Top Tips

Pacing is often the key to a successful screenplay. How to keep the reader turning the page. Well, studying the rhythm of classical music and pop songs can actually help. You have to build toward those key moments of heightened action or drama and then follow them with a lull that becomes the beginning of the next big crescendo! Point of View. A common mistake is when secondary characters get their own scenes without the presence of the protagonist. Ask yourself: "Whose story is it?" If you're following the central character for most of your film then a cutaway to something happening to someone else may well detract from your story flow and be redundant. Try to avoid coincidence. Figure out another way around revealing a crucial piece of information to the protagonist and engineer a new way for him to meet the love of his life without it being too contrived. If that fails, you could always try to conceal your coincidence behind a powerful moment of action or drama and hope the audience don't notice!