Screenwriting: The Dialogue

Screenwriting: The Dialogue (2011) is not just another screenwriting guide. It is one of a few that specifically and exclusively addresses one aspect of screenwriting and that is the dialogue. It offers a wide variety of techniques supported by actual quotes from a wide variety of movies. There are known techniques with literary names such as Double Entendre, Euphemism, Irony and Simile. And then, there is a set of related techniques - The Repeat, Triple Beat, Synonymous Beat and Repetitive Beat – whose names appear to defy the conventional wisdom that dialogue should be economical. A movie thrives on conflict, contrast and contradiction and that can be achieved succinctly in a few lines of dialogue with the use of the Chiasmus, Symmetry, Is and Is Not. Another set of techniques – A Little Visual Aid, Objectify It, Prop It Up – makes use of a material aspect or a prop to represent a character’s feelings. Location of a line is just as important as composition as demonstrated in a set of techniques – Punctuate the Scene, Who Gets the Last Word?, Break the Tempo.