The 'I' Page
The “I” Page: There’s nothing worse than a plethora of “I” pages, that is, pages that are top to bottom dialogue. When this happens, the page literally looks like an “I” because dialogue is margined to fill a narrower column. This creates a lot of white space on the right and left of the page, but it also screams amateur. A screenplay is a visual story, not just a stage play. If you want to write characters that talk, talk, talk their way through a scene, you should be writing for the stage, not the movies.
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Same Old Story, Small New World
Screenwriting
Script Tips
In 2005, I had completed a high-concept commercial romantic comedy spec script, which got rave reviews, until Will Smith and Kevin James hit the big screen in the successful rom-com Hitch. My script, unfortunately, was not too dissimilar. I was devastated. Countless drafts and the better part of a year, I thought, down the tubes. But my manager made a suggestion: keep the story but change the world, a world that no one had seen before, something really different. Something special. Something memorable. So my corporate metropolis became a Podunk Renaissance Faire.…
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Meet the Parents (2000)
Screenplay
Five Plot Point Breakdowns
Screenplay Genre: Comedy / Romance Movie Time: 108 minutes 1. INCITING INCIDENT Male nurse, Gaylord “Greg” Focker (Ben Stiller) decides to propose to his girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo), using the children in her class to form a sign that reads MARRY ME PAM. However, when the kids finally create the sign, Pam gets a phone call from her sister who informs Pam that she is getting married. Greg is forced to abort his proposal, and soon learns that he will have to meet Pam's parents. (00:6:00)
