@@roathripper Each word is precious, each page of a script roughly represents one minute of screen time. Producers want the idea handed to them on a silver platter, they don't want to work for it.
@@hamanu666 this is rigid, in-the-box thinking. A screenplay is merely a means to an end - it's just glorified toilet roll. It's the movie that matters. Nobody is going around praising Casablanca for it's impeccably minimalist screenplay.
@@roathripper of course nobody is trying to write another Casablanca, are they? I write (mostly short stories) a bit, & I have to FIGHT this weird instinct to describe/recite things TO DEATH. and no matter how well I put my words together, when I read my long stretches of exposition i realize how hard it would be for a reader to trudge through all the brilliant words (or in the film medium, all the voice-over work that gives the viewers all that vital info).
@@ignoblesavage5559 i think a distinction needs to be upheld here. the screenplay is not intended for an audience of readers. it's a guide for the filmmakers - cast and crew. it's a technical document. as such it should be as long and as expository as it need be. your concern around exhausting the audience's patience with excessive description is misplaced and more relevant to the stuff that comes before the screenplay ie. pitch document, synopsis.
I've heard the interviewer in most of the videos (is it always the same person? Not sure) and I must say she's absolutely doing a great job on the questions. Always asking the important things make me go "oh, thank the gods she asked him that."
I was just thinking about his On Writing and i have to admit I did not notice that most of my favorite novels was written with only so little adverbs. It made total sense. That was part of why my writing sounded so off to me back then. It still is, but it helped to know this particular tip.
DEAD POETS SOCIETY! Robin Williams as teacher John Keating: Don't use the word "very", that's lazy. Do not write "he was very tired... write he was EXHAUSTED!"
@@hamboneusmc9971 Thank you! As much as I like Rothfuss' writing, I simply cannot stand Kvothe for that reason. Excelling at everything you try to do is such a lame power fantasy. Also Denna. I loathe Denna (for entirely different reasons). It's like Pat hates women 🤷♀️
@@CalamityCain the last third of wise mans fear is abysmal. How anyone got through that without feeling repulsed is beyond me. I can’t even tell you why I picked up book 2 after the horrible no plot in book one.
The part where he mentions Van Dam vs Segal movies; man I always felt exactly that same way. Van Dam would struggle and be challenged in his movies, Segal would never even take a hit, let alone face a struggle. Crucial difference in being able to relate to and root for a character.
@@mynardomacaraig2697 What is there to contradict? Segal is essentially Superman without a kryptonite weakness in all the movies, not to mention segal wrote some of his own characters/story lines, and that speaks volumes about his ego.
@@andrewwarren3849 It's good advice! I was just bringing up a humorous example of it not being applied. Generally there's a better way to write than to slap an adverb on to it.
@Ivor Biggun Nah, you're confusing him offscreen with him on. Characters can still function if they are ridiculously talented. Seagal's characters aren't suddenly skilled for no reason. Not every character has to be the plucky underdog.
LY is usually added to words because those words are pedestrian enhancements of the previous word which was obviously too bland to begin with; while other LY words are perfect for the sentence. Thanks for sharing this easy and effective word tool!
Reading!..to clarify, I've wanted to watch movies based on scripts I've read and each writer has a way of conveying scenes and images. I like Andrew's advice, too!
Million Dollar Tip: Read Wired For Story by Lisa Cron. Hands down the best book on writing I've ever read. I'd even rate it above Kings book on writing
the Mary Sue: "The term came out of a short, satirical piece of Star Trek fanfiction that Paula Smith published in Menagerie, a Star Trek fanzine, in 1973. In "A Trekkie's Tale," Lt. Mary Sue grabs the attention of both Captain Kirk (who falls in love with her immediately) and Spock (who admires her logic).Dec 28, 2015"
Paula Smith got sick of the fan fiction perfect characters and wrote the parody, and Mary Sue was born. The original story was still up on the internet somewhere last time I looked.
