After our initial writing session -- he got to the story's first major plot point at P.8! -- Luke asked this question: "Why are screenplays written in the present tense?"
Why are screenplays written in the present tense?
Great question. Novels, short stories, memoirs are almost always told in past tense. Not screenplays. Here are a few examples as reminders:
Marco dives sideways, but Heinrich still isn't quick enough.
McClane FIRES TWICE and Heinrich DROPS sprawling in the hallway,
machine gun FIRING BLINDLY until he hits the floor.
(Die Hard)
It does not take four lines of "VALENTINE'S" speech to confirm
for us, if confirmation be needed, that THOMAS is VIOLA. For
WILL, amazement at hearing his own words soon gives away to
something else. He is captivated. He has found his "ROMEO."
(Shakespeare In Love)
CURLY drops the photos on Gittes' desk. Curly towers overEach of these paragraphs of scene description, as in all screenplays, written in the present tense. It's one of those facts of a screenwriter's life that we assume from day one, but then perhaps we forget its importance -- and it is important.
GITTES and sweats heavily through his workman's clothes, his
breathing progressively more labored. A drop plunks on Gittes'
shiny desk top.
(Chinatown)
And so I ask you to consider Luke's question: Why are screenplays written in the present tense? I have some thoughts on the matter. I'd like to see what you have to say first.
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9 comments:
Because we're showing you the movie playing inside our minds as we write it.
Screenwriters write for a visual medium and we -- humans -- don't see in the past tense -- we see things as they happen.
Defy Gravity -- Keep Writing!
I'm with Mike Scherer, because in screenplay the time is always now. We write in present tense becasue the action is happening now. Even in a flashback. It's what being said and done in the here and now.
Good luck to Luke on his first screenplay. At least he's got a GREAT mentor to see him through the process. (I'm SO jealous!)
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
Echoing the above, it's simply because reading it, we want to see it happening in the now (most plays are the same way) and present tense means it's happening now, as opposed to past tense, when it happened ...
Not all novels are past tense, either ... though I prefer it myself, some good books have been written present tense (FIGHT CLUB, I believe, and one of Don Dilleo's) and sometimes an author will switch in the middle of a novel, but this is hard (King has done it, as has Neil Gaimmon) and it can get abrasive in fiction.
I agree with the above comments. Screenplays are really instructions written for directors and actors, and instructions are always written in the present tense. "Honey, clean out the gutters and mow the lawn."
Also, I am seeing more and more of the present tense being used in novels and short fiction, but unlike a screenplay there are no such things as hard and fast rules when it comes to fiction. In fiction, different tenses give a completely different feel to the novel. I tend to enjoy present tense fiction, but that might just be because the present tense work I've read has been top notch. The work of Chuck Palahniuk and Kelly Link come to mind.
I have this theory that screenplays are moving further and further towards becoming independent experiences that can be enjoyed regardless of the movies they spawn. Because so many people can get their hands on scripts these days and they're not just for the workmen who will translate the words to screen, there's more pressure on the writer to create an enjoyable experience independent of the movie. As we continue in this direction, I feel we'll see some radical changes in the way scripts are written, and playing with tense will be one of those changes.
Screenplays are active.
Present tense is active, simple and direct.
As Alissa wrote, "Screenplays are really instructions."
Simple. Direct. Action.
Movies are meant to immerse the viewer, some even going as to say it's a type of hypnosis.
Readers read the play, visualizing it in their heads. There is a dissonance, at least for me, being "hypnotized" imagining in any other tense than the present tense.
What the heck did I know....
*wink*
It is interesting how children imitates their parents.
I was sketching a draft on a beat sheet and my son (soon four) asked what I was doing. After my reply he promtly said that he wanted to do that too. So I gave him an empty beat sheet of his own and he sat for an hour absorbed by it.
The story? Well... To many Donald Ducks, but he is only soon four.
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