Dialogue’s a pretty big part of a script. Who are the best dialogue writers?
What makes them so good?
Joss Whedon for snark.
Quentin Tarantino for badass.
Aaron Sorkin
Damn, Lamar beat me to it. You gotta love a guy who can use “ensorcelled” in a sentence.
Whedon for snark, and language usage. Sorkin is good, but Whedon invents his own words that just…fit.
My problem with Sorkin is he uses too many of the same tricks over and over again. So many of his characters across multiple shows have the same voice.
In comics, Brian Michael Bendis became guilty of the same thing. When he first hit, he was seen as clever and unique, but now its like he’s doing an imitation of himself.
“I went to the store”
“The store?”
“The store.”
“Why the store?”
“Where do you buy things?”
“The store.”
Now put that same dialogic structure in the mouths of Daredevil, Spiderman, every Avenger and then every X-man.
YOU THlNK!?
Shane Black
Nathan: Alice, please. Your dog, Alice. It and my appetite are mutually exclusive.
Alice: Well, what’s wrong with the dog?
Nathan: Simple. He’s been licking his asshole for the last three straight hours. I submit to you that there is nothing there worth more than an hour’s attention. I should think that whatever he is attempting to dislodge is either gone for good, or there to stay. Wouldn’t you agree?
[Nathan hands his gun to Charlie, then pulls out a second]
Mitch: Jesus, old man, how many of those you got?
Nathan: Three. One shoulder, one hip and one down here, right next to Mr. Wally, where most patdowns never reveal it, as even the most hardened federal agent is often reluctant to feel up another man’s groin. Any other questions?
Mitch: Yeah. What’s the weather like on your planet?
Mitch Henessey: How did you find us?
Nathan: There may be many reasons not to kill you, but among them is not that you’ll be missed by NASA. I found the address in your coat. Here. Between the address of a topless bar, and the picture of what looks like a man’s penis.
Mitch Henessey: That’s a duck, not a dick.