22 Screenwriting Mistakes Writers Must Avoid

[@corpsefoot758]

Man, I just gotta say … I used to wonder why Film Courage clips took so long to come out, but after realizing the insane amount of archiving and categorization going into these compilations alone, I’m surprised you guys can release even a single video 😂

[@chrisoliver3642]

The more I learn about screenwriting, the easier novels sound.

[@dddeadlift]

😬

[@m.w.r.1408]

There's a writer somewhere saying "the more I learn about novels, the easier screenwriting sounds" lol

[@prettyaverage97]

I don't know about that one...

[@1sihingable]

Yes! I feel I can do it. I started working on a volume of short stories so I can have control over writing screenplays. Next thing I know it's looking more like a novel.

[@1sihingable]

@@m.w.r.1408 🤣🤣🤣

[@oS2006DE]

ngl every time i watch one of these, i come away creatively charged up like nothing else. not even watching a roger corman space opera gets me this juiced up and ready to NEW.

[@ComicPower]

Film courage on KZbin feels like going to film school for free. Thank you for these videos

[@guilherme5094]

Pretty much all modern entertainment : I'm going to pretend I didn't see this.

[@trevorthornley8835]

Yup. Hollywood is stupid

[@FixFilmsLtd]

Great video article - thanks for posting!

[@thatcherfreeman]

#4: "they end up presenting a situation instead of telling a story" That's a beautiful way to describe that. So many short films are about a situation instead of a story.

[@ScriptSleuth]

100% agreed.

[@AnyDayNow360]

Jill makes an excellent point: "structure is a way to maximize the impact of their story."

[@jeremykayprofessionalscree9914]

William Martell is a treasure to anyone who wants to learn more about being a working screenwriter. "Every idea I come up with is me... part of the job is to go:... "Why is that me?" And once I work out why that's me, I can go back and explore it better in the script". He's solid gold. Also, his blue books are available on Amazon for like five dollars, and I find them way more relevant to the actual day in, day out practice of screenwriting than the big name screenwriting books.

[@jeremykayprofessionalscree9914]

@@danieldelavega7605 That's a good question. I should start by saying I'm not promising that he'll be helpful for your work and practice; all I should say is that he's invaluable for me. I'd probably make two comparisons to explain what I mean. The first: if we were to look at Christopher Nolan, who is an incredible source for people wanting to learn more about screenwriting--one of the things Nolan won't have to think about or talk about is what you have to do with a script or a pitch or treatment if producers just aren't feeling it. He's Nolan! If he wants to make something; producers are going to listen to him. I know everyone wants to be making Oscar winning works for art--but the reality for many working screenwriters like me is that sometimes it's a job--an awesome job--and we have to learn how to deliver things our bosses like, and how to get along with our co-workers, when we don't have the freedom to make whatever we want, like say Nolan. William Martell has so much great wisdom for the working screenwriter, or at least for me. The other comparison I'd make is screenwriting books: man, so many of these books people keep citing as if they're the bible have not been written by people who write screenplays. William Martel actually does this stuff for a living, and he passes on his tips to people like me. If he's not helpful for you, I can respect that. What resources do you find most helpful? I'm always looking to learn more.

[@werren894]

3:27 is literally me as newbie screenwriter, by playing jrpg games and understand how the story written the sadness how deep the characters are, or watching movies like lotr, game of thrones etc, makes me feel confident that i can write world building with some identity for certain characters and spesific stories while irl it turns out some shit got overwritten, too many things not complete, some stories become to tragic that is not make sense for fantasy because is too real, etc.

[@kokoleka808]

Read "Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting" by Robert McKee.

[@WyattTwerpp]

"Story" is overrated. He says don't use narration and then references movies that not only have narration but multiple narrations.

[@purpleplanetary]

@@WyattTwerpp What do you recommend?

[@kokoleka808]

@@WyattTwerpp Here's one quote from McKee that we could examine and attempt to take into context: “… and God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you! It’s flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character. You must present the internal conflicts of your character in action.” McKee isn't against all types of narration but vehemently opposes the use of voice-over narration without dramatizing the internal conflict of the character, which he considers lazy writing. A poor example would be voice-over narration interspersed in a talking heads movie which doesn't dramatize the character's exposition and internal conflict in action. Adapting a screenplay from a novel, word for word, using narration to describe everything the character is experiencing inside would be the worse way to adapt a novel. A great example of counterpoint narration is the film "Fight Club" where Edward Norton is both narrator and main character whom the audience sees in action. So the narration does not detract from stream of consciousness storytelling but instead augments, enhances and enriches the film, abiding by McKee's number one rule to show not tell. Other films which did an excellent job of employing counterpoint narration include "American Psycho" and "The Shawshank Redemption". Another type of example I should note uses narration only at the beginning of Act 1 and the ending of Act 3, is "Se7en", where Morgan Freeman's narration fit perfectly without interrupting the dramatization of the stream of consciousness of the storytelling or detract from the dramatization of the character's internal conflict in action.

[@Rambolink94]

@@kokoleka808 Another great example of narration is in the movie Adaptation. A character in the movie itself at one point explains why you shouldn't use narration and it's similar to McKee's quote above. I think because Charlie Kaufman addresses the fact that he's using narraration and even describes it as being lazy, it actually ends up being just the opposite and works very well. At least in my opinion that is.

[@michaelmorrissette5691]

@@Rambolink94 It is the quote from Adaptation. Brian Cox is playing McKee. I’m not sure if it is an original quote from McKee or just Kaufman creating dialogue that he believes McKee would say in a lecture.

[@filmcourage]

Which part is most helpful to you?

[@meg-k-waldren]

Oh Michael Hague: character visible goal. We are seeing more and more movies and shows focus way too much on the inner journey and, even worse, a lot of focus on lecturing the audience on how to behave and how to think. And that's fine but just do it within the story. That's my takeaway to remember to balance inner and outer goals and avoid having my characters dialogue come across as virtue signaling but rather have theme get my movie's message across.

[@jesse7631]

5. Visible Goal - I think JJ Abrams missed that with many of his TV shows. Alias, Lost, etc.

[@XDDoomsday]

It's a great idea to combine the interviews in such a video, please, do more of them. It very inspiring)) BTW, I following your channel for quite a while and I love what you all guys and girls doing. Thank you. You connect me to the people I don't have around 🤗

[@filmcourage]

Cheers, here are other compilation videos we have done - bit.ly/3j2BYTG

[@XDDoomsday]

@@filmcourage thank you

[@jraelien5798]

Every time The Last Jedi makes one of these mistakes, take a shot!

[@MrREX11111]

It would be like connecting the garden hose to the mouth....

[@theshreksorcist4571]

​@@MrREX11111 I drank so much I became a force ghost.

[@serroche]

Wow the last one is a great advice for life, not just writing.

[@filmcourage]

Which mistake would you like to hear more about?

[@ArronRouse]

Good compilation. Alan Watt hit the nail on the head for me. It's far too easy to make the lead character an observer; a blank slate who reacts instead of a character who drives the action. Shannan's activity vs action is also something I struggled with early on. Both of these I see in other's work too. So maybe how to build interesting characters and also how to drive the action?

[@simplyme922]

This channel is The Best Masterclass! Thank you.

[@filmcourage]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@AltairZielite]

I love this format!!!

[@filmcourage]

Cheers!

[@anavonrebeur6121]

The last one Is Golden. Thank you Corey

[@josephvanwyk2088]

9:33 - Wrong. You need to have your character PROACTIVE throughout, not active. Active characters do things without meaning or purpose and not advance story forward. -- Reactive or passive characters just react to plot/circumstance happening around them or to them, without having any part in them whatsoever. Proactive, pursues their obsession religiously, continuously and is a combination of active and reactive, but exponentially more focused, goal and arc driven, driving the story forward. See 10:26, this writer actually mentions it.

[@jonathandewberry289]

21 is some good advice. So so many writers feel they need to explain 'action' throughout, from one start to the end. "the bomb blast singed his hair, threw them back, they landed with a thwump, the heat, they stumbled, 1000 moves of the bomb blast" or The bomb exploded. Mr. Lead was badly injured but he wasn't dead either as the ambulance whisked him away. the latter: the audience almost automatically filled in everything and even better than the writer could. They automatically tallied him hurling backwards, landing, shrapnel spraying, his face black from the debris, smoke curling around, how he'd try to get up and stumble, they even fill in sounds of 'boom' and glass shatters, of alarms going off. They do that.

[@tysonq7131]

0:27 @JJ Abrams

[@yuvrajjha]

Nice summing up. Thanks for sharing :)

[@AnyDayNow360]

Thank you, love it!

[@filmcourage]

Cheers, thanks for watching!

[@jhlime]

Great advice from (checks imdb) the writer of Battlefield Earth!

[@DenkyManner]

Exactly, an expert in screenwriting mistakes.

[@jhlime]

@@DenkyManner Yes. Being fair, his advice was actually about failing. I just find it funny. Good for him though, for having a career after that mess .

[@letthemoviebegin]

This video was extremely helpful!! Thank you!

[@filmcourage]

We are glad to hear that!

[@londalecarter3482]

0:28. Never thought about it from that perspective

[@Sengaari]

How I ♥️ you, Film Courage!

[@filmcourage]

Cheers Sengaari!

