No, because even a sequence like that would have to have dialogue. It is an absolute must for television. Anyway, that sequence done properly would only last for about a minute - and even then it would still need some kind of dialogue.
Another BBC Scheme launched Page 2
If it had the appropiate piano music playing under it, it would be fine.
kjs
Quote: KJSmyling @ May 4 2008, 8:35 PM BSTIf it had the appropiate piano music playing under it, it would be fine.
kjs
I never know when you're joking Kjs. I too think with music a scene like that is acceptable...........in film/tv they do say SHOW. Too much dialogue is telling/infodump and not showing us the story
A good film script should be able to do completely without dialogue.
David Mamet
Quote: Robin Kelly @ May 3 2008, 9:10 AM BSTIf you pre-write and re-write then you are automatically in the top 10%.
Isn't pre-writing - writing, and writing is re-writing and re-writing re-re-writing?
Quote: David Chapman @ May 4 2008, 9:08 PM BSTIsn't pre-writing - writing, and writing is re-writing and re-writing re-re-writing?
Exactly. 
Quote: Robin Kelly @ May 4 2008, 9:35 PM BSTExactly.
Yeah, but what do you think about 'silent' scenes?
Bushbaby think in terms of television.
Quote: Marc P @ May 4 2008, 11:47 PM BSTBushbaby think in terms of television.
It would be better than on the radio.
Quote: bushbaby @ May 4 2008, 9:42 PM BSTYeah, but what do you think about 'silent' scenes?
While there is some element of truth that film is a visual medium and television is dialogue-driven I think both still require a good balance of both.
The audience has to be clear what's going on but they also don't want to be spoon-fed too much.
Film can get away with lots of visual storytelling but television doesn't have a captive audience. Networks are scared of them switching off because they've missed some vital information. Look critically at television drama and look how much is visual and how much isn't (and how it's structured, etc)
But this is part of your writers voice and you should decide for yourself, you can only really judge it on the final product and whether it works as television drama or not.
Depends if it's Mr Bean or the first ten minutes of There Will Be Blood. If you're worried, why not just add some very small bits of dialogue? "look at the size of that cow!" "Boy howdy, my chaps are chafing" (obviously this would only work for your cattle rustling idea)
Actually, while we're on the subject of silent bits, what are the 'rules' for a montage? Do you have to write each new location as a seperate scene (lets say it's a montage of man going into bank with a gun, man throwing piles of money onto a bed, man snorting big line of cocaine, man buying fancy sharkskin suit) or do you just do one scene called 'montage' and list all the different locations in the directions, or do you write a series of very short scenes and call them all 'montage'?
(Ps I am not writing a thing about a fancy bankrobber, that was another for example)
Quote: bushbaby @ May 4 2008, 4:50 PM BSTI've written a 30 minute script for this but there are only 20 pages because there are about ten minutes of visual scenes in additon to dialogue ones. The directions/descriptions of which don't take up a lot of pages.
How do you go about this? If I say nowt and they receive 20 pages, they may dump it because they think it's not long enough [they reckon a page per minute] but if I explain, they may not accept 'letters' with the scripts
20 pages for a 30 minute script does seem very low, non-dialogue segments or no. Even in non-dialogue segments you're still describing what's going on so the wordcount shouldn't really change that much. Unless of course your directions say something like: HE GOES OVER TO THE WINDOW AND LOOKS OUT WISTFULLY. TEN MINUTES PASS.
What's the wordcount on the entire script?
Quote: willie garvin @ May 5 2008, 10:12 AM BSTActually, while we're on the subject of silent bits, what are the 'rules' for a montage? Do you have to write each new location as a seperate scene (lets say it's a montage of man going into bank with a gun, man throwing piles of money onto a bed, man snorting big line of cocaine, man buying fancy sharkskin suit) or do you just do one scene called 'montage' and list all the different locations in the directions, or do you write a series of very short scenes and call them all 'montage'?
(Ps I am not writing a thing about a fancy bankrobber, that was another for example)
INT/EXT. LOCATIONS - VARIOUS. DAY/NIGHT
(MONTAGE)
Here you put your actions
One after the other, avoiding letters or whatever in front of each one
Don't take more than one or two lines for each
Make them dramatic and ensure they tell a story
And generally try to avoid more than about five or six lines
And don't use more than two in a 90-pager, one in less
(END OF MONTAGE)
Quote: Perry Nium @ May 5 2008, 10:24 AM BSTWhat's the wordcount on the entire script?
Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. It should be about 7,000 words.
Bushbaby - the dialogue does not have to be exposition, unless it is very badly written of course.
You're being a bit stubborn about this, so I'm not going to comment further apart from to say: I guarantee that if you submit a half hour script with ten minutes worth of silence, no one will ever, ever, consider your script. Just think about it, you're proposing that for one third of the total screen time there will be no talking. That will only demonstrate that you have an extremely limited knowledge of the medium.
Quote: manchester's trendy chorlton @ May 5 2008, 11:29 AM BSTBushbaby - the dialogue does not have to be exposition, unless it is very badly written of course.
You're being a bit stubborn about this, so I'm not going to comment further apart from to say: I guarantee that if you submit a half hour script with ten minutes worth of silence, no one will ever, ever, consider your script. Just think about it, you're proposing that for one third of the total screen time there will be no talking. That will only demonstrate that you have an extremely limited knowledge of the medium.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come across as stubborn, just questioning fully as to why the script wouldn't work, but the scene I want in, has to be there and is a similar one to the cowboy one I have given and a night time scene, so all has to be quiet. I'll have a go at rewriting.That scene would take about 6 mins. the other one, 2/3 mins