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Remember This Rule When Writing Action Lines in a Screenplay
Keep it pithy, keep it terse.
The importance of white space in a screenplay cannot be overstated.
Nothing turns a reader off more than big and blocky chunks of text.
Remember the following when writing action in a screenplay:
Keep it pithy.
Keep it terse.
That means your objective when writing action lines and descriptions are to:
Eliminate adjectives and unnecessary words.
Here’s an example:
Harry bends over and forcefully picks up the gun. He straightens back up and quickly runs through the house towards the door a few feet away.
Write this instead:
Harry snatches the gun, bolts for the door.
As you can see the second example gets the same information across in fewer words. It paints the same picture and arguably has more of an impact.
Strong action verbs like SNATCHES and BOLTS don’t overwhelm the reader with unnecessary information, but they make the point just as well.
So remember:
Keep it pithy, keep it terse.
Happy writing,
Evan
