The Screenwriter App Screenplay Test
You've finished the test! Here's how you scored:
Your script is 55% good.
Before you submit it to any readers, take some time to review the report below and amend your script accordingly. Then retake the test...
Your screenplay report
My script has camera directions in the action paragraphs.Most directors and cinematographers will want to put their stamp on the film. Also, the eventual set may be nothing like how you imagine it in your head, which will also dictate what options the crew have. Unless you intend to shoot the film yourself, there's no point specifying camera moves.
However! You can be subtle about it. Using the 'one shot per line' rule, you can surreptitiously control what gets shot. For example, 'Water spills onto the computer,' would instinctively be a close-up.
I try to put one shot per paragraph of action.
By breaking up your action paragraphs so each line/paragraph is one single shot, you can tell the visual story in a clear and concise way.
Multiple actions or shots within one paragraph make it harder for the reader to understand what's going on and for the crew to decide what needs to be shot.
I've read my script backwards, as well as forwards.
This is a great way to weed out plot inconsistencies. By starting with the last scene and then working backwards, your linear story-telling functions are befuddled, and quite often mistakes in plotting jump out at you.
I have checked the screenplay for typos.
Really, there are no excuses here. Run that spellchecker and weed out those typos.
My script has the words 'CUT TO:' at the end of every scene.
Putting CUT TO: at the end of the scene is redundant. It's the end of the scene, of course you are going to cut to something else. All you've done is add an extra page to your screenplay of useless information. Get rid of them!
My dialogue is littered with multiple exclamation marks!!!
If you listen to people when they talk, they rarely get agitated enough to exclaim something in a way that would need an exclamation mark if it were written. Yet, we all have a tendency to overdo the dialogue in our scripts. Read your dialogue aloud when you write it. Does it require three exclamation marks after it, or would one, or even none, suffice?