A while back I posted a blog suggesting that writers should love their characters enough to make them flawed. I’ve read a lot of scripts and I’ve seen plenty of writers who fall in love with their characters to the point where they try to make them as perfect as possible and keep them from getting into situations that are too uncomfortable. My point was that a main character without flaws only serves as a detriment to the story overall, and the first priority should be to have a great story. In order to have a great story, you need characters with depth, and that includes giving her flaws. Your story will be much better served when your characters aren’t perfect, and that should be the overall goal.

Something I’ve been noticing lately as well is that writers fall in love with certain aspects of the screenplay, even though they’re not working within the framework of the overall story.When you’re writing a script, the only thing that you should be concerned about is the story as a whole. It’s easy to fall in love with individual scenes, especially if you feel like a particular scene is one of the best you’ve ever written. But if it doesn’t properly advance the story, then is has to go.

The thing you have to remember is that during production, and even in post production, scenes get cut or added all the time (although not generally added in post). A story is a very fluid thing and is in constant motion, and no individual scene, character or relationship is sacred.

Whether you’re using a scalpel or a hatchet, you’ve got to be willing to cut what isn’t working.

You also have to be willing to take a long, hard look at your work and impartially judge what’s working and what isn’t working. This may sound like a simple concept, but it isn’t so simple for everyone, especially when trying to evaluate their own work. You’re ultimate goal is to write a good script, and sometimes a scene that you’re in love with can be the most challenging obstacle that you’ll encounter on way to that goal.

That’s where a professional reader can come in handy. A professional reader will impartially judge your material and give you honest feedback on what is working and what isn’t working. A good professional reader understands what makes a good story and what makes a story good. He or she can offer advice on what’s working and what’s not working, and can offer suggestions on how it all can be approved.

A professional reader can be a valuable asset to a writer, however it’s up to the writer to take the reader’s advice. As a writer, you need to be just as impartial as the reader when it comes to editing your material. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, a screenplay is only as strong as its weakest element, its weakest scene, its weakest character. Don’t fall so in love with a scene or a character that you leave them alone to the detriment of the rest of the script.

Monument Script Services can serve as that impartial evaluator of your material. We’ve evaluated hundreds of scripts and we can help you determine what is working in your script and what needs to be cut. Click the link below to see how we can help.

http://monumentscripts.com/service/