I read in a book about characters. A boring character is who isn't challenge in something and makes a boring story without anything. A main character is wanting to change something and it challenge them to do so and drive the story or even have a story in the first place.
Unfortunately, as I learned from starting to search for "-ly" many years ago, we are mostly dropping the "-ly" off our adverbs in common usage so the trick gets harder each year.
What about the struggle of a villain? Do they have to fight or do the same amount of work to achieve their ends as much as the story's hero or protagonist?
You want to be concise. Balance story structure and character development. The advantage to a video game is the lack of script. Though a lack of a visual form can enhance the imagination.
Yep a person can do everything possible in fleshing out their characters and direction they want to take their screenplay definitely........... But if the dialogue is off , It will kill the entire screenplay it self ....... And it's back to the drawing board for you .......
The male Mary Sue could be called "John Galt", the hero of "Atlas Shrugged". An idealized man who, though he may suffer at the hands of others, is never challenged by his suffering. Not once in the story is his identity ever threatened or in doubt. Which is funny because Ayn Rand loved the novels of Victor Hugo and the Hugo character that most fits her masculine ideal is the antagonist Javert, from "Les Misérables". A man obsessed with petty justice at the cost of True Justice. Who, when he finally yields to Mercy Over Justice, shatters his identity, destroying who he is in his own mind, and has no choice but to murderer himself. This is in contrast to the hero of that novel, Jean Valjean. A pleasant who is a miserable victim for the first twenty years of the story. He is about to be victimized once again when he has perhaps the most dramatic religious conversion in all of literature. This conversion then motivates him throughout the rest of the novel to do good for those around him even when it threatens his life and freedom. Yet Ayn Rand HATED self-sacrifice!
I never saw a point in giving make characters a different name than Mary Sue. Mary Sue is not defined by the sex of the original character it is defined by the way the character was written.
"Gary Stu" never gets used anyway. Google results: garth marenghi "gary stu" - 46 garth marenghi "mary sue" - 1,260 "What's the male version of mary sue" is just a mini-game off to the side.
You're not wrong. I hate that you're not wrong, though. So many good things going on in Kingkiller. Just have to kind of accept that he's going to establish a way out of the situation when you start reading into it. The only parts where I disagree are when he creates his own issues, which do happen often enough. It's his solutions that make him a Gary Stu.
@@andrewwarren3849 Yes of course. Even though Stephen King was talking about novel writing, I think it applies a lot more to screenwriting. Using 'ly' words almost make the writing sloppy and actors too cringe at such words.
Stephen King doesn’t like adverbs. James Joyce loves them. Joyce is a better writer than King. Maybe adverbs aren’t the problem. The writer is the problem.
Just avoid adverbs? Adjectives must also be left out. I am fed up of adjectives. I think ir was Carver who wrote " a woman who could have made a bishop kick his church 's windows into pieces" " instead of using " beautiful".
2:24 the male version of Mary Sue is 'Gary Stu' or 'Marty Stu' according to wikipedia. Always good info in Film Courage! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
Invented by wiki pedia, since the only ever Mary sue male is super man, and it had a vulnerability which you know star-wars Mary sue for example doesn't, and that should be the name, not to create something like Mary sue to make it look like its a "thing" other than superman. Baty woman doesn't, terminator gender-swap doesn't, the ancient gender swap doesn't, wonder woman doesn't, on and on and on.. We should actually not search wiki and think we are researching.
@@filmcourage Invented by wiki pedia, since the only ever Mary sue male is super man, and it had a vulnerability which you know star-wars Mary sue for example doesn't, and that should be the name, not to create something like Mary sue to make it look like its a "thing" other than superman. Baty woman doesn't, terminator gender-swap doesn't, the ancient one gender swap doesn't, wonder woman doesn't, on and on and on.. We should actually not search wiki and think we are researching.
Steven seaguls ego has turned him into an uninteresting Gary Stu. "I just read the most amazing script in my life. I wrote it" - Steven seagul. Forgive my spelling and inability to quote properly.
