You’ve probably heard or read some screenwriting guru say something like this:

“You simply can’t write anything that can’t be shown on the screen or heard in dialogue.”

Or this:

“Actors don’t like to be told how to act, so don’t tell them how to play the scene in your script.”

Theoretically that is true.  But in the real world of professional screenwriting, there are larger concerns that trump supposed screenwriting ‘rules.’  A good example is this: When called for, we do anything we can to sell the moment.  We are storytellers first.  We are storytellers last.  Our allegiance is to our story and its specific needs.  If we have to break ‘rules’ to do that, so be it.

A good example occurs in the Academy Award winning screenplay for American Beauty, written by Alan Ball.  In the movie, we meet the story’s Protagonist Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey).  He is leading an insipid, flaccid life until he experiences this:

Inspired by his fantasy of Angela (Mena Suvari), Lester changes his life with Angela becoming the symbol of what he wants — to be young, virile, a desirable man.

Late in the movie, Angela has this argument with Lester’s daughter Jane (Thora Birch) and her new boyfriend Ricky (Wes Bentley):

JANE
Why do you even care?

ANGELA
Because you’re my friend!

RICKY
She’s not your friend. She’s somebody you
use to feel better about yourself.

ANGELA
Go fuck yourself, psycho!

JANE
You shut up, bitch!

ANGELA
Jane! He is a freak!

JANE
Well, then so am I! And we’ll always be
freaks and we’ll never be like other
people. And you’ll never be a freak
because you’re just too perfect.

ANGELA
Oh, yeah? Well, at least I’m not ugly.

RICKY
Yes, you are. And you’re boring. And
you’re totally ordinary. And you know it.

Lester enters his house after his strange encounter with Col. Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper) and finally, he and Angela cross paths — alone together.

INT. BURNHAM HOUSE – KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS

Lester enters, opens the refrigerator and grabs a BEER. Suddenly we HEAR MUSIC coming from the other room. Lester opens his beer and starts toward the family room.

INT. BURNHAM HOUSE – FAMILY ROOM – CONTINUOUS

His POV: AS we MOVE SLOWLY around a corner, Angela comes into view, standing at the STEREO, holding a CD case. She’s been crying; her face is puffy, and her hair mussed. She regards us apprehensively… then puts on a slightly defiant smile.

ANGELA
I hope you don’t mind if I play
the stereo.

Lester leans against the wall and takes a swig of his beer.

LESTER
Not at all.
(then)
Bad night?

ANGELA
Not really bad, just… strange.

LESTER
(grins)
Believe me. It couldn’t possibly be any
stranger than mine.

She smiles. They stand there in silence; the atmosphere is charged.

ANGELA
Jane and I had a fight.
(after a beat)
It was about you.

She’s trying to be seductive as she says this, but she’s pretty bad at it. Lester raises his eyebrows.

ANGELA (cont’d)
She’s mad at me because I said I
think you’re sexy.

Lester grins. He is sexy.

LESTER
(offering beer)
Do you want a sip?

She nods. Lester holds the bottle up to her mouth and she drinks clumsily. He gently wipes her chin with the back of his hand.

LESTER (cont’d)
So… are you going to tell me? What
you want?

ANGELA
I don’t know.

LESTER
You don’t know?

His face is very close to hers. She’s unnerved–this is happening too fast…

ANGELA
What do you want?

LESTER
Are you kidding? I want you. I’ve wanted
you since the first moment I saw you.
You are the most beautiful thing I have
ever seen.

Angela takes a deep breath just before Lester leans in to kiss her cheek, her forehead, her eyelids, her neck…

ANGELA
You don’t think I’m ordinary?

LESTER
You couldn’t be ordinary if you tried.

ANGELA
Thank you.
(far away)
I don’t think there’s anything worse
than being ordinary…

And Lester kisses her on the lips.

This is it, this is the big moment that has been in the cards ever since Lester fantasized about Angela the first time, their inevitable intersection.  The screenwriter has to sell this moment.  And Alan Ball breaks the ‘rules’ to do it:

* “the atmosphere is charged”: You can’t see that on the screen and you can’t hear it in dialogue, but it’s right there in scene description.  Why?  Because it’s important to make clear to the reader the mood of the moment.

* “She’s unnerved–this is happening too fast…”: This is specifically telling the actor how to play the scene.  Equally as important, it’s telling the reader what Angela is feeling.  Again we can’t see it on the screen, can’t hear it in dialogue, but a critical insight into the moment.

This approach to the narrative is even more apparent in what happens next:

INT. BURNHAM HOUSE – FAMILY ROOM – CONTINUOUS

Lester starts unbuttoning Angela’s blouse. She seems disconnected from what’s happening. Lester pulls her blouse open, exposing her breasts.

Lester looks down at her, grinning, unable to believe he’s actually about to do what he’s dreamed of so many times, and then…

ANGELA
This is my first time.

Lester LAUGHS.

LESTER
You’re kidding.

ANGELA
(a whisper)
I’m sorry.

A beat. Lester looks down at her, his grin fading.

His POV: Angela lies beneath us, embarrassed and vulnerable. This is not the mythically carnal creature of Lester’s fantasies; this is a nervous child.

ANGELA (cont’d)
I still want to do it… I just thought
I should tell you… in case you wondered
why I wasn’t… better.

Lester’s face falls. There’s no way he’s going to go through with this now.

ANGELA (cont’d)
(confused)
What’s wrong? I thought you said I was
beautiful.

LESTER
(tenderly)
You are beautiful.

He grabs a blanket from the back of the couch and drapes it around her shoulders, covering her nakedness.

LESTER (cont’d)
You are so beautiful… and I would be a
very lucky man…

He smiles and shakes his head. Humiliated, Angela starts to cry.

ANGELA
I feel so stupid.

LESTER
Don’t.

He hugs her, letting her put her head on his shoulder, stroking her hair and rocking her gently.

ANGELA
I’m sorry.

Lester takes her by the shoulders and looks at her, serious.

LESTER
You have nothing to be sorry about.

But she keeps crying. Lester hugs her again. We HEAR a loud CLAP of THUNDER outside.

LESTER (cont’d)
(smiles)
It’s okay. Everything’s okay.

* “She seems disconnected from what’s happening”: Telling the actor how to act.  But also revealing to the reader Angela’s psychological state in the moment.

* “unable to believe he’s actually about to do what he’s dreamed of so many times”: Can’t see it on the screen, can’t hear in dialogue, but nails where Lester is in the moment.

* “This is not the mythically carnal creature of Lester’s fantasies; this is a nervous child”: Totally goes ‘inside’ Lester’s consciousness in order to convey to the reader what is happening in this pivotal moment.

* “There’s no way he’s going to go through with this now”: Again going ‘inside’ to reveal to the reader the decision that Lester has made in the moment.

None of the highlighted scene description above can be shown on the screen or heard in dialogue.  Much of it is, in effect, ‘directing’ the actors.  Two supposed rules – broken.  But in service to the story.  To convey to the reader the importance of what’s happening in the moment.

Don’t get me wrong.  Generally re scene description, the mantra, “Show it, don’t say it” prevails.  Likewise more often than not, we refrain from telling the actors how to act.  But sometimes, when it’s important, when we have to sell the moment, we do whatever the hell we need to do to tell the story.  Because that’s what our story requires us to do.