Interesting line. I was going to ask you, Scott, about your opinion on reading plays. I've found that you can often find books of plays at thrift stores for under a dollar, and that the dialogue in plays is often sharper than in screenplays.

Obviously, the forms are very different and you need to take that into consideration, but do you find value in reading plays in addition to screenplays, or do you think it will simply confuse most screenwriters?

I've never written a play, so I only speak to this from the perspective as someone who has read and watched them, consulted with playwrights on their stories, and discussed the subject with numerous writers who have been or are playwrights.

As you point out, stage plays put a premium on dialogue. And as one part of a wide process of trying to improve one's dialogue-writing, I would think reading plays and watching them performed would be of value.

However movies are primarily a visual medium and I know or have read about some screenwriters with backgrounds writing plays who have struggled with a default inclination to rely too much on dialogue to advance plot.

But that's not an insolvable problem. I tend to write too much dialogue in my early drafts, then simply cut, cut, cut.

Alternatively dialogue is also more important in TV writing than film writing, so if you have aspirations that way, studying plays can be helpful. In fact, I know of a manager who specializes in finding NY playwrights, then transitioning them into TV and film work.

Your question is a good one. I'll post it as a writer's question to the GITS community, if you don't mind

I don't mind at all.

I've read plays for a while now, simply because it's easier to get cheap physical copies of them than screenplays. But it really hit home last night as I was watching The Odd Couple, and I reflected both on it and Glengarry Glen Ross and thought about how great the movies' dialogue is (although, to be honest, I think both could be improved by using the advantages of film rather than just filming what was already written for the play).

Shades of my first Spielberg column there a bit? Besides feeling validated that WR Burnett agrees with me, it just reinforces that point: screenwriters would benefit greatly from thinking of their writing as directors and editors as well. A full understanding of the craft of filmmaking, and using that understanding to write better MOVIES--as opposed to stories--is only going to make you exponentially better.

What a dumpy blanket statement. Too much cutting doesn't tell a story and too much reaction makes slapstick. Too much anything is trouble.

Dead End, which was a play, is a more visually and narratively entertaining film than Angels with Dirty Faces. Deathtrap, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and Noises Off are great films made from plays. Almost all of Shakespeare's plays have been made into many brilliant films.

It depends what you want to watch. Or make. Film isn't just one thing. Which is what makes it such a worthwile medium to begin with.