in large part because we bring this attitude to our pages: “Of course this or that line is necessary, it’s all necessary.” The more we write, the more we realize that everything we write is up for grabs at the editing stage.
Then a second level of awareness: Screenplays really do benefit from being tightened up. It gets to the point where it’s not only the actual words, but the white space on the page. There is a psychological effect on the reader when they see a pages that are predominantly black ink, paragraph after paragraph of scene description. It creates a negative lens through which they read the words, thus making our job much harder. Simply by culling that description and being more poetic [minimum words, maximum impact] we make pages easier on the eyes, swap out a reader’s set of lenses so they don’t come at the material with a negative predisposition, and create a better reading experience.
The trimming tricks I mentioned I’ve posted before on GITS:
What are your thoughts about editing? Any other trimming tricks of the trade you use?
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