Avoid a Screenwriting Trap: Tell a Story Instead of Explaining Your Movie

This is why you shouldn’t think of your screenplay as a movie.

One of the more omnipresent traps that aspiring screenwriters succumb to in the actual writing and execution of their script is to think of their screenplay as a movie. 

I know, I know, that doesn’t sound right at all. A screenplay is a movie, right? 

Well no, it’s not. For non-established spec writers a screenplay is a written story that—if loved by enough industry folk—can then lead to being set up at a studio, and hopefully produced into a movie. 

It’s an extremely valuable distinction to make for aspiring screenwriters who write on spec, and here’s why.

Avoid being so engrossed in envisioning your finished product as a movie that you fail to fully articulate the story on the page.

Yes, writers should be envisioning their screenplay as a movie, which means writing visually, externalizing actions and conflicts, and applying form and function. However, the story has to be fully executed on the page first. 

That means that the narrative intentions of the writer have to be clear in the writing. The ideas associated with the story; individual beats, moments, subtext, emotional nuance, and the plot itself, have to be transparent to the reader. 

Most reading this article would think that’s a complete and utter given; yet lack of clarity is a trap that far too many aspiring screenwriters fall into and never even realize it. 

'Spotlight,' 2016 Oscar 

Your screenplay must be understandable on its own

Screenwriters can get locked into the movie they’re envisioning in their head, one that’s filled with amazing images, and casted with brilliant actors, and has amazing cinematography and sound. The challenge is that they often get so caught up in seeing it, that they lose sight of the fact that it has to be read first.  

In other words, they’re so engrossed in envisioning the finished product as a movie that they fail to fully articulate the story on the page. And as any studio reader will tell you, that’s a knife in the belly of any screenplay that will instantly cut the life of your read short.  

Simply put, instead of writing a story for a reader, they’re writing a movie for a producer. Instead of telling a story, they’re explaining a movie. 

I’ve seen it happen far too often. I would read a writer’s spec only to be constantly stopping because it lacked clarity.

The repercussions

Writing a movie for a producer or director in mind instead of writing a story for a reader is a mistake, as it can directly lead to ambiguity in the writing. Parts of the story are on the page, but other parts are vague and still in the writer’s head, attached to that awesome three-dimensional finished movie that one has to actually see in order to fully comprehend its story. 

In my years of teaching and consulting I’ve seen it happen far too often. I would read a writer’s spec only to be constantly stopping because it lacked clarity. I’m constantly being “taken out of the read” because the writer’s narrative intentions aren’t clear on the page. Instead of being engaged, I’m confused. 

However, when I sit down with the writer and he or she explains it to me, it all makes perfect sense. 

As an example of this at play, let’s take an excerpt from a spec script I consulted on that illustrates this notion of failing to articulate a vision. The following is a before and after snapshot of the scene. Here’s the before version: