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Adverbs not allowed???

Caustic Logic said:
Genuises don't do what a website tells them to do or not do. Maybe some experts who hate competition write bad advice for the upstarts. Think for yourself, think of what's useful, don't useadverbs stupidly. Not that I'm a genius or ever wrote a screenplay. But Zombie movies are fun. What kind is yours? Serious or camp? Fast or slow zombies? Gore or ambience or what?
ETA: It is good however to see the reasons behind that advice. It sounds like all-in-all holding back the adverbs is a good idea and good form.
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It's serious. The zombies are slow because, well, zombies are slow.:D There's gore, but not for gore's sake. It's just the kind of gore you naturally encounter when you're fighting a bunch of undead cannibals.
 
Howie Felterbush said:
It's serious. The zombies are slow because, well, zombies are slow.:D There's gore, but not for gore's sake. It's just the kind of gore you naturally encounter when you're fighting a bunch of undead cannibals.
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Good. I'm no fan of modern-day fast tweaker zombies. or wall crawling zombies. Even though it's old school and Italian, I'm not quite right with gun-shooting, car-driving, airplane-flying zombies either.

They're supposed to be slow and stupid but hungry and numerous. The horror is to be overcome with a mindless putrid crowd of dead things. You could totally beat them at chess one on one, but your rules don't apply once you're overrun. And they don't rip you apart quickly. They space off in the middle, then remember they're eating and go for a kidney.

Now Xombies are a different breed altogether.

Anyway,good luck with your movie. You should alert us if it ever gets done.
 
Let's try out a little of Eugene O'Neill. From Hughie, a one act play I happen to have handy:

Ernie: Peremptorily. Key.

Then as the Night Clerk gropes with his memory - grudgingly.

Forget you ain't seen me before. Erie Smith's the name. I'm an old timer in the flea bag. 492.

Night clerk:In a tone of one who is wearily relieved when he does not have to remember anything - he plucks out the key. 492. Yes, sir.

Erie: Taking the key, gives the clerk the once-over. He appears not unfavorably impressed, but his tone still holds resentment. How long you been on this job? Four, five days, huh? I've been off on a drunk. Come to now, though. Tapering off. Well, I'm glad they fired that young squirt they took on when Hughie got sick. One of those fresh, wise punks. Couldn't tell him anything. Pleased to meet you pal. Hope you stick around.

He shoves out his hand. The Night Clerk takes it obediently.

Night Clerk: With a compliant, uninterested smile. Glad to know you, Mr. Smith.

Erie: Gloomily. ...
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(adverbs and the beginnings of adverbial phrases highlighted.)

O'Neill knew something about playwrighting; obviously he didn't have any problem with telling the director or the actors how his characters were to approach their task vis-a-vis the audience.
 
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I'm pretty much with the critics here. Writers don't direct. That's the director's job. If you write "Jane staggers down the road. She has clearly been drinking heavily", then it's the director's job to determine exactly how she staggers. You don't write "she staggers left, then right, catches herself against the lightpole". Unless it is essential to the story, write only what is absolutely necessary.

Shakespeare famously included almost no stage directions in his plays.
 
Yeah, actors and directors will hate you for that. I've seen scripts where the writer inserted "um" and "er," throat clearing, [pause], ellipses, "John runs his hands through his hair in exasperation" ...VERY annoying. :D
 
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So the lesson is, if you want to write a screenplay with adverbs and detailed directions, write a novel.
 
arthwollipot said:
I'm pretty much with the critics here. Writers don't direct. That's the director's job. If you write "Jane staggers down the road. She has clearly been drinking heavily", then it's the director's job to determine exactly how she staggers. You don't write "she staggers left, then right, catches herself against the lightpole". Unless it is essential to the story, write only what is absolutely necessary.

Shakespeare famously included almost no stage directions in his plays.
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Horse hockey. What I'm saying when someone "staggers drunkenly" is to play drunk. Not how to act drunk, just to give the best drunk walk they know how. I know I'm not an actor, nor do I play one on television. My job as a screenwriter is to construct the best possible sandbox for the talent to work in. It takes their combined talent and the director's visualization to make it work.

Now, going back to Jane's example: in a six word sentence, I've managed to state in a very general manner what is supposed to take place. Maximum space for the director and actor to set it in whatever terms they want. All this is done with one adverb: drunkenly. Writers have only 90 to 120 pages to work in. . If there's a way to cram three sentences down to one short sentence with just one adverb, (without going crazy with them), then I'll make use of them.

Beanbag
 
Here's a link to hundreds of screenplays and film scripts. I'm pretty sure they'll be littered with adverbs.
 
Yes, "drunkenly" isn't like "she staggers left, then right, then pauses and falls over backwards".

If a director or actor has a problem with "drunkenly" in that situation, then they are being ridiculous.
 
Alan said:
Yes, "drunkenly" isn't like "she staggers left, then right, then pauses and falls over backwards".

If a director or actor has a problem with "drunkenly" in that situation, then they are being ridiculous.
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Personally, I have a problem with "staggers". Why does she have to stagger? Is it that critical to the story? She can't walk? She can't stroll? She can't weave or bob or meander or loiter?

What is it about this story, that it absolutely cannot be told without insisting that she walk a certain way at this point? I mean, we're not even talking about directing from the page anymore, we're just talking about bad writing in general.

Why impose that constraint on the director and the actor? Why impose that constraint on the audience? Is that really the story a story that needs to be told? Is that really the story you need to tell? She goes to a bar and then staggers drunkenly down the street? This, of all things, must not be left open to interpretation? This is your gift to the company that will perform your work? Whatever they do, they must make sure she staggers? A script like that, "drunkenly" just adds insult to injury.

It's not so much that adverbs are bad script-writing (though I think that in general they are), but that bad script-writers get distracted by adverbs instead of focusing on the only really important thing: the essential story that needs to be told. The essential story they will present to theater companies and film studios. The thing itself, no more and no less.

Maybe you're a good writer. If so, try this: try leaving out all the adverbs. In fact, try leaving out as many words as possible. Try just telling the only story that really matters. Once you've got the hang of that, I think you'll have a much better understanding of when to use adverbs in your scripts.
 
theprestige said:
... Maybe you're a good writer. If so, try this: try leaving out all the adverbs. In fact, try leaving out as many words as possible. Try just telling the only story that really matters. Once you've got the hang of that, I think you'll have a much better understanding of when to use adverbs in your scripts.
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Are you channelling Earnest Hemingway, by any chance?

;)
 
As an (amateur) actor, I like to create my own character without being hogtied by a script. However, I appreciate some direction when I can't tell what the character should be feeling based on context.

Authors also frequently mistime their emotional cues. I wrote a play where I insisted on the page that the character cry at a certain point. When producing the show, the actress' progression through the scene showed me that the crying was far too early and far too dramatic.

Meanwhile, the actor playing my male lead burst into tears for no reason just as a general rule.
 
Sometimes a story requires a character to be drunk. Showing that a character is drunk in their behaviour is legitimate.

If a screenwriter does too much of it then it's a problem but I think it's ridiculous to consider "staggers" to be a problem.

Why can't it be "walks", you ask? Isn't that trying to restrict the actors and directors from making the character run?
 
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Howie Felterbush said:
Because they're (mostly) dead.

Think Strom Thurmond, but with an even greater appetite for human fleah.
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Perhaps a "Zombies on meth" scenario would be timely? You know...wherein Zombies move quickly?

(My use of the word "quickly" puts me (barely) back on topic.)
 
I know nothing of screenplays, so let me just give you this advice:

Drive good
Drive safe
 
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