TIP 1: Have at least one character in your script who experiences a major transformation.
TIP 2: Beware “I can do that too” writing, where you’re basically rewriting your favorite films.
TIP 3: Avoid “dirty” pages. These are pages with a lot of dashes, ellipses, bolded or italicized text. Keep things clean and easy to look at.
TIP 4: There should always be a sense of doubt that your main character will succeed. If there isn’t, why would we care?
TIP 5: For every solution you provide your character, make sure it leads to a new problem.
TIP 6: If a scene is boring, it’s usually because you haven’t injected any conflict into it.
TIP 7: If a scene has an adequate amount of conflict and is still boring, it’s usually because there’s nothing on the line (If you write a breakup scene where neither character cares whether they break up, we’re not going to care when they break up).
TIP 8: Unless voice over is organically infused into the story’s presentation (Fight Club), it’s almost always a lazy device.
TIP 9: If you haven’t combined at least two of your characters into a single character by your third draft, you’re not consolidating enough.
TIP 10: The less your hero speaks, the more active he needs to be (Drive, Mad Max). Nobody likes a quiet hero who doesn’t do anything (Mute).
TIP 11: The comic relief is not the guy trying to be funny. It’s the guy being himself who is inadvertently funny.
TIP 12: If you’re strong with concept and plot, gravitate towards features. If you’re strong with character, gravitate towards TV.
TIP 13: If a character is boring, start back at their introduction. You’ll almost always find that they have a flaccid boring intro. Give them a stronger intro and they instantly become a stronger character.
TIP 14: Due to the insane number of bad screenplays Hollywood has had to endure, everyone who reads your script will go into it assuming it’s bad. This is why it’s so important to yank them in right away with a great first scene.
TIP 15: A sudden twist (the hero’s boyfriend is the killer!) impacts the audience for five seconds. Dramatic irony (the audience knows the hero’s boyfriend is the killer but she does not) can impact the audience for half a screenplay.
TIP 16: At some point in the third act, your hero should face an impossibly hard choice.
TIP 17: If you wouldn’t watch what you’re writing, why would you expect anyone else to?
TIP 18: That’s you guys. Leave your best tip in the comments!
