Step 2: Discovery p. 51 – 59
Topic · 1 minute
Character can be revealed in many ways, most commonly through action and dialogue.
But often, a character is set up or described in dialogue by other characters. Here is a good example in the scene where Chief Rainwater comes to see Cory. The final lines are about John Dutton, and the type of person he is.
The scene that follows shows the tone of the show. While the CORY/RAINWATER scene was in ernest and melodramatic, the following dialogue reminds us that we’re not supposed to take it all too seriously.
You may have noticed that Taylor Sheridan uses parentheticals in an unorthodox way. Do you know what the accepted format is?
Can you think of a good reason to ignore this formatting principle?
How would you write it?
The following scene reminds us that we are writing for the screen, and you are expected to include visual and cinematic elements to immerse the reader in your imaginary landscape.
How would you compare Sheridan’s way of describing cinematic elements in the VALLEY scene to Craig Mazin’s writing style? If you had to choose, whose example would you follow?