Screenwriting 101: Hossein Amini

“In movies, what’s always really interested me are the reaction shots and what the person is thinking. Again, it’s that big-screen experience of seeing someone’s face in a close-up with all that emotion. I want to keep the dialogue as real and conversational as possible — as opposed to using heightened dialogue, where it really is about what people are saying. The favorite scenes that I’ve written have all tended to be the ones where the dialogue is setting up the best reaction from the actor. I love trying to find the simplest way to say something with the maximum impact on the person who’s listening to it. Quite often, the dialogue is almost like background noise, and what’s really important is setting up the silent emotions on the faces of the characters.”

— Hossein Amini (from FilmCraft | Screenwriting, P. 16)

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