Can you write dialogue that sounds improvised? Should you?
Eric Roth, co-writer of the current version of "A Star is Born," talks about how he abandoned his usual approach to writing dialogue:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.
I saw the film recently, and I did wonder how much of the dialogue was improvised--and Roth says in the clip that some of it was.
Obviously, any dialogue can be improvised, but it seems to work best when it's side-comments that help establish the nature of the relationship of the people talking. That might take the form of teasing or being playful, as in "A Star is Born," or maybe some other additional subtext.
I find that a good strategy is giving your 'final' draft one more look and seeing whether loosening up the dialogue that way will add to the richness of your characters. Of course, the specifics depend on the nature of your characters, but by loosening up, I mean something like this:
Original line: "Would you like that?"
Looser exchange: "Would that float your boat?"
(Other character:) "Float my boat? Did you just escape from the 70's?"
While dialogue is almost never the same as actual speech, strategically bringing it a bit closer can help your characters come alive.
