Session with Steve Coombes 2:

Here are notes made on 3rd October 2016

DIALOGUE:

Things you shouldn't do:
-Pointless dialogue/filler.
-Make dialogue on the nose (characters rarely say exactly how they feel).
-Make dialogue too formal.
-use character's name too often.
-Have different talk in the same way/ rhythm, accent-even if in same community (each character needs their own different voice).
-Use unspeakable dialogue.
-Be too grammatical.
-Make the dialogue too real.
-Use long speeches.

Not everything has to be dialogue- Use an entire range of expression: Actions/body language.

Dialogue that contradicts actions is great

Beware of accents
-Write different languages in English.
-Forced accents are rubbish-show actions.

Don't give information in dialogue:
-Show, don't tell.
-Use metaphors.

If characters say something they truly believe in:
-Character is telling the audience about that character.
-Being shown who a character is.

People talk in contradictions:
-Reticence
-Evasion
-Denial
-'I'm not in love' - They are actually in love - In denial.

Dialogue should not be what it appears to be about.

Different characters would have different expletives.
-People speak in rhythm
-Dialogue reflects the rhythm of a character's life.

Come in such that the first line of dialogue grips the audience:
-Humour

Anger is particularly good at being expressed through words




CHARACTERS:

You should know the characters in your script as well as you now your friends.
-Only interested on characters when they fail.
-All characters should begin with failure.
-Characters should be flawed people who fall short of their estimations of themselves.
-'Pride comes before a fall'.
-God characters are under some oppression/ conflict/ obstacle.

Tells are about characters giving themselves away ideally in a visual sense but they do not know that they are giving themselves away.

A drama is when all of the characters are right:
-Make your characters right.

Backstory describes your character external.
-What is interesting is not what the character has done, but what they will do next.


Three Characters:
-Monsters
-Existential Heroine
-