Final part of Charlie Brooker's interviews with great writers




My notes on this section:

• 2nd and 3rd drafts are much easier. The first is the hardest. Some people do 20 drafts!
• A lot of what you write will be binned, but you have to ignore that.
• You have to re-write and re-write. You're honing it each time and making it sharper each time. 
• People don't seem to like writing!

Watching this reminded me of a great quote by Steven King. He said that 'with the first draft you are telling yourself the story, with the second, you are telling others'. Now I'm paraphrasing here - I don't know his quote directly, but it was a very useful thing to hear.

Part 4 of Charlie Brooker's interview with top screenwriters





My notes from this clip:

• Avoid exposition in dialogue - "i'd rather be confused for 10 minutes than bored for 5 seconds"
• If you want to see an example of goos stage direction, read the screenplay for Ultimate Force. I tried to find a link to it, but couldn't! Might want to try the script for Lethal weapon
• Action direction is important, but don't make it lengthy. The action directions should be as exciting as the story.

So this is something all writers need to learn in some format, regardless of what they are pitching. Here is some advice for screenwriters.