I'm embarrassed to have to say I forget which teacher first taught me this old trick. If you're out there and reading this, please forgive me for not giving credit where credit is due. But this is a tried and true little exercise every writer of scripts ought to do every few years just to be sure we're firing with all pistons, as they say.
Take two pages of one of your plays or screenplays and print them out. Now white out all the character names.
Give those pages to someone you know who has either seen or read the play in question and ask them to fill in the character names where they've been deleted.
We all know that if we're following our ears (which we know to do but sometimes forget to do) each character will sound unique, so much so that they're immediately recognizable simply by virtue of the way they speak.
OMG!! Ed. Note: I was just reminded of where this wonderful exercise comes from! It came from the master himself, Mr. Gary Garrison. Good news for all those reading is this. You can study with Mr. G. by visiting the Dramatists Guild Institute website. Apologies, Gary! Dementia setting in...
And while we're on the subject of craft, here's a little bonus video, a short exercise you can do to check-in with yourself about dramatic action in your play.
I'm currently accepting submissions for the next wave of my online scriptwriting workshop.
Early Bird Deadline: May 15, 2018.
