TABITHA

(to Riggan. A derisive laugh)

Youre no actor. Youre a celebrity.
Lets be clear on that.
Tabitha rises from her seat and grabs her things.
TABITHA (CONTD)
Im going to kill your play.
In Birdman, (directed by Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu, screenplay by Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu, Nicols
Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr. and Armando Bo) theatre critic Tabitha is despicable. She knows it.
Protagonist Riggin knows it. And what makes matters worse is that in these four lines, Riggan knows in
his very soul that Tabitha is telling the truth. The truth hurts. Riggin is struggling with his celebrity and
all that comes with this label. He wants to be respected as an actor, not for his celebrity.
The words flowing from your characters mouths should be true to who they are. Whether your
characters are telling the truth or lying, or believe they are being accurate or not, when you, the
screenwriter, have a deep understanding of your characters motivations and behaviors, the more
believable your dialogue will be. Good dialogue clearly conveys emotions, attitudes, strengths,
vulnerabilities, and so on, while revealing the details of your plot and advancing your narrative.
Ten Top Tips to Writing Truthful Dialogue
1.
Make every word of dialogue count. Often less is more and the less said can be more poignant.
2.
Readers should be able to identify who is speaking without needing to read each character
heading. Characters voices must be distinctive and not interchangeable with other characters.
3.
Consider the silences and pauses your characters use, or another characters interruptions, to
further convey tensions, actions, moods, and emotions.
4.
How your characters listen or dont listen to each other and respond or dont respond to each
other will enhance your dialogue.
5.
Dialogue must not sound wooden or stilted. In real life, most people do not always speak with
flawless grammar in complete, formal sentences.
6.
Use contractions, colloquialisms, slang, and so on, when true to your characters.
7.
Characters can speak in verbal shorthand and finish each others sentences and thoughts,
such as with family members and best friends.
8.
Watch out for on-the-nose dialogue. In real life, people dont always say exactly whats on their
mind or say what they mean and neither should your characters.
9.
Do your research. If your character is discussing medical issues, for example, or if youre
writing a period film, accuracy is essential.
10.
Writing character biographies for all of your characters will not only enable you to learn more
about who they are and what makes them tick, it will help you to determine their specific word choices
and language usages, such as slang, speech patterns, and rhythms.
Susan Kouguell, award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, teaches screenwriting at SUNY College
at Purchase, is a regular contributor for IndieWire/SydneysBuzz, and other publications. She is the
author of THE SAVVY SCREENWRITER and SAVVY CHARACTERS SELL SCREENPLAYS! A comprehensive
guide to crafting winning characters with film analyses and screenwriting exercises. As chairperson of
Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a motion picture consulting company founded in 1990, Kouguell works with
over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, executives and studios worldwide. Her short films are in the Museum of
Modern Arts permanent collection and archives, and were included in the Whitney Museums Biennial.
Kouguell worked as a story analyst and story editor for many studios, acquisitions consultant for
Warner Bros., wrote voice-over narrations for (Harvey Weinstein) Miramax and over a dozen feature
assignments for independent companies. www.su-city-pictures.com.
- See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/tips-writing-dialogue-trutful#sthash.GZI9ObT7.dpuf

In this post I want to talk a bit about dialogue. Obviously, when it comes to screenwriting, the subject
of dialogue requires a lot more than a 800-word blog tip. So thats why I am specifically limiting todays
advice to re-writing and dialogue.
First of all, when writing your first draft, its important to note that your dialogue will be rough. Bad is
the word I often use. Thats simply a fact of life. Why is that, you might ask?
There are a number of reasons for this. For starters, you dont fully know your characters yet. In
addition, you dont have your story down completely. Finally, its likely that youll race through your
scenes to get everything down in that first draft, and racing is what often leads to bad dialogue.

