Screenwriting 101: Lesson 7
Dialogue
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
“I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
“May the Force be with you.”
Can you name the movie associated with each line of dialogue listed above? There’s a good chance that you can. (*Answers below) That’s because dialogue is often one of the most memorable parts of a movie or TV show.
But it’s also one of the hardest things to get right when you’re writing!
Though it seems counterintuitive, one of the first questions you need to ask yourself when crafting dialogue is:
Does it need to be said?
Screenwriting, at the core, is a visual medium. The resulting movie or TV show is meant to be watched. Which means you can convey a huge amount of information through visuals alone.
Little Red Riding Hood doesn’t need to announce that she’s walking through a scary forest when we see the tiny girl alone on a path with towering skeletal trees looming over her and creepy eyes staring out from the shadows. We don’t need to hear LRRH say she’s scared of the wolf when we see her recoil and tremble at the canine’s appearance.
This is one of the common situations where you may hear the often repeated advice of ‘show, don’t tell.’ Can you show us what is happening instead of telling us (through dialogue)? Audiences are smart. They like to come to their own conclusions. And it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words.
Some scripts even take this to an extreme and contain no dialogue! A great example of this is the Academy Award winning movie Flow which follows the journey of a cat and their other animal friends through a post-apocalyptic style world…all without a single word being spoken.
Before adding in dialogue consider whether it really needs to be said. Could the same information be portrayed in a visual way instead?
Naturalistic dialogue
The goal of most TV and movies is naturalistic dialogue. Dialogue which imitates natural conversation…but also elevates it to a more refined level.
A common exercise that is often suggested is to go eavesdrop on a conversation in a coffee shop and transcribe exactly what you hear. This can be a great assignment…if only to discover how inefficient ‘natural’ conversation can be. It’s full of uhs and ums. It meanders between topics…repeats itself…etc.
Dialogue in a screenplay can benefit greatly from the rhythms and the spontaneous feeling of normal conversation…
…HOWEVER…
…due to time constraints and the fact that lines of dialogue need to fulfill specific goals in the script it often needs to be more efficient than normal conversation.
Hence the elevation and refinement.
This is why dialogue in TV shows and movies is often more memorable than day to day conversations. If it seems like the characters have had a chance to practice and refine their conversation until it’s at its best…it’s because they have—through the writer’s many iterations of the scene.
Common Goals of Dialogue
Space is always a concern in a screenplay, which means dialogue must fulfill one or (preferably) more goals. Including:
Delivering information (exposition)
Advancing the plot
Deepening character development
The trick is doing so in an unobtrusive manner!
Low Level and High Level Dialogue
A particularly useful concept in crafting dialogue is that of low level and high level dialogue.
Low level dialogue exists where one participant in the conversation knows/understands what is going on…and another participant does not. In this situation, it is expected that the knowledgeable participant may need to explain things to the naive participant (though do consider whether this actually needs to appear on screen!).
High level dialogue exists when all participants in the conversation know/understand what is going on. In this situation, a level of verbal shorthand is likely to be used between characters.
Mismatching the level of dialogue to the characters’ relationship will produce inauthentic sounding results. This most commonly occurs when characters with a high level relationship engage in low level dialogue…often times resulting in ‘as you know’ results.
(For more information about low and high level dialogue, check out Jeffrey Sweet’s resource below.)
Triggered Dialogue
Another handy technique in crafting dialogue is the idea of triggering. This occurs when a specific word or idea in one character’s dialogue directly triggers the other character’s response.
If the trigger is a specific word (or phrase)…this word (or phrase) is often repeated in the following line of dialogue.
If the trigger is an idea…the following line of dialogue often contradicts or challenges what was said in the previous (triggering) line.
A fun example of triggered dialogue is the famous Abbott and Costello routine ‘Who’s on First?’ (which adds confusion about the triggers into the mix).
Sentence Structure
Sentence structure can influence the dramatic nature of the scene as well as how easy and natural it is for an actor to deliver their lines.
Sometimes that means word order makes a difference. Placing the most important word at the beginning of a sentence can create a shocking effect. Placing the most important word at the end of a sentence can allow the actor to build up emotion to the end of the line. Placing the most important word in the middle of a sentence may allow for a natural break in the rhythm of the scene.
Even changing up which word to stress in a sentence can change the line’s meaning! ‘I didn’t steal the money’ is different than ‘I didn’t steal the money’ is different than ‘I didn’t steal the money.’
Writers are wordsmiths. Don’t underestimate the importance of how you place the words on the page.
Subtext
Mastering subtext is a critical part of crafting effective dialogue…but it’s also a relatively nebulous concept to understand. Subtext refers to the idea that people often don’t speak directly about their feelings/problems/concerns/etc. We tend to talk around them…or in code. They tend to leak out in unrelated conversations…or when we’re trying to suppress them the most.