[@jeanbarque9918]

About the visible goal, visible for us but doest have to be visible, clear for the spectator ? Per example is it a bad idea to have a hero that lost his memory but doesnt know it so he can't have a first goal that would be to recover memory, but maybe later he start to understand that theres something missing in his memory then a first goal would be to find whats missing and then another goal that was his goal before losing memory OR to by recovering and find elements he strts to have a new goal that would be THE big goal or final goal ? I have to previse that it's not for a movie but for a web serie where first season is light and comic, no precise goal, elements appears slowly but the hero doesnt see that there is something while the spectator may see. Then end of 1st season a pertubating element shakes the story. The 2nd season the he starts to asking himself questions.. he discovers things, things happens. And only at the 3rd season the principal goal just starts to form etc (then a 4th, a 5th season and maybe more). Is all this is ok ? Bad ? If bad why ?

[@8bitorgy]

23: Make sure you watch the whole video before replying

[@civilwarfare101]

Hideo Kojima would have a heart attack at the 12 minute mark of the video.

[@howardkoor2796]

Great stuff. Thank u

[@Flyest90]

Thanks!

[@Flyest90]

This channel has taught me soo much over the years. Got me through a lot 🙏🏽

[@filmcourage]

Thank you so much, we appreciate your support!

[@kofiopam5828]

I don't really think it's difficult for writers to embrace that heroes need external goals, I think many writing teachers fail to *teach this effectively*. As soon as that (pretty simple) story guideline was taught to me with clear examples, it made perfect sense.

[@kofiopam5828]

I say this with love: a lot of the problems that these Film Courage videos say that they have with scripts and stories and pitches could really be fixed by...better teaching. People hem and haw about whether you can really "teach writing". The answer is YES, good writing absolutely can be taught, by good writing teachers! (And being a good writer *does not* make you a good teacher of writing. Full stop.) For example, this isn't intuitive but re: #2, it's not as helpful to teach novice writers what *not* to do as it is to focus on what works well and why. Also, not having contempt for novice writers is a good place to start.

[@jawbee7]

Please anyone explain what he meant about visible goal and inner journey @1:15 ...am not good in understanding english. Thanks

[@jackalkin6757]

I believe it’s something the hero, or the protagonist wants to get by the end of the story. To me, they usually start off with the external goal (something they want but don’t need), where later the internal goal (something they need) is introduced. Beware, this is only an opinion of mine.

[@jawbee7]

@@jackalkin6757 thanks🙏

[@szymonskowronski5689]

Externally, Luke Skywalker wants to become a Jedi - it's visible goal. Internally, he must develop the understanding that the Force exist and trust his feelings, not his senses. So, when he overcome his inner blockades - he's ready to become a Jedi. And that's what happens in Star Wars: Luke stops using his x-wing equipment (he internally believes in the Force), lets his feelings go, he blows off rockets and destroys Death Star. Now, he has taken a visible step and can be seen as Jedi.

[@szymonskowronski5689]

Most important thing in script is to have these two goals - internal and external - integrated. In example, in bad writing Luke would be a shy boy who wants to become a Jedi. During the action he could overcome his shyness and become a Jedi - but these are not connected to each other (stopping being shy doesn't help to become a Jedi). It's tricky!

[@MrInnovativeMusic]

yes

[@Thenoobestgirl]

The last point is very true

[@frenstcht]

Hey, great vid! Good idea. Thanks!

[@filmcourage]

Cheers!

[@frenstcht]

@@filmcourage ^_^

[@thomasfairfax4956]

The Get Out script breaks so many of these tips lol, Especially the active character one

[@tobinelliott3956]

Is one of the screenwriting mistakes to put three Es in "screeenwriting" in the title thumbnail? LOL! Was that a test? Did I pass?

[@juandager5220]

13:13 "So afraid of rejection..."

[@bratwizard]

I finally figured it out... my character's inner motivation is to create long info-dumps and boring monologues. BINGO! Instant alignment!! :-) :-) :-)

[@ScriptSleuth]

🤣

[@unchartedrocks1]

10:55 maybe becuz ur not Cormac McCarthy or Dostoevsky. Nothing wrong at all with philosophical monologues if done with powerful pondering writing.

[@disappearingcat]

i feel attacked by the last guy. that's one of the reasons i'm so stuck trying to make the perfect story that i couldn't even get to writing the script.

[@AlfredAmeneyro21]

Point 16 is a tricky one, some writers will not get the point and will write Mary Sue’s...

[@jraelien5798]

You mean a Rey Skywalker?

[@AlfredAmeneyro21]

@@jraelien5798 yes

[@محمدعبدالوهابعبدالحليم]

Great video 👍

[@filmcourage]

Cheers!