These people talk a lot but really say nothing. Well yeah walking slowly is different than stopping at the door but if you dont know that the choice of words is important you shouldnt be writing in the first place. How about you give us some real tip instead?
I think this woman deserves an Oscar for her very interesting questions and consistency in her work over a really long time
Same! Such a great interview
She deserves an award for sure but one better and more respectable than an Oscar award.
@@blakechildress944 Regardless the merit of the award in question, it definitely is not the applicable one. Maybe a Pulitzer category applies here?
We don’t know if she thinks of the questions, but yeah... really interesting
She’s my fave too, but not credited by name. Who is she?
Part of the skill of screenwriting is knowing how to deliver maximum visual description by using the minimum number of words.
why the minimum? use as much description as you feel necessary to paint the image in your mind.
@@roathripper Each word is precious, each page of a script roughly represents one minute of screen time. Producers want the idea handed to them on a silver platter, they don't want to work for it.
@@hamanu666 this is rigid, in-the-box thinking. A screenplay is merely a means to an end - it's just glorified toilet roll. It's the movie that matters. Nobody is going around praising Casablanca for it's impeccably minimalist screenplay.
@@roathripper of course nobody is trying to write another Casablanca, are they? I write (mostly short stories) a bit, & I have to FIGHT this weird instinct to describe/recite things TO DEATH. and no matter how well I put my words together, when I read my long stretches of exposition i realize how hard it would be for a reader to trudge through all the brilliant words (or in the film medium, all the voice-over work that gives the viewers all that vital info).
@@ignoblesavage5559 i think a distinction needs to be upheld here. the screenplay is not intended for an audience of readers. it's a guide for the filmmakers - cast and crew. it's a technical document. as such it should be as long and as expository as it need be. your concern around exhausting the audience's patience with excessive description is misplaced and more relevant to the stuff that comes before the screenplay ie. pitch document, synopsis.
Million dollar tip: Watch Film Courage! Cheers!!
We'll take it! Cheers!
Copy your favourite screenplays by hand. You’re welcome.
I've heard the interviewer in most of the videos (is it always the same person? Not sure) and I must say she's absolutely doing a great job on the questions.
Always asking the important things make me go "oh, thank the gods she asked him that."
Stephen King said, "The road to hell is paved with adverbs."
I was just thinking about his On Writing and i have to admit I did not notice that most of my favorite novels was written with only so little adverbs. It made total sense. That was part of why my writing sounded so off to me back then. It still is, but it helped to know this particular tip.
The road to hell is also paved with thinking you’re another Stephen King.
@@rightcheer5096 you can try
he learned that from Hemingway.
He also uses adverbs a lot though.
DEAD POETS SOCIETY! Robin Williams as teacher John Keating: Don't use the word "very", that's lazy. Do not write "he was very tired... write he was EXHAUSTED!"
Exactly!
Depends on how people would talk.
It's like use as much less words as you can right?
"The man isn't very sad, he's morose."
"How very" - Winona Ryder
A male Mary Sue is a Gary Stew. I've heard Wesley Crusher thrown around a few times too.
SHUT UP WESLEY😂
intentionally.
Don’t forget Kvothe
@@hamboneusmc9971 Thank you! As much as I like Rothfuss' writing, I simply cannot stand Kvothe for that reason. Excelling at everything you try to do is such a lame power fantasy. Also Denna. I loathe Denna (for entirely different reasons). It's like Pat hates women 🤷♀️
@@CalamityCain the last third of wise mans fear is abysmal. How anyone got through that without feeling repulsed is beyond me. I can’t even tell you why I picked up book 2 after the horrible no plot in book one.
Didn't realize until Andrew mentioned it that many adverbs end with "ly".
The part where he mentions Van Dam vs Segal movies; man I always felt exactly that same way. Van Dam would struggle and be challenged in his movies, Segal would never even take a hit, let alone face a struggle. Crucial difference in being able to relate to and root for a character.
