How to Write a Good Dialogue for Film

Film dialogue represents some of the most important context of the story, but it can also be one of the most challenging parts of writing a script or screenplay. The perfect dialogue between characters will stick within the minds’ of your viewers for years to come, possibly forever, but poor dialogue — well, it may stick out too, but in all the wrong ways. Do you know how to write a good dialogue for film?

These rules and tips for writing good dialogue for film will help you to improve your screenplay writing skills while honing in on the perfect plot. Remember, effective dialogue is the best part of your story!

1. Skip the Introductions

Great film dialogue doesn’t always need to include the introductions between characters. If a character is to enter a room, start the scene with the dialogue in process – skipping the “hello” or “goodbye” and instead diving right into the meat of the conversation taking place.

In doing so, you’ll save important minutes rather than wasting time on small talk that isn’t going to add value to the story.

2. Characters are Like People, They Don’t Talk about Their Feelings!

Think about any situation you’ve ever been in, is your first instinct to go to someone and say, “This is how I feel” or  “this is what I’m thinking?” Probably not!

People don’t generally just come out and state what they’re thinking or how they’re feeling in a situation, and neither should the characters of your film. Learning how to write a good dialogue for film has a lot to do with sitting back, and listening to how people talk around you.

Be Realistic

While you may be inclined to find it “easier” to just have your characters state their feelings over using the story to build up to those character’s feelings coming out, this simply isn’t how things are in reality. It won’t work well for your film’s dialogue.

Allow your characters to face the same struggles in communication as they would in everyday life, it will make the entire story more realistic.

3. Keep it Short, Especially the Monologues

To keep your film dialogue moving along, and to keep your audience engaged, use a less is more approach to your dialogue. A screenplay that has long, drawn out monologues or speeches taking place can really be a drag for the audience.

Sure, this might be an easy way for you to get the words out so that everyone can know what’s going on, but it’s just not natural! People want to see real conversations taking place, the ones that have interruptions and back and forth communication.

We routinely interrupt each other with thoughts and additions to a natural dialogue, and so should your characters.

4. Keep the Dialogue Efficient

When learning how to write a good dialogue for film, it’s important to keep the dialogue efficient. This means, you want to make sure that you’re not repeating yourself (or that your characters won’t be repeating themselves).

Instead, make sure that you are staying consistent with the dialogue, and that you are making every word, and every character interaction, count. 

As you build your dialogue, it’s important to know where more background information is necessary, and where it’s just not. Redundancy can make a story really hard to stay focused on, not because it’s hard to follow, but because it can be boring.

For Example

If there’s a specific date or time that something is to be done by, and it’s already been brought up once in the story, showing a ticking clock can remind the audience about the time constraint the character is against.

This keeps another character from restating that time is ticking and the character is running close to the deadline. Avoid redundancy and keep the dialogue efficient. Not everything needs to be stated in words, use images to tell the story!

5. Always Read the Script Out Loud – Several Times

Finally, as you learn how to write a good dialogue for film, make sure that you are taking time to read the finished script out loud. This will help you to find the smaller issues with your dialogue that may be easily missed in writing, but then are quickly recognized when you hear it.

When you think you’re done, read the script out loud. Have your friends read it out loud while you listen. Or you read, while they listen. And then make final changes to the dialogue so that it is as natural as possible. This is how to write a good dialogue for film!