Okwywrites, the focus shouldn’t be on rules or conventional wisdom — which is so often more about…

Okwywrites, the focus shouldn’t be on rules or conventional wisdom — which is so often more about convention than wisdom. The focus should be on STORY. If you write a great story, you can turn in a spec script that is 67 pages long, includes images in the script, changes font sizes, uses bold, underline, and italics to highlight action, and has virtually no dialogue. That is the spec which is A Quiet Place. Sure, a lot of people passed on the project — Why would we want to make what is in essence a silent movie nearly 100 years after the end of the silent movie era? But it’s that central conceit —” Make a noise, you die” — which set the project apart from everything else. The compelling characters and storytelling was strong enough to get the attention of a filmmaker who could make a difference: Michael Bay, ironically someone who is known for making perhaps the LOUDEST movies in Hollywood.

I believe, right or wrong, that a screenwriter can approach style and format any way they feel they need to tell their story the best way possible, as long as it is clear to the reader what the writer intends and the story kicks ass.