On an action movie site, I defended Van Damme against Seagal, citing the same criteria.
A few obvious Seagal fans fiercely contradicted me.
@@mynardomacaraig2697 What is there to contradict? Segal is essentially Superman without a kryptonite weakness in all the movies, not to mention segal wrote some of his own characters/story lines, and that speaks volumes about his ego.
AND VAN DAMME WAS ACTUALLY A SKILLED FIGHTER.... BUT SEAGALL WAS A FRAUD !
HE HAD VERY LITTLE FIGHTING SKILL...
BRUCE LEE TOOK VERY FEW IF ANY HITS IN HIS FIRST 3 MOVIES....
BUT ENTER THE DRAGON WAS DIFFERENT !
"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" he asked *calmly.*
...he asked in a low, even voice.
Like any so called writing “rule”, I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions. But I certainly found it to help my work.
@@andrewwarren3849 It's good advice! I was just bringing up a humorous example of it not being applied. Generally there's a better way to write than to slap an adverb on to it.
Exceptions don't disprove the rule, they confirm it.
Also: Learn the rule, master it. Then learn when it is ok to disregard the rule and master that.
Oh, yeah. That got erased for sure.
I never saw Steven Seagal's characters as Gary Stus but this guy really opened my eyes to this fact.
Yeah, but that's the point of Seagal's characters.
@Ivor Biggun Nah, you're confusing him offscreen with him on.
Characters can still function if they are ridiculously talented. Seagal's characters aren't suddenly skilled for no reason.
Not every character has to be the plucky underdog.
In a lot of the videos, the guest reacts like, “ Wow, that’s a good question. “ lol
2:24 Gary Stu
Yes!!! Thank you!
Marty Stu works too
LY is usually added to words because those words are pedestrian enhancements of the previous word which was obviously too bland to begin with; while other LY words are perfect for the sentence. Thanks for sharing this easy and effective word tool!
Do you have another tip that is guaranteed to improve anyone's writing?
Reading!..to clarify, I've wanted to watch movies based on scripts I've read and each writer has a way of conveying scenes and images. I like Andrew's advice, too!
Thank you for posting!
@@filmcourage You're so welcome--I love the work this channels does!!!
Thank you for your continued support!
"Never underestimate the power of a deleted word." - Stephen King
First, write it and then, make it as tight as you can. Tidy writing is easy reading.
Also, and this is for anybody who thinks said when he broached the subject of the "Gary Sue"
Superman is not a Gary Sue...
Million Dollar Tip: Read Wired For Story by Lisa Cron.
Hands down the best book on writing I've ever read. I'd even rate it above Kings book on writing
King's book like have 3 tips or so.
The host is perfect for this genre
the Mary Sue: "The term came out of a short, satirical piece of Star Trek fanfiction that Paula Smith published in Menagerie, a Star Trek fanzine, in 1973. In "A Trekkie's Tale," Lt. Mary Sue grabs the attention of both Captain Kirk (who falls in love with her immediately) and Spock (who admires her logic).Dec 28, 2015"
No way! I never heard that! Fascinating…
Paula Smith got sick of the fan fiction perfect characters and wrote the parody, and Mary Sue was born. The original story was still up on the internet somewhere last time I looked.
If anyone is wondering about the male version of Mary Sue, I checked it on google and it is called Gary Stu, Marty Stu, or Larry Stu
This is one of the most valuable writing tips videos I've ever seen. Thanks!
I read in a book about characters. A boring character is who isn't challenge in something and makes a boring story without anything. A main character is wanting to change something and it challenge them to do so and drive the story or even have a story in the first place.
Unfortunately, as I learned from starting to search for "-ly" many years ago, we are mostly dropping the "-ly" off our adverbs in common usage so the trick gets harder each year.
1 dollar tip:
Dont take million-dollar advice, if it doesn't come with 1 million dollars.