Consider a scene in which a woman asks her husband to take out the trash…but he’s putting it off as he’s busy watching a football game on TV. This escalates into an argument…the woman’s voice getting louder and louder…until she eventually breaks down crying. Sure, it’s a cliched concept…but it also illustrates that while the argument is all about taking out the trash, it isn’t really all about taking out the trash. It’s about the fact that the woman found text messages on the man’s phone earlier that day that suggest he’s been cheating. Or about the fact that she’s reached her limit in working a job, managing the house, taking care of their child, etc. Or whatever else is brewing under the surface.
There are much better examples in the suggested reading below.
Structuring Dialogue
The majority of dialogue should be designed as a back and forth conversation between characters. This give and take dynamic features short dialogue blocks and often takes advantage of triggered dialogue.
Monologues occur when one character has an extended run of dialogue in which they’re the main focus. However, this isn’t a free-for-all! Monologues should have their own internal structure. A beginning…a middle…and (sometimes) an end. (Monologues may be cut off before reaching their conclusion.) Additionally, monologues should serve a specific purpose and complement the greater scene/story.
What a character says….
Though I’ve long since lost track of who I heard this from, it is often true that “What a character says tells you who they think they are…while what a character does tells you who they really are.”
Dialogue and action work together to shape the audience’s perception of your characters.
Making Characters Sound Unique
A common issue in dialogue is that all the characters sound the same (and that they all [suspiciously] sound a bit like the writer!). But it’s important that each character in your script have their own unique sound.
One way of finding a character’s voice is by considering their background. A person’s upbringing, education level, friends/colleagues, geographic location, job, etc. will all impact their word choice and their sentence structure. Even when placed in the same situation, individuals’ verbal responses will vary depending on their background. (A fun play on this idea can be found in the song “Hoist Up The Thing” by the Longest Johns—a sea shanty about a man with no background in sailing who bluffs his way into the job of ship captain.)
Quirks can also be handy in distinguishing one character’s dialogue style from another. Does the character have a catchphrase/word they utilize excessively? (For example, Captain Jack Sparrow has a tendency to rely on ‘savvy.’) Does the character utilize a unique sentence structure? (Yoda, for example) Etc. Quirks are particularly useful in comedies where they can be mined for additional comedic content.
Another short cut into finding a character’s voice is to borrow an existing one. When crafting dialogue, it can be helpful to cast the character in your mind—be it someone you know (a friend, relative, etc.) or an actor that you could envision playing the role.
Dialogue Function in Different Format
While effective dialogue is desired in all formats, dialogue can have slightly different goals depending on the type of media. In stage plays, the dialogue itself often carries the plot directly. In movies, dialogue often serves to set up or comment on the visuals seen on screen. TV often blends the two, featuring dialogue that more resembles an audio drama (as people are more likely to be distracted by other tasks while watching TV as compared to a movie or a stage play).
Recommended reading/viewing:
How to Write Dialogue: Examples, Tips, and Techniques for Screenwriters and Fiction Writers by Kela Parker (free)
Writing Dialogue Expertly: Learn from These Great Dialogue Examples by Industrial Scripts (free)
‘Flow’ Shows Why Action Lines Can Speak Louder Than Dialogue by Alyssa Miller (free)
What is subtext? by Gotham Writers (free)
Mastering the Art of Subtext by Smart Girls Productions (free)
How to Write Subtext in a Screenplay by No Film School (free)
How to Write Monologues that Matter by Ken Miyamoto (free)
7 Tips for Writing Dialogue in Your Screenplay by Darin Bradley (free)
The Dramatist’s Toolkit by Jeffrey Sweet (Chapter 7: Exposition and Expectations, Chapter 8: Dialogue)
Playwriting Seminars 2.0 by Richard Toscan (Chapter 3.7: Editing Dialogue, Chapter 3.8: Finding Hidden Monologues, Chapter 3.9: False Monologues to Dialogue)
Assignments:
1. Read 1 full length TV or movie script (from Script Slug or the BBC Script Library)
2. In the script you’re reading for this lesson:
In general, how many lines does each dialogue block contain?
How often does a character interrupt another? How often does a character trail off or not complete a sentence?
What is your favorite line of dialogue in the script? Why did you like it?
3. Pick two characters from a TV show or movie that you know well. Write your own scene of dialogue (1-2 pages) utilizing these characters. Make sure to capture each character’s unique voice as it was established in the existing TV show/movie.
4. Write your own short script (no more than 5 pages) that contains NO dialogue
5. Write your own short script (no more than 10 pages) where one character is having to explain or teach something to another character
6. Write your own short script (no more than 10 pages) where two characters are talking about something that they’re trying to keep secret from a third person in the room
*(Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Star Wars)