3 Keys To Writing Great Dialogue - Daniel Calvisi

BUY THE BOOK - STORY MAPS: How To Write A GREAT Screenplay

BUY THE BOOK - STORY MAPS: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot

In this Film Courage video interview, Script Doctor, Writing Coach, and Author Daniel Calvisi discusses on-the-nose dialogue and its pitfalls. He defines on-the-nose dialogue as generic and lazy, overly explaining things that are already clear in the scene. While occasionally using on-the-nose dialogue might be necessary for orienting readers, he advises against making all characters sound the same or forcing Aaron Sorkin-style dialogue for everyone.

DANIEL P. CALVISI is a Script Doctor, Writing Coach and the author of Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay and Story Maps: TV DRAMA: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot. He is a former Story Analyst for major studios like Twentieth Century Fox, Miramax Films and New Line Cinema. He coaches writers, teaches webinars on writing for film and television and speaks at writing conferences. Many of his clients have worked with the top networks and studios in the industry, such as Netflix, HBO, Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony, ABC, Showtime, Apple TV+ and more. He holds a degree in Film and Television from New York University. He lives in Los Angeles.

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#writing #movies #entertainment

[stevenlovell]

Read, “the old Man and the Sea, “ about three times and you will be able to write dialogue

[Tysto]

Two exercises: 1) write a scene with three very different characters & make it obvious they're different: accent, social and economic background, & education. Get used to your characters having different voices. 2) write a scene with three brothers with identical upbringing & still make them sound different because they have different personalities. Then, in your “real” writing, decide from the start what background & personality each character has.

[jemhoare]

I used Dan's book to do my screenplay, helped immensely. Also ended up doing his course, which was also great.

[Laura-illo]

Raising Arizona ended with a great touching monologue and then the last line brings it back to comedy.

[alejandroschmid]

I love Terminator 2 and I think it is one of the best sci-fi movies ever made by all standards. It starts and ends with a monologue. The starting monologue gets you immediately into the story, while the ending one leaves you thinking, so I think that they work because they serve the purpose of the scenes. On the other hand, T3 tried kind of the same but fails because it doesn't serve but to expose the obvious.

[stevemuzak]

Dialog in this movie is over the top amazing. A 3-hour movie and I wasn't bored for a second. The ending is really touching. Hits you right to the heart.

[wexwuthor]

They say don't make characters sound the same, but people who live and/or in the same place tend to in a very similar way. And if they have similar goals even more so.

[Adpayne]

Yes this helps I write way too much dialogue which I was told. I need more action. And this helps. Writing is rewriting. I will continue to edit.

[Serryy]

Succession is a fantastic shout for clever dialogue. Definitely worth it to re-watching the show just for all the insane lines in every episode.

I would also like to mention Bojack Horseman, more specifically the episode "Free Churro". It's a whole episode filled with all the sadness and humour that makes this show so special and it manages to keep you from tuning out despite barely any on-screen action happening for the whole runtime.

[NIKONGUY]

I'm hit or miss when it comes to dialog. I know when I read something I wrote even years ago and it still moves me to laughter, tears, etc., that I hit the mark. And then comes the cringeworthy, and I question why I gave up on those underwater basket weaving classes.

[astrahcat]

One mistake I would always make is where characters say the names of other characters too much, any kind of subtle expositiony wording sounds off slightly to the brain.

[saidjaniyev]

Hi Film Courage! As a fan of your channel and all thing that you are doing i would love to kindly ask you to interview DOP's (if it possible of course). Mainly your channel focuses on writing/producing movies (which is amazing and key for us - beginners) however i would personally love to hear DOP's work ethic, artistic choices etc. With love from Azerbaijan ❤

[HottSundaeTv]

I’m a new writer learning this is helpful!

[musicmeta_systems]

This is great, I've been trying to break down the elements of story, the on the nose dialog thing reminded me of in songwriting, I want the lyrics to not exist in everyday life, it should not be easily understood, like a puzzle that anyone can solve, but also, there's a moment after you've been coy for 2 minutes straight, when you say something incredibly straightforward, that's much more obvious and forthright than normal, it's just a nice juxtaposition. You beat around the bush, then attack them with candor. It subverts their expectation because they expect you to be vague at that point. They put their guard down, almost.

[NashDayZ]

Can’t believe Barbarian caught some strays at the end - literally one of the best debuts of a writer/director and in my favourite genre too. Damn the disrespect 😂

[chriswest]

About 1minute in. I call putting a stamp on it. You show preferably, ist, Then, very briffly, you get one or two characters to spell it out as it relates to naritive, stakes, . A mini summery.

[Jamesington]

re the 'discovery' scenes, I think you have to be careful with those lest you make your audience feel dumb for not realizing the scene's purpose before you reveal it to them.

[marvinj]

Barbarian was one of the best movies I saw all year..

[Plantstho]

Oppenheimer dialogue:

"- You heard about the scientist in Germany? He scienced some science!
- Oh shit, we gotta science harder!
- Atoms! Stars!"

[deanmountford]

Biggest dialogue mistake “What are you doing here?” 😡😡😡😡