[@meesterexit1969]

You know...a true good story...writes itself.

[@diegooland1261]

Has anyone read a draft screen play or novel and felt like they read the directions on how to build the house and not the story about the people living in the house? Sometimes I feel like I've read everything the writer needs to know to write the story, but not the actual story.

[@bataviachris6719]

Quality!

[@filmcourage]

Thanks for watching!

[@Huguillon]

The extra "e" in the thumbnail is one of the mistakes too??

[@ippolit23]

Mistake #1: spell screenwriting with three “e”s.

[@sisyboy]

You have a typo on your thumbnail

[@fabulasedesfabulas]

I helped a lady to tell her journey through the Mexico desert to reach USA. This history desserv to become a film. How do she can does to this book arrive until any filmmaker? The book is: In the desert he chose me (Jislaine Mattei)

[@Jarbels]

It was somewhat jarring for me to hear rule 6 following rule 5... (severe paraphrasing) 5) Dont lose sight of your goal for emotive/thematic/idealistic distractions vs 6) Feelings drive movies not story...

[@Jarbels]

I understand her concentration on "feeling" through character but neglecting or ignoring your story is not an option (imo)

[@محمدعبدالوهابعبدالحليم]

The meg writer said 😅 Don't forget about the audience Can you give me a link to this video because I want more explanation Thanks 👍😊

[@filmcourage]

We think it is this one - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eH6Wg3V-opyEodk

[@محمدعبدالوهابعبدالحليم]

@@filmcourage thanks 🤍

[@SreegovindM]

I hav over 10 ideas and stories inside my head but when I tried to make it as a page I failed everytime...The stories inside my head is so good it's suck when I can't put that as a source ..

[@TheJadedFilmMaker]

like I keep saying. all these tips fly in the face of current trends of identity politics in movies. it's not universal.... its not catering or connecting to me or (any?) the wider audience. I always tune out of superficial identity movies.

[@londalecarter3482]

Yall need to sell this vid.

[@filmcourage]

Cheers Londale! We hope others will find value in this one.

[@myNarrator]

“So many writers are afraid to offend that they become someone else in their writing.” However, if you write something that is objectively quite good but offends the overly offended reader, don’t think they won’t hesitate to be offended and allow that to affect their evaluation. In other words, write what Hollywood is looking for or enjoy being broke.

[@ssjsmith8879]

Nah, write the story you want to read! Hollywood looks for stuff to bite off of all the time. That's why the end result movies always differs from the written work. As for "What Hollywood wants"...How's that working out for it??? ^_^

[@glenn212now]

I've watched about 20 of these videos so far. I hate to say it, but they really depress me. So many of the people who are interviewed are spewing negativity and going on and on about mistakes screenwriters make, etc. The best films and TV shows are always the ones whose writers actually broke the rules and made their stories stand out and not conform to all this bs.

[@filmcourage]

Hi Glenn, we understand. Maybe take time off from watching videos and focus on your writing. Spend more time on your creativity, characters and story worlds. Down the road if you are looking for a more positive spin on writing here is a playlist that we hope you find more inspiring -kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWi7YYqNhJigqq8

[@glenn212now]

@@filmcourage Thank you for taking the time respond. I'm sorry for being so rude. I didn't mean it. I just get so discouraged sometimes. Screenwriting is my life's passion, and from the minute I got to Los Angeles I feel like I've been told it's impossible. It's hard for creative people to hear that.

[@TheUltimateMarioFan]

Kind of ironic how this video is about mistakes and the thumbnail itself contains a mistake ("screeenwriting").

[@blatherskite3009]

It's not quite in the same league as the humdinger from a week or so ago: "What Writer's Get Wrong" :) That particular thumbnail has been fixed since, so the raft of comments noting the irony probably don't make a lot of sense anymore...

[@marwannsouli]

Dont listen to any of thisl Write whatever screenplay you want, however you want. At the end of the day, the screenplay is just what you might imagine to be a movie in the future. There is no such thing as "22 mistakes." Just, simply, write a movie and make it. If it's unique enough, interesting enough, it will be a job well done.

[@Suleimanfilmaker]

Hey man this is actually very true I know people say that you know screenplay should be an amalgamation of what’s in your mind and that is very true you need your own style but you need to learn stuff about storytelling to actually like get to that point tell a personal story so most of this is accurate

[@donalddeluxe6407]

Maybe someone should show this video to George Martin. Especially number five.

[@DavidPigbody]

Oh sorry, i thought this was a compilation of reviews of the last three star wars movies..

[@sarahbenzai5358]

priceless!

[@McCragge]

The writers for the LOKI series should watch this video.

[@beanbagwillie]

That’s a lot of empty words imo