The Poetry in Writing for Screen
Using a Rule Poets Employ to Enhance Screenwriting Descriptions
Writing a screenplay can be more like writing poetry than one might suppose, but it is also the absolute opposite, from word choice to the way you present your concepts and ideas. This article explores how to maximise effectiveness in writing screenplay text by taking tips from the stylized forms of poetry and executing thosein a way that serves the visual medium of the screenplay.
Amongst many of the great sayings by the legendary poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, there is one that stands out chiefly as advice to writers:
“I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose [equals] words in their best order; - poetry [equals] the best words in the best order.”
This is as relevant to the screenwriter as it is to the young poet that Coleridge mentions. Why? Because writing a screenplay is often one of the hardest forms of writing that there is. That is because it requires that one take elements from both poetry and prose without making your writing either, but to have the turn of phrase that suggests emotion, whilst also retaining the clarity of straight-forward instruction.
A screenwriter must create compelling visuals using blocks of “action,” giving the person reading the script a sense of tone, of direction, of movement, conviction, emotion and, most importantly, dramatic flair, without ever once letting on that they are doing so.
The art of writing a screenplay can be found in its ability to be sublimely simple. That is to say, it is like poetry in that it must have the best words in the very best order, or it will ultimately be inefficient and will lack the clarity needed to sell the script once it comes to being read by a film industry professional.
How To Incorporate Simplicity Into Screenplay Writing
Consider simple sentences in writing your screenplay. There is nothing more confusing to a reader than a sentence that twists and turns through four or more lines without direction. To avoid this, try to keep your complex sentences to a minimum, using them only when necessary to create a sense of drama.
Otherwise the screenwriter is served well by using short, simple sentences that act more like statements. These will convey to the reader your exact meaning. And being exact is the reason why poetry and screenwriting differ.
Why Poetic Turns of Phrase Don’t Always Serve You Best in Screenwriting
Once the writer has written a dramatic action scene that tests their hero into becoming the man that they’ve convinced their audience he could be, they re-read it and find that they’ve used simile and metaphor in abundance. There’s nothing wrong with that, but consider that, when describing,say, a scene looking out onto a late evening sea view, what is one man’s "Burnt, and shadow peppered ocean" is another man’s, "The water is on fire", and one can begin to see how subjective creative language can be.
Screenwriting Is A Visual Medium
The screenwriter is presenting a series of images, therefore evocative language is aloud and encouraged, so do not be disheartened if the screenplay reads colourfully. Try, however, to read those passages with a lot of action detail to several different people and then ask them what happened in that passage just read them. If all of them can recite it back clearly and concisely, then the script is functioning properly. If they can’t, it means that the film script does not yet have the very best words in the best order to convey the message of the screen play.
In essence, a strong, visual backbone is required in screenplay writing that allows someone to invest in the story being told to them so that they might get taken along on the journey the film's protagonist is making.
Ensuring that a screenplay has the best words in the very best order will make that trip a smooth and enjoyable one for any person who will read the screenplay, or watch that well-crafted and carefully honed screenplay on the big screen.
Choose Your Words
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