Every successful TV series has a flawless scriptwriter behind it. If you are keen to become a scriptwriter for the TV or the movie industry, you should be well prepared before you take the plunge. It takes practice and observation to become an eminent scriptwriter widely respected for your work. However, if you begin early to identify the common mistakes in your script, you can taste the fruits of success much sooner.
Roger Wolfson – Know how to prepare the right script for success
Roger Wolfson is an esteemed figure in the entertainment, law, and political circuits in the USA. He is an eminent scriptwriter, TV writer, speechwriter, and an activist of animal rights. He has been on the staff of eminent high- profile democrats and US Senators like Ted Kennedy, Joe Liebermann, Paul Wellstone, and John Kerry. He has founded his own strategic consulting firm and has been the Vice President of Channel One News.
He says you should ensure your script does not have a poor structure. If you are ill-prepared, you will not be able to focus properly on the theme. The script gets out of hand, and you land up with a failed screenplay that fails to click with the audience.
Dialogue is not natural
If your dialogue fails to invoke interest in the audience, it is rejected by them. The dialogues between the characters should not be plain or wooden in nature. If the dialogue is complete with bad exposition, you will create an unnatural plot, and the viewers will not wish to keep tuned to what follows.
Loopholes in the plot
There are times when the elements of the plot just fail to connect. There is no general logic, and this fails to connect with the audience. The key here is to keep the plot as real as you can with its required logic.
The script is not a commercially viable one
This definitely does not indicate that your script is terrible. Often studios or a production company cannot spend millions on it. Generally, this is due to the reason that the audience might not be willing to spend money and come to the halls to watch it.
The story should be original
No one likes copies now. Several stories have been repeated over and over again. The audience of today looks for fresh and innovative plots. The entertainment world is fiercely competitive, and this where some amateur writers go wrong. They proceed to create their individual versions of blockbuster movies. You should never make this mistake. Try to find something that is original so that you can invoke the audience’s interest on screen.
In the opinion of Roger Wolfson a screenplay is not read like a movie. Note that film is a visual media and so your script has to be visually appealing. If the script merely focuses on two people talking, it is not cinematic in any way. Last but not least, ensure your script is around 90 to 115 pages, as this is the ideal length for any shoot.