If only... 😂
Thank you so much. I'll send you my PayPal for the dollar.
Positively, usefully, ideal advice.
What about the struggle of a villain? Do they have to fight or do the same amount of work to achieve their ends as much as the story's hero or protagonist?
This tip really helped me bigly!
😹
You silly boy*
*[in Elizabeth Hurley's voice]
Gary or Marty Stu is the male equivalent of the Mary Sue trope. ST:TNG's Wesley Crusher (Will Weaton) follows this archetype well.
2:33 Gary Stu or a Marty Stu
In Will Saso's Steven Seagal bit On Mad TV he was always beating up monks and elderly people.😜
This is 100% a great idea!
The advice about avoiding the use of adverbs as much as possible actually comes from Stephen King's book on Writing.
No Sir, that piece of advice is much, much older than Stephen King. But who cares?
The male version of Mary Sue is Tom Cruise
You want to be concise. Balance story structure and character development. The advantage to a video game is the lack of script. Though a lack of a visual form can enhance the imagination.
Mary Sue is an archetype. The male variant is totally not Wesley Crusher.
Yep a person can do everything possible in fleshing out their characters and direction they want to take their screenplay definitely........... But if the dialogue is off , It will kill the entire screenplay it self ....... And it's back to the drawing board for you .......
@2:36 Gary Stu; Marty Stu
2:24 Gary Stew.
Who is this interviewer who shows how truly awful most interviewers are? She zeros-in and follows up.
I enjoy thrillers so I checked out the Thomas Caine series. Looks like the last one was from three years ago. has Andrew stopped writing them?
No, book 4 is finished and with my agent 😉
@@andrewwarren3849 - Cool!
This is an excellent tip
What a teaser!!!
Where can I buy paper copies of screenplays from? Have a few downloaded but want some hard copies.
Print them out on letter paper and staple the edge. Old-school. 😎
1:04
Some real world villains do come from struggle, but plenty have become who they are because of a LACK of struggle.
The male Mary Sue could be called "John Galt", the hero of "Atlas Shrugged". An idealized man who, though he may suffer at the hands of others, is never challenged by his suffering. Not once in the story is his identity ever threatened or in doubt.
Which is funny because Ayn Rand loved the novels of Victor Hugo and the Hugo character that most fits her masculine ideal is the antagonist Javert, from "Les Misérables". A man obsessed with petty justice at the cost of True Justice. Who, when he finally yields to Mercy Over Justice, shatters his identity, destroying who he is in his own mind, and has no choice but to murderer himself.
This is in contrast to the hero of that novel, Jean Valjean. A pleasant who is a miserable victim for the first twenty years of the story. He is about to be victimized once again when he has perhaps the most dramatic religious conversion in all of literature. This conversion then motivates him throughout the rest of the novel to do good for those around him even when it threatens his life and freedom. Yet Ayn Rand HATED self-sacrifice!
Thank you for not burying the lede and getting to the million dollar tip at the beginning. 😁
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ! MOST PEOPLE WHO DO VIDEOS SAY...
I'M GONNA TELL YOU HOW TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM IN 5 MINUTES....
BUT THE VIDEO IS AN HOUR LONG !
I been doing this! Ugh. 😂
I'm a hang around for the billion dollar writing tips on account of how we learned this million dollar tip in year 10 at high school.
So basically if you're a writer just re-read your work? :3
I never saw a point in giving make characters a different name than Mary Sue. Mary Sue is not defined by the sex of the original character it is defined by the way the character was written.
"Gary Stu" never gets used anyway. Google results:
garth marenghi "gary stu" - 46
garth marenghi "mary sue" - 1,260
"What's the male version of mary sue" is just a mini-game off to the side.
Already knew this.
Gary Stuart.
berry stew
I’m so dumb. From the thumbnail, I thought the video was gonna talk about a waitress who received a million dollar tip
Lmao
LOL! Me too!
Woman: What is the name of the male Mary Sue?
Me: Kvothe
I just triggered a bunch of fan girls and I have no regrets lol.
You're not wrong.
I hate that you're not wrong, though. So many good things going on in Kingkiller.
Just have to kind of accept that he's going to establish a way out of the situation when you start reading into it.
The only parts where I disagree are when he creates his own issues, which do happen often enough. It's his solutions that make him a Gary Stu.
I bet Andrew read Stephen King's book.
I think so.
I absolutely did. But the “ly” word search tip came first… I was surprised to see how many slipped through the cracks.
@@andrewwarren3849 Yes of course. Even though Stephen King was talking about novel writing, I think it applies a lot more to screenwriting. Using 'ly' words almost make the writing sloppy and actors too cringe at such words.
Stephen King doesn’t like adverbs.
James Joyce loves them.
Joyce is a better writer than King.
Maybe adverbs aren’t the problem. The writer is the problem.
Million dollar tip...? Really? My click bait senses are tingling
The male version of a Mary Sue? Any role played by Vin Diesel or Ryan Reynolds.
I don't fave friends. I got family.
Just avoid adverbs? Adjectives must also be left out. I am fed up of adjectives. I think ir was Carver who wrote " a woman who could have made a bishop kick his church 's windows into pieces" " instead of using " beautiful".
Gary Stu is the male version of a Mary Sue
Snuck, not "sneaked"
Gary sue
Uh yeah, if I got tipped a million dollars I would have tons of time to write.
His name is: Chad.
2:24 the male version of Mary Sue is 'Gary Stu' or 'Marty Stu' according to wikipedia.
Always good info in Film Courage!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
Thanks for posting David!
Thank you! That was driving me crazy trying to remember!
Invented by wiki pedia, since the only ever Mary sue male is super man, and it had a vulnerability which you know star-wars Mary sue for example doesn't, and that should be the name, not to create something like Mary sue to make it look like its a "thing" other than superman. Baty woman doesn't, terminator gender-swap doesn't, the ancient gender swap doesn't, wonder woman doesn't, on and on and on..
We should actually not search wiki and think we are researching.
@@filmcourage Invented by wiki pedia, since the only ever Mary sue male is super man, and it had a vulnerability which you know star-wars Mary sue for example doesn't, and that should be the name, not to create something like Mary sue to make it look like its a "thing" other than superman. Baty woman doesn't, terminator gender-swap doesn't, the ancient one gender swap doesn't, wonder woman doesn't, on and on and on..
We should actually not search wiki and think we are researching.
Steven seaguls ego has turned him into an uninteresting Gary Stu. "I just read the most amazing script in my life. I wrote it" - Steven seagul. Forgive my spelling and inability to quote properly.
Male Mary Sue = Chad 😂😂😂
"one million dollar tip" bet DSP clicked this in the hope of getting one.
the tip - No LY.
These are good videos but leaning towards trying to teach talent. You either have it or not. No amount of videos can give "it" to you.
And the best talent won't be expressed unless one learns how to best reach it. You've got to use whatever it is you have to be effective.
its not about talent. its about connections.
What was the One tip?
Listen to the video! Hint: avoid adverbs.
It's at 1:00.
@@AmigoBrazucaq thanks!
@@scottslotterbeck3796 thanks!
@Desert Blue Do you have a boyfriend?
Awful tip. Yes--minimize use of adjectives and adverbs. But if you wrote a bad book, it will not become a good book because you cut the adverbs.
Probably not, but I would argue if you replace those adverbs with visual, action-packed verbs, it will at least be better than what you started with 🙂
Steven Seagal 😂🤣😂
THAT IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY A MILLION DOLLAR TIP !
2 Million?
These people talk a lot but really say nothing. Well yeah walking slowly is different than stopping at the door but if you dont know that the choice of words is important you shouldnt be writing in the first place. How about you give us some real tip instead?
This isn’t a million dollar tip
G A R Y. S T U.
2:24 Gary Stu