Billy Wilder's ten rules of screenwriting (good for novelists, too)

Billy Wilder was the writer director of witty classics including “Some Like It Hot.” He had ten rules for screenwriting which are hugely valuable—in fact, if you really understand them and apply them, they may be the only scriptwriting course you need. Furthermore, they're great for any kind of story telling:

1. The audience is fickle.
2. Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.
3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4. Know where you’re going.
5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.
8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.
9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that’s it. Don’t hang around.

Which ones are most ignored by film-makers these days? I’d say numbers 5 and 7—what do you think?

(More useful tips are in my "Your Writing Coach" book, available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers. You might also like to take a look at my new screenwriting site, at www.ScreenWritingSuccess.com for more tips and posts.)