Is “We See” Bad Writing?

Another in the terrific screenwriting series Raising the Stakes.

Jonathan W. Stokes is a screenwriter with a unique credit to his name: Five of his original screenplays have been named to the annual Black List. That alone should get your attention, but there’s also this: Over the last few years, he has produced an excellent video series called Raising the Stakes.

It’s been a while since the last video dropped and it took the Writers Strike to provide the time, but Jonathan has produced six more installments in the series. Here is Season 4, Episode 4: Is “We See” Bad Writing?

Jonathan has a lot of fun with the subject in this video and rightly so. It’s ridiculous that some writers get bent out of shape about it. The video explores all sides of the issue and Jonathan ends up in a place pretty much where I do: There are ways to avoid using we see / we move / we hear … but there’s no rule against it. And if your scene works best going that route, then feel free to take that path.

If you care to read my thoughts on the matter from a series I did years ago about so-called screenwriting ‘rules,’ go here.

To read the entire 15-part series, go here.

To check out previous episodes in the Raising the Stakes series:

Season 1

Episode 1: The Objective Correlative
Episode 2: Breaking Suture
Episode 3: Nuking the Fridge
Episode 4: 10 Ways to Invest Your Audience in Your Hero
Episode 5: Heightening

Season 2

Episode 1: Theme Shown
Episode 2: Raising the Stakes on the Call to Adventure
Episode 3: 7 Ways To Do Bad Exposition
Episode 4: 9 Rules For Good Exposition
Episode 5: Magic Flight

Season 3

Episode 1: The Act One Break
Episode 2: Atonement with the Father
Episode 3: Seven Set Pieces
Episode 4: The Midpoint
Episode 5: Anaphora and Epistrophe

Season 4

Episode 1: The Tarantino Principle
Episode 2: Why Does Point of View Matter?
Episode 3: What is Aesthetic Distance?

For more background on Jonathan W. Stokes, you can go here.

Twitter

Instagram

You may read my interview with Jonathan here.