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Writing is Deleting: Script Editing
Techniques For Screenwriters
By Matt Giegerich
We've all heard the famous expression, "Writing is rewriting".
Writers, aspiring and accomplished alike, have
beaten it into the ground. I'm positive none of us ever need to
hear it again. And when I'm on my 35th draft,
this truism spins painfully in my mind.
However, there is a similar yet little known phrase that does
bear repeating: "Writing is deleting." Writing is
cutting. Hacking. Sawing. Chopping and downright decapitating.
And in many ways, this phrase is even more
difficult to swallow than "Writing is rewriting".
As writers, it's hard for us to 'kill our babies'. We slave over
our words, carefully choosing their order, spacing
and placement on the page. It's difficult to admit that our own
ideas might be bogging us down, but we must if
we ever want to crawl out from the detritus of our own words.
Alas, "Writing is mercilessly destroying
dozens of carefully composed thoughts," right? So embrace your
cleaver and learn to love the massacre. Your
writing will be better for it.
Not sure where to start? Comb through your dialogue scene by
scene. Remember, we need to be getting into
scenes as late as possible and out as early as possible.
Scan for the following bits of dialogue, and you'll end up with
a shorter, tighter script:
1. Salutations The vast majority of the time, we don't need to
see characters greeting each other the
way we humans greet each other in the real world. "Hi, John. How
are you?" is dull and boring and
completely unnecessary. Instead, jump right into the meat or
conflict of your scene. Clearly, there are
exceptions here. Salutations can sometimes be used to reveal
character relationships or tendencies, or
as a comedic device. But be honest with yourself, and if they
have no purpose, push the pleasantriesaside.
2. Opening with a question. Scan your work for scenes that open
with a question, and see if you can
achieve the same effect by opening with a response. Or even the
response to that response. But be
careful not to rephrase the question in the response, because
that comes off as sloppy. "What do you
mean rephrasing the question in the response comes off as
sloppy, John!?" See? Open with the
demand for a divorce and work backwards, and I'm hooked.
3. Any 'aside'.. At all. Especially to end a scene. Especially
if the scene ends on a joke. Don't deflate
your punch by having one character comment on it before you cut
away. No matter how clever that
comment is, you want to get out of every scene as quickly as
possible, and end on a high note.
After you've done all this, re-read your script with an
objective eye. Often times, you'll find huge chunks of
screenplay that can be deleted or re-arranged. Does every scene
move your story forward? If not, cut it. Is
every joke as funny as it was in the first draft? Probably not.
As screenplays morph from one draft to the next,
jokes can lose comedic resonance. Jokes that are hysterical in
the first draft might not make sense in the final
draft. As a writer, we remember how funny it was in the first
place, and struggle to cut it. The same logic
applies to dramatic situations. If a new draft lost a small
dramatic subplot, make sure all evidence of that
subplot disappears. Misplaced remnants of old drafts in new
drafts are confusing and easy to spot.
If you've done all that and your script is still a few pages too
long, don't give up hope. Although there are
plenty of well documented 'cheats' out there, there are a few
legitimate avenues to pursue that don't
compromise the format or integrity of your screenplay.
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1. Look for blocks of action tacked onto the end of your scenes.
Often, this is just filler that slips
through the cracks. If the action at the end of your scenes
doesn't move the story forward or reveal
something new, you can cut it.
2. Look for lone lines of action between dialogue. Can these
lines be tacked onto earlier action
paragraphs or deleted all together? Each lone action line takes
three lines of your screenplay, and it's
probably not worth it.
3. Inspect all your parentheticals. Delete all of them and then
read through your screenplay again. Youwon't notice their absence
most of the time, and if you do, you can always write them back
in.
4. Scan for ellipses in your dialogue. Is this the character
hesitating, or you hesitating as you wrote?
Trust the actors to insert trepidation, and save lots of space
in the process.
5. Cut overly long action. "JOHN GETS UP, CROSSES TO THE DOOR
AND OPENS IT," can
usually be replaced by "JOHN OPENS THE DOOR."
6. Check to see if characters are referred to by name too often.
This isn't how we talk in real life, but
character names are often over-used in screenplays, and they
take up lots of space!
Feeling lighter? It's surprisingly rewarding to discard
unnecessary bits of writing. Even if it's like pulling teeth
to admit they're unnecessary. Your script will always benefit
from deletion, and at the end of the process you
might even find you have room to squeeze in something new and
improved. So put your pointer on that delete
key, and CUT CUT CUT!
About Matt Giegerich
Matt is co-director of The Script-A-Thonand a recent graduate
from Duke University, where he received a
BA in English with Honors. He was the recipient of a Benenson
Award in support of his screenwriting goals
in LA.
http://www.thescriptathon.com/http://www.thescriptathon.com/
