Play Script Advice

Thank you for those of you who turned in your required play scripts. The following is some advice about strengthening your plays:

• If you are having trouble with PLOTTING: remember that all plays should have: an inciting incident, major decision, various complications, conflicts, and crises, a dark moment, an enlightenment and a climax, followed by a resolution or denouement (conclusion). If you can't point these parts out in your script, you have work to do on plotting! 
• The development of plays are broken down into Acts, Scenes, and Beats in a script. 
• Acts are LONG. We're talking at least 20-30 pages of script (and that's pretty short, all told). If you only have one main plot (being deported, coming out as gay, dealing with abuse, etc.), you only have a one-act play--especially if you have written only 10 pages or so. If you only have one act, you do not need to indicate it. Act One in the script is only important if there is an Act Two (or Three or Four or Five).
• Scenes are shorter than acts, but should:
• Flow easily into one another through various staging techniques and conventions: lighting, monologue, or by character's lines or the use of props
• Move the PLOT along
• Be removed if the action and time of the scene can be combined with other scenes--if we don't need a commercial break, we don't need a scene break. 
• Limit your scenes to ONLY the essential scenes in a story. Usually, in a one-act or 10 minute play, this is about 1 important scene. In longer plays, there may be 2-3 scenes. The more cinematic you want the action of the play, the more scenes you may have, but be careful--this is a stage play, not a film script!
• Beats are mini scenes within a scene. They are described as a short exchange of dialogue concerning a single topic. There can be many beats within a scene as characters shift from one topic of conversation to another. Beats should build on each other to create the beginning, middle, and end of a scene.
• Practical advice: If it's 10-minutes or less, only write 1 scene (with various beats); If it's over 10 pages, you have time and room for two scenes. Each scene should end with a climactic moment and build your story. You need a beginning, middle, and end to every scene or act.
• To develop character you must know WHO your protagonist is. If you don't know who your main character is or who the audience is interested in following, you don't have a main character!
• Give your protagonist at least one monologue to develop his/her character.
• If you don't have any monologues (speeches that are at least 10 sentences in length) you probably need to work on character development. 
• Give all your characters a reason to enter the scene. Why are they appearing at this moment? If you don't know, you need to figure that out.
• Remove any unnecessary characters from your list. If they don't speak, remove them. If they have fewer than 10 lines in a 10 minute play, remove them.
• Characters need to wear their thoughts on their sleeves, so to speak. In other words, they need to talk to each other. Plays use dialogue to develop characters!
• If it's important enough to mention in a stage direction, you need to have a character SAY it so the audience knows about it. Hair color, costume, things that happened in the past, etc. need to be TALKED ABOUT during the scene. Otherwise, cut.
• Have characters who are on stage alone talk to someone else on stage. The soliloquy or aside only works for memory plays (like Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie) and Shakespeare. Characters who speak to themselves sound like they're crazy! To correct this, bring a character on stage to listen to (and perhaps comment on) the speech.
• If you have unnamed characters, you probably have undeveloped characters. Who are these people?
• Stage directions: if you are changing location or having anyone drive anywhere or move from room to room or go from inside to outside within 10 pages of script you should adhere to the unities. Keep characters in the same location. Don't change location unless you absolutely have to.
• Keep stage directions short, concise, and to the point. If you have more than 1-3 blocked staging descriptions in a 10-minute play, cut, cut, cut.
• Don't be the director. It is better to have no stage directions than too many. Tell the story through dialogue! Characters can help out by asking questions: "Hey, you seem sad today. What's wrong?" or "Put that gun down, Charley!" work a lot better than a stage direction.
• For stage plays: read more plays. Watch less TV or film. Much of your content is cliche or sentimental. Try to be as creative and original as possible. People today do not simply throw their children out on the street without a good reason, or when coming out as gay, throw away years of friendship. Be original with your characters: do not copy what you see on tv or on Jerry Springer, for example. People do not act that way in realistic situations. 
• Decide how realistic you really want your play. If you want a very realistic story, consider writing a film script instead. Plays are representative. They are unusual. They are dramatic--they are not always realistic. There are, of course, exceptions: 'Night Mother for example. But think about what you've been reading: Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Baltimore Waltz, The Mystery of Irma Vep, The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year, For Colored Girls, Monster, Spic-o-Rama, The Mousetrap, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), Talking With, etc. were NOT staged realistically or, if they were, they took place in the past (such as Wait Until Dark or The Crucible). 
• Pay attention to grammar. A sentence ends with a period. Look here for how to write effective sentences. Several of you didn't use periods at the end of your sentences, or joined two or three thoughts together into one sentence using commas instead of periods when necessary. 
• Watch formatting for play scripts: never double-space your work. Use the TAB key and indent 5 tabs to reach 2.5" where you should put your character's name. When using the Word program, change the line spacing options to 1.0 (without adding spaces between paragraphs or hard returns). You have to do this manually, as the default setting is wrong for our purposes.