Writing Dialogue for Scripts

by Rib Davis

A good story can easily be ruined by bad dialogue. Now in its 4th edition, Rib Davis's bestselling Writing Dialogue for Scripts provides expert insight into how dialogue works, what to look out for in everyday speech and how to use dialogue effectively in scripts. Examining practical examples from film, TV, theatre and radio, this book will help aspiring and professional writers alike perfect their skills.

The 4th edition of Writing Dialogue for Scripts a look at recent films, such as American Hustle and Blue Jasmine; TV shows such as Mad Men and Peaky Blinders ; and the award winning play, Ruined. Extended material on use of narration within scripts (for example in Peep Show) and dialogue in verbatim scripts (Alecky Blythe's London Road ) also features.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Drama

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Benjamin Bauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit pedantic, but Davis knows his stuff. There's a lot of useful kernels to be gleaned from this trim tome. If one grows impatient, they can also skip ahead to chapter 12, Reworking the Dialogue. It provides a succinct synthesis of many of the points he illustrates throughout the book, and is honestly a chapter I could see myself referring to several times when scripting.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, liked the fact that it was brief, that he uses dialogue from real plays, and found a reminder of many essential ideas in writing scripts. I like also the fact that Mr. Davis is brave enough to criticize Shakespeare, because the man (if there is only one person writing these plays) at times definitely needed an editor. Few producers stage Shakespeare's plays using the full script. Here's a quote: "The basic point is that conversational dialogue, unlike written dialogue, is a mess."

[Alison Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful book which uses worked examples.

[Scott Seeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The one thing I got out of this book is that all dialogue should be action oriented. otherwise I didn't get much more.

[Lynn Neeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent source for anyone writing any dialogue.

[Belle Meade School]

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