There is a lot of screenwriting advice out there. If you've ever been in a writing class, you've probably been given Save the Cat by Blake Snyder or Screenplay by Syd Field. And these are good resources full of valuable information.But if you try to teach a creative skill to large groups of people the same way over several years, the process can start to feel reductive and repetitive, when this is a field that requires innovation and imagination. A lot of people start to do the same things over and over in their screenplays.If you're a writer with a good grasp of the basics, understanding which techniques to retire will help your scripts feel alive and fresh, and like they were written in 2025, not 1985.The Dialogue Everyone Uses Overused dialogue lines have become one of the fastest ways to signal that a writer is on autopilot. "It's not what it looks like" and "I'm getting too old for this" moments are so common now that they earn eye-rolls, according to Greenlight Coverage. Modern audiences recognize these lines instantly, making them more likely to disengage. Modern Screenplay has a huge list of them to avoid. We fall back on them because they're familiar, and maybe have even heard people use them in real life. But writers need to surprise audiences with each line of dialogue, avoiding lines that audiences have seen a million times before, as Script Magazine explains. This is why it's important to read a lot of...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday