This Will Help You Write Better Dialogue - Frank Dietz

In this Film Courage video interview, Screenwriter/Artist Frank Dietz on This Will Help You Write Better Dialogue.

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#writing #screenwriting #screenplay

[davidfracz]

This is great. I've heard this before and it really helps. I speak the words in my head in a tone and voice depending on what kind of character I'm writing. It helps with the dialogue. Image the 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle voices and how each one is distinct and has its own connotations behind the character. Do that but with your own work.

[NIKONGUY]

I do this unconsciously. If something I’ve written starts playing back in my head and it makes me sad, glad, mad, etc, then I know I nailed. Though the opposite is true as well. If it sucked then, it still sucks now! 🥱

[AlphaProto]

This is very good advice. I am a voice actor and I have gotten scripts that do not flow when you speak the words out loud.
It is a pain making them seem authentic in a performance.

[hauzan]

Checked out his IMDb.... and he was one of Disney's animators of Mulan and Tarzan in the late '90s!? Insanely humble guy with insane advices!

[summoner]

Thank you, film courage for all your videos. As much as I'm having failures at writing lately, your videos inspire

[TheFeelButton]

I live to act out. Cheers Film Courage!

[stiankallhovd]

Yes, I do! I spend a lot of time writing dialogue because I always attempt to strike a balance between the dialogue sounding good (out loud), and moving the story forward. Doing both things isn't always easy. It sometimes requires careful thinking.

An update on my own writing process: I realized I wasn't fully satisfied with my screenplay, so I've begun re-outlining a story based on the same concept. It should be easier since I know my characters, but I can already tell that comparing the story scene-by-scene at this stage in the process, the alternate version of the story will seem much different. I still don't know what the ending will be like in this version.

It's hard work, but also enjoyable when I can spot the improvement!

Speaking of which, same as Dietz, I do have an actor's voice in my head for one particular character this time around. That might change that character's personality a bit.

[leroystreetproductions]

I do the same thing, giving the character in your head a voice!

[Normac_The_Foul]

Random memory but as a kid, I would do character voices in my head when I read books and I never realized but it would manifest itself onto my face. I'd be making all these dramatic facial expressions as I heard each character's voice in my head. One day I heard a kid laughing so I looked up to see him watching me and mocking the facial expressions I was making while reading. I got really self conscious and tried not to do it anymore. It really screwed with the way I experienced and enjoyed books for awhile.

[isaacbarlow]

Yes, when I'm editing the scene mostly. I write it first and if it doesn't flow, then I re-write it and say it out loud.

[jcharpak]

"George, you can type this ****, but you sure can't say this ****"
-Harrison Ford, on the set of Star Wars.

[demetriusdion]

I highly recommend "Characters Make Your Story" by Maren Elwood for developing great characters and dialogue. It's an old classic, but still available.

[filmcourage]

Do you act out characters from a screenplay you have written?

[interstellarbeatteller]

William Goldman would use old hollywood stars like Bogart & Bacall as the voices for his characters when writing

[justanameonyourscreen]

I've read about this method in all the books, and online...just awkward when you have roommates...

[nerd_in_norway]

It's so odd hearing him say he was lucky to be allowed on the set of something he had written. This absurd notion of putting writers at the bottom in the Hollywood system, when in fact the entire Hollywood system would shut down if it weren't for the writers, it is so ungrateful.

In Europe and Asia at least, the writer is welcomed with open arms on the set and is treated as one of the most important people there.

I'm reminded of the story of when Francis Ford Coppola stumbled onto a film set and asked which movie they were shooting. Somebody said "Patton" and Coppola went "oh, I wrote that!" (he would go on to win an Oscar for it), and the guy responded: "So what are you doing here?"

Hollywood needs to start treating their writers with more respect, it's shameful.