Film Courage: What’s your process for approaching dialogue?
Erik Bork, Screenwriter/Author: It’s kind of instinctual I think.
Once I know what is happening in the scene and I know where it’s going, where the characters
enter the scene.
It’s all about:
*Whose scene is it?
*What are they trying to achieve in that scene?
*What is in the way?
*What are they doing in trying to get through whatever is in the way?
That’s pretty much the template for every scene.
Then part of that is going to be dialogue, part of that is going to be what they say.
And what they say should be the things that they would believably say given who they are
and what their unique voice and way of speaking is in that situation given what is going on
and what they want.
You want to avoid the mistake that people often make with expositional dialogue where
people just speak information that the audience needs to know but they really wouldn’t say
in that moment.
You want them to be saying the things that they would really say.
When I’m doing it it is kind of instinctual and I’m just sort of quickly writing what
I have people say and then maybe go back and revise it but what is probably in the back
of my mind is it needs to be what they would naturally say given who they are and what
they want.
And people don’t always express everything they want, right?
The best dialogue has subtext.
Which means the audience can pick up that they’re thinking and feeling something they
are not saying but what they are saying is what they think is the right thing to say
to try and get whatever it is that they want.
Or the only thing they are able to say for whatever reason given who they are and what’s
going on.
But what is helpful is there’s a sense of subtext of we know what the inner life is
underneath that they are not saying.
But what they are saying hopefully feels real for that character and hopefully is entertaining
and keeping with whatever the genre is.
I mean if it’s a comedy obviously your dialogue is going to often be trying to be funny as
well.
So yes, it’s not so much of figuring it out as it’s just an instinctually moving
through it with those kind of things in the back of my mind and of course tons of revising,
going back and rewriting and revising, compressing, cutting, editing the dialogue over time.
Film Courage: Are there certain scenes that stand out that are great for subtext?
What’s a great study in that?
Erik: Well Robert McKee in this book STORY analyzed the scene in CASABLANCA with Humphrey
Bogart and Ingrid Bergman where he gives you on the page all of the dialogue in the scene.
He explains to you what subtext is so that’s a great thing that stayed with me the most
from that book.
It was a really helpful thing.
There is that scene in ANNIE HALL, the famous scene where Alvy is at Annie’s apartment
and he is looking around at the photos on the wall and he is saying stuff and then the
subtitles they tell you the subtext which is like “You are a really attractive girl.”
But what he’s saying is “That’s a really interesting use of negative space.”
And her subtext is “I hope he is not a jerk like the others.”
But what she is saying is “Oh really?
You think so?”
So it’s a comedic thing but it’s kind of showing you what subtext is.
Film Courage: I think Humphrey Bogart was sort of the master of subtext because so much
of what he says is sarcasm…but without saying much there is a look, there is a jab, and
there a lot of things he’s not overtly saying.
Erik: Good question.
I don’t know.
I mean I don’t know how much credit to give actors for it because it’s really in the
writing to some extent.
You need to see the characters to have that inner life that is going to be clear to the
audience but also have dialogue on the page that is not exactly what you are thinking
and feeling where you can feel the gap.
At the same time it’s a big part of acting to know what am I really feeling and thinking
because I’m not saying it and what am I saying and how I portray what I am really
thinking and feeling to the audience even though I am sort of hiding it away in my dialogue
or I am not quite coming out with it in my dialogue for whatever reason.
Obviously there are great actors who do that particularly well.
Film Courage: Do you think certain decades of cinema have more or less subtext?
Erik: I don’t know about that.
I would say that television writing traditionally has tended to have less subtext especially
kind of what we originally think of as Prime Time Network Dramas and comedies usually have
a lot of dialogue and the dialogue tends to be a little more on the surface with just
saying whatever it is that people are thinking and feeling.
Although nowadays when we have all of these TV shows that are more movie like and then
they have a different feel to them you might see a lot of subtext and dialogue there as
you might do in movies.
It’s a more like slightly sophisticated kind of thing which isn’t necessarily present
in certain genres like if it’s Bruce Willis in DIE HARD there is probably not a lot of
subtext right?
Or if it’s SOUTH PARK, it’s not filled with subtext right?
But serious dramas tend to have more subtext or…I hate to use a pejorative where “it’s
good if you have it and bad if you don’t.”
But to some extent that’s true that it tends to be more interesting and involving if we
are seeing people who aren’t saying everything they are really thinking.
I don’t know if you’ve seen FLEABAG on Amazon?
It’s a series that I recently watched both seasons of.
It has this great device where the main character turns to the camera and kind of tells us sometimes
her subtext and it’s this running dialogue with the camera which they did a little bit
of in HOUSE OF CARDS and other shows have done it too in their own unique way so that
the audience is in on it.
She doesn’t give us every bit of subtext but she gives us some point in looks and moments
of what she is really thinking but she is saying something different.
Film Courage: I mean this in all seriousness, you think of Bruce Willis in the TV show MOONLIGHTING
and it has tons of subtext between he the Sybil Shepherd.
Erik: Yes, it depends on the genre.
It’s not about if the actor does or doesn’t do it, it’s about the project.
Film Courage: So you don’t think that certain actors get more roles or are cast in terms
of this?
You think of Samuel L. Jackson’s characters and he is so great in everything he does and
he’s just going to say what he feels.
But you know at some point in the film his character is going to have a mini-meltdown
and everyone is going to be at his mercy and they are going to do what he wants.
Certain actors seem to get roles in more of one style or another.
Erik: I mean they may get cast in roles that are not subtext-ty roles more I suppose but
I don’t know if certain actors do subtext and some don’t or some are and some aren’t.
I think it is more of a writing thing.
It’s more what kind of scene is it?
Because we are really talking about scene level dialogue on the scene level so what
kind of scene is it?
Who are the people in the scene?
What are the agendas?
What are they trying to communicate or achieve and what are they really thinking and feeling
and are those things going to be in the dialogue or not kind of just depends on the kind of
genre and kind of scene.
Film Courage: So Aaron Sorkin maybe less subtext?
Gillian Flynn maybe more with GONE GIRL?
Erik: That’s a good point.
Aaron Sorkin I think is less subtext because he tends to write these very smart people
articulately laying out arguments for things.
I think of THE WEST WING classically that way.
So yes, it’s not subtext-ty for the most part.
It’s very come out and say your opinion and argue it with somebody.
It’s kind of an intellectual cerebral type of writing.
I think it’s engaging on that level.
It’s entertaining on that level.
I’m not saying that he doesn’t ever have scenes that have subtext.
I’m sure he does.
If you look at THE SOCIAL NETWORK I could probably imagine scenes that have a lot of
subtext where Justin Timberlake is on the phone with Eduardo and he is saying one thing
but we know what he really means.
There is stuff that Aaron never does or can’t do it’s just the style he is most known
for like from THE WEST WING I think you’re right, it is less subtext-ty.