Don’t Repeat!
Blake Snyder
448
1 min read
This comes from Tracey Jackson, my longtime friend and writer of The Guru, among other great screenplays.
It’s simple: when re-reading your pages, make sure you never repeat a word, phrase, or even a similar sounding word or phrase. Re-read your pages and see if you have this habit. Now’s the time to resolve to stop!
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2 Comments
This ‘no repeat rule’ doesn’t work for dialogue. Kubrick, for example, uses repetition a lot in scripts like the one for “Eyes Wide Shut”:
BILL
You’re absolutely right. Where we
going, girls?
NUALA (laughs)
Where the rainbow ends.
BILL slows down a little.
GAYLE
Don’t you want to go where the
rainbow ends?
BILL
Do I want to go where the rainbow
ends?
Bill’s repeating of what people says is an important part of the script…
Red Ice Radio interviews Jay Weidner on Eyes Wide Shut .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssnlbnAGGV0&t=18m24s
Still, Kubrick is pulling you to the word ‘Rainbow’ aka Alice in Wonderland aka MK-Ultra (Beta Bi/Sex Slaves Nuala/Gayle.)
A Kubrick script is not a normal script.
He breaks the rules to get your attention.