Show Don’t Tell – Here’s How

A reliance on dialogue and is one of the worst things that can happen to a script. Pages and pages of characters talking about things rather than actually doing them. Without a full grasp of the concept of “Show don’t tell,” characters end up talking about emotions or events when in fact we should be seeing them act them out.

Example 1:

Instead of having a character say, “Mike never gets up until at least midday," write a scene showing Mike falling out of bed in the middle of the day. Then we already know this information so it doesn’t have to be repeated by another character.

Example 2:

Instead of “Clare stares at Jim. She’s so angry she could burst": “Clare kicks Jim on the shin and struts off.” This action alone says a million times more about Clare’s character and the fact that she’s angry.

Example 3:

Instead of “Tom walks confidently into the hotel, a mischievous smile on his face.”: “Tom breezes into the hotel, snatching a drink from the tray of a waiter as he passes.”

It’s all about coming up with detailed images that convey a character’s mood, emotion, and personality through action rather than dialogue or bland description.

Think about the dialogue in your script and how a line could instead be turned into a small scene, and think about your description and how it can be enhanced by using vivid imagery.

FROM: http://www.scriptreaderpro.com/show-dont-tell-heres-how/