Why sentence fragments are good
New screenwriters, particularly those who have studied English, creative writing or literature, tend to get too verbose and wordy in the scripts in an attempt to use proper grammar and the flowery, poetic language favored in prose writing.
Screenwriting should be as terse, concise, and brief as possible while still using vivid details to convey images, tone and emotion clearly. One of the reasons screenwriters get overly wordy is in their attempt to write properly structured sentences. Grammar and spelling are important, but sentence fragments are your friend here. Don’t worry about what your English teacher would say about your screenwriting, this is an entirely different medium, and the best screenwriting often uses incomplete fragmented sentences to not only quickly convey an image, but to keep up the pace and tone of an exciting, quickly moving story.
The more professional scripts you read, the more you’ll see that each screenwriter has their own unique style and voice. Shane Black will be different than Charlie Kauffman, who is different than Kevin Smith who is different than William Goldman. None of them will sound like any writing you’d read in a novel or stage play. Here are some examples of fragments that work well to vividly convey an image while remaining short and concise:
From The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
THIS KID (which he uses here as its own slugline/shot)
Lying in bed, coughing. Pale, one sick cookie.
Or the grandfather:
Kind of rumpled. But the eyes are bright.
From Adaptation, by Charlie Kaufman:
Endless barren landscape. No sign of life.
Describing Susan Orlean’s apartment:
Late night street. The click-click of typing.
The images they have chosen are visual and clear, but not long and drawn out. You can even use metaphors and similes, as long as they are brief and clearly the best way to describe the person, place or action. Some grammar rules should be followed-you won’t impress anyone by misusing homonyms, idioms or improperly using their, they’re and there or your and you’re, but when it comes to fragments, go nuts as long as the sentence is still clear and the reader will know what you are talking about. If it isn’t your style or seems to clash with the tone of the story, you don’t have to use fragments. And if you’re uncomfortable using them don’t.
Read as many scripts as you can get your hands on, and note how the writers use words to convey their story. Complete sentences aren’t necessary and aren’t always the most effective way to convey an image or the tone your story requires. Don’t be afraid of breaking the rules you learned in your English classes, this is screenwriting, not English.
