I read a lot of screenplays. Granted, most of them are works in progress or student work. But all of them — without exception — are sloppily presented.
The errors range from simple typos that the computer spell-check did not catch (its for it's and there for their) to mismatched character names or repeated chunks of text. Artifacts of computer composition.
Then there are the errors of laziness: missing question marks, missing commas. Really basic stuff.
And errors of a slightly higher order: errors in screenplay format, obvious errors in grammar.
These errors make the writer look like an amateur. They are errors that should never be in a public draft.
It is disrespectful to your work, to whatever talent you have, to present it sloppily.
Why should a reader take your work seriously if you do not?
PROOF-READ!
These errors are easily caught and corrected if you develop some little talent for proof-reading. Print a hard copy of your work. Sit down with a pencil. And read closely.
And if you do there will be a welcomed side-effect. Not only will you clean up the mistakes, I can guarantee that the process of fixing such errors will lead you to write more, fix more substantial things. Your writing will not only be presented more cleanly, it will be better writing.
2 Comments
Guy, can't let this one slip by, re: proofreading. The first sentence of "Literalism and Poetic License" contains the very error you mention that spellcheck doesn't catch.
Apart from that, nice to have stumbled upon you!
- Dan
Oops. Egg on face.
Perhaps it supports the contention that real proof-reading has to happen on a hard copy….
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