Will actors/actresses dislike a screenplay if the actions are not written in the best grammar?

Question

I wrote this hilarious screenplay. However, one actress refused to be in it because the the grammar is pale. It may be so, but the audience isn't going to be able to see the words, only the dialogue. Is it my fault she didn't accept the screenplay? She also didn't like the main character who is a rapist. He does get a tragic ending of course.

Answer 1

thats like asking someone to read a book full of typos - if someone puts that much hard work into creating something hilarious why not spell check and grammar check it so that you can be sure everyone gets how hilarious it is?

Answer 2

Actions should be minmal in a screen play. Just enough to give an idea of what is to take place.

The DIRECTOR stages it.

The Script is mostly dialog and that should be as perfect and concise as possible.

Stage moves and action is minimal. Two lines. Three lines.

The director is going to stage it with the actors and see what works. The Director will picks bits of action for each to do or the actors will do their own bits and the director will agree, disagre, change, modify or assign those bits to another actor.

Your job is to tell a story with dialog.

In a professional film, they will bring in a room full of professional stage comics to punch up the jokes.

This is how they do TV. The writer tells a story. It's a Friends episode, it's about a story. They build, they interact because the writers know the charcters and then they put in a line JTBA which means JOKE TO BE ADDED. The Punch Up comics come in after the script is approved an think of funny things for them to say. The producers pick the best ideas.

Punch up people get no credit.

The only execption to this is when Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor write a script together, because they are both professional funnymen.

After the director stages the action, the photographer frames it, shoots a master, they do coverage and then the editor paces it.

Real actors and actresses know a good script when they see one. The script needs a good ending, something that says something.

The character must be something the actor can get behind or work with.

A script is a blue print with dialog that goes somewhere, tells a story and drives home a point.

Nothing more.

One of the best ways to convey action with the least amount of words is to use a metaphor.

YOu say it fast, draw a picture as a starting point and expect the director to do something different.

You don't spend 4 pages writing out the entire intro to MI2.

He climbs a mountain bit by bit. After a struggle up the slope he reaches the top. A helicopter comes and fires a projetile at him. He opens it and take out some glasses and puts them on.

Then the dialog and insert shots start.

That whole 10 minute start gets reduced to a few lines. The director stages it along with the stunt people who say what can and can't be done safely.

In fact, that whole first 10 minutes might have been shot with a 2nd unit, directed by the stunt arranger. Then Woo and Cruise do some insert shots which are edited into the stunt work.

Don't make mountains out of mole hills!

Answer 3

I have a different take on this than most others will. An actors job is to act the part they are selected for but a writers job is to write! That includes having enough pride to use grammar, spelling, punctuation correctly (which is one of the main reasons I'm not a writer). I just finished being a part of a series of one act plays written by amatuers and the writing was DREADFUL (including the dialog). Over 400 scripts were submitted and 17 were put on. All but 3 were dreadful but they were the best out of the 400. I was fortunate to be in one of the better ones as well as one of the worst. Many scripts were rejected by the producers for bad grammar and even poor capitalization, something that wouldn't be seen by the audience either. If the stage direction grammar is bad I suspect the dialog isn't all that great either. Writing really good dialog is extremely difficult. Writing even decent dialog that sounds like someone actually spoke it is hard. So, while it may not be your fault, until you do your job fully don't blame actors if they don't like it.

As far as actors are concerned they decline parts for a LOT of reasons. Subject matter is one, size of the part is another whether it's too big or too small, or simply because they don't like the script. If they plan on being more than community theatre actors then they look at roles with an eye towards if it will enhance their resumes. It is their career after all.

Answer 4

A hilarious screenplay about a rapist? Anyway the grammar should coincide with the education level of the character. Maybe she told you the grammar was the reason she didn't want to do it because she was just trying to be nice or didn't feel like telling you that there is nothing funny about rape.

Answer 5

I offer something in advice, and an example.

It's called ACTING for a very specific reason. The design is to engage an audience, get them to relate to a character, and enjoy the total experience.

I can't know how you got far enough to actually have an "Actress" READ, but blow it off as a reference to the fact that Directors Rule, not Actresses, no matter how many PICS they have plastered on the front page of grocery market tabloids.

If a Director was to accept that your screenplay was valid enough for HIM/HER to get involved, then the director would know who was going to make the play valid, and profitable, not the people who audition.

Now the example: This will prove in one way, that the written word can often kill a writing/book submission.

Keep in mind that this isn't always the case, but can be a detractor to whoever you're submitting a manuscript to.

I am a writer, among other things, and in submitting my first book manuscript I wrote much of it, as I lived it, using dialect in the work, as it actually happened.

I received many rejections, and finally one editor who gave me his own opinion and advise.

"Thank you for the submission. It is a story worth telling, but readers will be distracted by your inclusion of the dialects you add, even though those dialects were from a family who spoke that way."

His suggestion was to rewrite the piece, in English, without using any written word in a German/English dialect...I'm still rewriting that book,,,although did eventually sell the original manuscript.

"Your reader will "Get It" that the people spoke English with a German accent, as long as you've described them adequately, initially. They will read the book, feeling/sensing that the people spoke in a dialect.

My final thought is Submit it to someone who will produce and/or direct the work,,,and NOT offer it initially to anyone who may or may not portray the characters.

Rev. Steven

Answer 6

Well, if the actress wants to make a career out of what she does, she'll have to be less of a prima donna. There are some actors that'll turn down roles for different reasons... but that's usually after they have a lot of clout as an actor.

But I agree with you, the audience will be none the wiser.

...but the same advice goes for you--if you want to go anywhere with a career of being a playwright, you'll need to get the grammar fixed before trying to sell the manuscript.

Answer 7

Snooty ones will. It is, however, always best if you have correct grammar, spelling, punctuation etc. Remember, this is supposed to be the best of your work, so don't you want it to appear and be presented in the best possible way?