The Problem with Script Literalists

“Stories are not a series of widgets. This fact disquiets a certain portion of writers who wish they could reduce writing a story to some sort of formula or set of rules.”

There is a highly vocal group within the online screenwriting community who I call ‘scripturalists’ as in ‘script literalists’. They begin with an erroneous supposition: That there is some sort of official guideline re style and format in Hollywood. There isn’t. There are conventions and even expectations on the part of script readers, but these are not rules. As writers, we must always feel free to follow our creativity and write a script which best tells the story, and be proactive in terms of Narrative Voice, mindful of how style must reflect genre.

Here’s my theory about ‘scripturalists’: There is a certain kind of magic involved in creative expression which cannot be quantified. That is frightening. It can’t be bottled or explained. Stories are organic. Characters exist of their own accord. Writers have to trust the process and engage the characters directly to learn what we can and let them lead us into and through the story-crafting process.

Stories are not a series of widgets. This fact disquiets a certain portion of writers who wish they could reduce writing a story to some sort of formula or set of rules.

Hence, the conventions of format and style, that feel comfortable to these souls. Left margin here. Right margin here. Slug lines like this. No ‘we see’. No unfilmables.

To them, these ‘rules’ provide a sense of comfort… but it’s an illusion.

A writer can absolutely master the so-called ‘rules’ of screenwriting… and write a script which lies flat on the page. Or worse, doesn’t work as a story.

Conversely, a writer can scrawl on pages with a purple crayon and if that story kicks ass, that is what will resonate with Hollywood buyers.

To write that script requires we dip into the magic of Story.

Know the conventions, the expectations, but these are not normative and should never inhibit creativity nor be perceived as somehow constituting Story… because they don’t.

Story is not so much about format as it is about characters, real flesh and blood individuals caught up in a plot which sweeps along the reader.

Aspire to that. Avoid the advice of scripturalists.