Dont worry. Its not as horrible as it sounds. You should know that it happens to the best of
screenwriters, even the pros. But having accepted that, you must then be sure to use your re-writes
all of them to improve that dialogue.
In my experience, there are two ways in which your first draft dialogue will suffer. First, your initial
dialogue is more likely than not to be on-the-nose. If this is an unfamiliar term to you, it simply means
that the characters are saying exactly what theyre thinking and feeling in the most straightforward
manner. Theres no subtlety or nuance. What you hear is what you get.
The problem with this? Most of us dont do this in our daily lives. Its not how we talk. We phrase things
in a less-direct manner, leaving whoever is listening to figure out what were really saying. Think of any
conversation you may have had with your boss in a serious setting. Or your spouse. On the other hand,
if you want an example of on-the-nose dialogue, tune in to a soap opera or two. It wont take you long
to hear the difference between that dialogue and, say, The Social Network.
In this regard, Ive heard it said that movie speak is an exaggerated version of real speak. I believe
that to be true. Moreover, audiences love to participate when watching a film, meaning that they
want to figure things out for themselves, as opposed to having things spelled out for them.
For all those reasons, you should avoid on-the-nose dialogue whenever possible in your script. That
means that when you re-write your first draft, and each successive draft, you should examine each line
of dialogue to see if there is a way for you to say the same thing in a more interesting and less-obvious
manner.
The second area of concern with first draft dialogue involves your characters. One of the most common
mistakes I see from new writers is that all the characters in their script sound the same. And guess
who they sound like? Yup. The writer.
If you want to separate yourself as a writer, this is something you must master. Your characters should
all have distinct voices. Ever notice how your friends are all a little different in how they speak? How
they have their own favorite expressions and language? The same should hold true with respect to
movie speak. They say you should be able to cover the characters name above the dialogue and be
able to tell whos talking simply by reading the dialogue. Now thats probably a bit of an exaggeration,
but its still something to strive for.
Again, this is an aspect of dialogue you should examine in your re-writes. Take a look at each
characters lines and make sure that they are not only consistent with that character, but also different
enough from the other characters so that they have their own voice. Fortunately, this part of
dialogue will improve with each re-write, as you get to know your characters better and begin to
hear their voices.
I should note that you are also likely to get better at writing dialogue in your first draft, as you get to
be a more accomplished writer. Youll be less likely to write something on-the-nose the first time, since
your ear for good dialogue will have improved.
By the same token, with experience and dogged script preparation, you are more likely to have a good
grip on who your characters are before you write that first draft, so that giving them a distinctive voice
will almost come naturally, even early in the process.
This will all take some time and get easier as you get to know your characters and story better. But let
me say once more that you should look at every single line of dialogue before sending out your script.
That doesnt mean you will have to change every line. Some you will have gotten right the first time.
Also, there might be times when your dialogue actually should be direct. Nevertheless, look at each
line to be sure of your choice.
In my next post, Ill offer up another tip with respect to dialogue. Heres a hint: its a number thing.
- See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/column-d-writing-dialogue-noseknows#sthash.h1rvInos.dpuf

Here are five ways to raise the bar for your dialogue
writing:
1. Listen to how people talk. Notice the sentence structure. People often dont speak in complete
sentences or wait for the person to finish theirs before interrupting them. Try bringing a notepad with
you the next time you go to a mall or coffee shop. Sit and listen, jotting down bits of dialogue.
2. Show, dont tell. Sometimes peoples body language can say so much more than their words do. A
film is a collaboration of artists, not a novel. Trust your actors to convey the intent of the scene youre

creating. Read each line of dialogue and ask yourself if theres a way to put that same meaning into
action.
3. When you use dialogue for exposition, dont make it on the nose. Nothing is more distracting and
boring than dialogue between two friends that is obviously recapping an event for the purpose of
exposition. Rip the dialogue apart and try to find a more creative way of exposing those details of the
story.
4. Make sure all your characters speak in a unique voice. Try dialogue writing exercises, such as going
through your script, reading one characters dialogue all on its own to check for continuity of that
characters voice. Repeat that exercise with all of your characters. This is the easiest, most efficient
way to be sure every character has a voice of their own.
5. Less is more. Rarely would a characters dialogue end up as a speech, unless in a courtroom. Try to
Twitterize your dialogue by keeping it to 140 characters. Youll be surprised how much fat you can
edit out of your words, still achieving the same intent.
For more advice on writing dialogue that pops, download our free Dialogue Writing & Advice from the
Pros to test your screenplay dialogue and get tips to hone your dialogue writing skills.
- See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/5-tips-to-better-dialogue-writing/#sthash.RjGHGAB7.dpuf