The Craft of Playwriting - Part: One Million

The Playwriting Podcast

Ken Wolf, Artistic Director of Manhattan Repertory Theatre in New York City, presents the 409th episode of THE PLAYWRITING PODCAST.

Episode Story Topic: "The Craft of Playwriting - Part: One Million"

Manhattan Rep's NEW Play Connection Service:

https://www.manhattanrep.com/play-connection-service

My 4 new books on Amazon:

How to Write a Fantastic Play in 28 Days!

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The 10 Principles of Playwriting

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How to Write a Fantastic 10 Minute Play in 2 Hours!

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How to Get Your Play Produced!

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Manhattan Rep's Play Production Program:

https://www.manhattanrep.com/play-production-program

Check out my Playwright Video and Resource Member Area at:

https://www.howtowriteplays.com/playwright-video

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Playwriting and Creativity Videos, special Member Areas and more!

Get Coached by me on writing a play!

https://www.manhattanrep.com/playwriting-coaching

Here are my 10 editing questions:

These questions are like filters to refine your play and make it more concise. And concise is good.

Here are my 10 Editing Questions to refine your draft:

1. Is there a clear problem & action related to the problem that needs to be solved in each scene? If not, fix it. 2. Does this scene top the scene before? If not, fix it. 3. Are your characters saying too many words? Do they need to say three sentences when they could say the same thing in one sentence? 4. Do your characters speak in clear and distinctly different ways? If not, how can you make them consistently different? 5. Are your characters telling stories that don’t have a dramatic event attached to the telling of the story? If not, cut them or make them two sentences tops. I’m serious. (A story with a dramatic event attached could be a Coming Out story, or a Break Up story.)

6. Are the characters saying too little? Is it clear what is happening in each EVENT?

7. Are you telling BACK STORY to the audience that is not intrinsically told during a dramatic action moment in the scene? If not, fix it!

8. Is the scene too long? Could it be a page or two shorter and still convey all the important information and ACTION that will propel this play to its dramatic conclusion?

9. Is the scene too short? Are the actions and events in this scene big enough?

10. Do you need this scene? Does this scene top the scene before, and propel the dramatic action of the play? If you answer yes to this - keep the scene. If no, cut it!

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