How To Write Great Dialogue 

"Here you go, keep the change. Oh hello doggie" 10/10 dialogue right here

Remember: Sometimes it’s okay to sacrifice realism for what’s more interesting or immersive.

"there are no umms and errrs in dialogue" there absolutely should be though, it's realistic, and is hilarious

"It's hilariously bad because it's just so boring" My life: "I feel personally attacked"

“He’s beginning to believe” -Morpheus “Your dentist’s name is crentist.” - Michael Scott Both moments of great tension, equally memorable.

What blows my mind about Tarantino is that he can have his characters talking about seemingly mundane things and yet the scene and dialogue will still be so engrossing. Pulp Fiction's Royale with Cheese and Reservoir Dog's Tipping scenes for example.

Good dialogue doesn't need to be realistic, it needs to get immersive. Dialogue needs to feel natural in respect to the character. I feel like some newer writers often fall into the trap of sacrificing their characters for the sake of their story.

Joker's monologue in dark knight was just perfect and it was delivered even more perfectly by heath.

Having a conversation with a human being at least once in your life is a good start.

'Wilson' - Tom Hanks

To be fair to Anakin, it's possible he's saying hamfisted romance dialogue because he's trying to convince Padmé to love him, but he's really bad at being romantic because he's spent half his life in a monastery. If Lucas's goal was to make him look pathetic, he succeeded.

The dialogue in the room is some of the best I've ever heard.

Hello There -General Kenobi

"There are no umm and err in dialogue" Well you see.. umm.. dialogue.. err.. dialouge, Ah, finds a way.... umm.. well there it is.

I was at a party with my friends listening to them have a conversation and it dawned on me at that moment _this real conversation would be considered horrible writing._ Then I saw the quarter pounder with cheese conversation in pulp fiction

When you have zero interest in writing any type of story, yet you still watch every video essay from The Closer Look because they're just that good.

"You killed my father!" "Alternatively, is it possible that your father isn't dead?" "What?" "Perhaps what you heard isn't entirely true, and he survived?" "The hell are you on about?" "Maybe he's somewhere within the vicinity... somewhere not un-nearby?" "What are you saying?" "Luke... I'm not unlike nor not undissimilar to he who doesn't not, in reality, share 50% of your chromosomes." "I don't understand." "Subtext, Luke." "There are things which you say that confuse myself." "Ah, I see. Well, your mother and I had intercourse and I killed her and became a Sith lord." "Wait... you're my father?" "I'm not not not not not not not your un-father." "NOoooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOoOOOoOOooOoOoOOOooOOooooo!!!!!!"

i'd say that there are a few times in real life where our speech turns into dialog: - a first date - a job interview - trying to convince someone to do something (includes sales) generally, when conversation has actual stakes involved. if it's just two people shooting the shit as friends then that's not dialog. but i think we come to dialog in movies because we DO have real world analogs.

Wouldn't that be funny if random things we said during life was weird foreshadowing?

But The Room is the pinnacle of phenomenal dialogue:(

As much as realism is a must in dialogue, a dialogue that feels sharp and linear can be beautiful to the ears, especially in ending climaxes. This is cinema after all, we don't make movies because we want to recreate life, we make movies because we want to take the rules of reality, and twist them in a way that creates an entertaining, thoughtful, masterpiece.

That moment you realize that almost every line of dialogue uttered by The Joker in The Dark Night is iconic... *Clapping in admiration*

"Oh You've decided to approach me?.." "I cant kick your ass unless I get closer" Top tier dialog Jojo

The point about no ums or ers is stupid. It’s important to show a character’s power dynamic in a scene, and not everyone becomes super confident to deliver serious dialogue, it’s important to show their level and display their emotions, wether it’s discomfort or a lack of confidence or just plain confusion, it will be only natural to incorporate those elements in your dialogue. Same goes for witty remarks, that can only work if you have established your character to be passionate about the thing that is being talked about, or smart or witty in general.

Don't make realistic dialogue. Make bealivable dialogue.

10:12 "There are no 'umms' or 'errrs' in real dialogue." Rick and Morty: *Laughs in hidden*

“I see your Schwartz is as big as mine! Now let’s see how well you handle it!”-Dark Helmet

“I am really sad right now, I need a hug.”

Trying to add jokes in a script and making the dialogue seem like actual dialogue is one of the hardest things ever, I've tried it before.

3:37 is that man really eating fruit with a knife and fork

Caution: subtext does not work in a relationship

There is TONS of subtext in the line “No, I am your father” It shows Vader’s ruthlessness, as he lets his own son die. This single line increases the personal stakes in the hero and the threat of the villain tenfold. He reveals one single piece of exposition, but the weight that has on the story before and after is immense.

"I am your father." has a lot of subtext though. Luke thought of Vader as the ultimate evil and representation of the empire, someone who killed his family. Vader shatters the notion of him being an outsider and that he was his father, meaning Luke has the evil within him too, and that his father went to the dark side, Ben also lie-protected him. In addition, it shows that Vader wants to convert Luke by indirectly training him by toying with him in that lightsaber duel and finally playing "we're family" card, along with that appeal to rule the galaxy as father and son. All in four words.

I loved Braking bad's dialogs, because they felt real. It was littered with ehrms and half sentenses, but had great lines and weight. So even a more realistic approach can be done masterfully, even in a drama! :)

Most dialogue should have subtext, fit the theme, and grow the characters BUT direct lines like "I am your father", which are a huge revelation/twist, should leave no ambiguity ;)

When you realize the talk scene in The Silence of the Lambs is a more intense fight scene than the Casablanca sequence in John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum

I think “I am your father“ is so powerful *because* it is so simple. It is a plot twist and no plot twist is being conveyed by subtext. It has to be a punch that hits everyone like a truck. In the scene, we have the duel between Luke and Vader. It is full of tension, but also has a lot of subtext. A good fight tells a story as well and here we have the evil lord having barely any struggle and the young hero trying to stand a chance. He gets defeated and is full of anger, fear and hate, about to be killed. Then, the evil lord offeres him the dark side, abandoning the legacy of his father. The stakes are clear, when BAM! Lucas slapps everyone in the face!

Tarantino is a beast with dialogue. Same with Aaron Sorkin.

Anakin "I'm in agony" Me watching that scene "me too bub, me too."

Wtf, hes getting flowers for his loyal Lisa obviously

Anakins cheesy dialogue in episode 2, I view, is an example of how emotionally stunted he is as a result of growing up with the jedi order.

I remember reading in a screenwriting book that a good way to see how conversations normally flow and to apply it in your dialogue is to analyze how you talk to other people

What are you on about? In that scene in The Room, we learned that Johnny likely has a girlfriend through his need to buy flowers. We learned that he's a pretty nice guy cause he took the time to greet the dog and told the clerk to keep the change.. And we learned that people like him because the clerk went out of her way to tell him he's her favorite customer. All that character building in less than ten seconds. Truly a work of genius.

"the beginning of the end of the end of the beginning has begun" - the grand budapest hotel (2014) on of the best dialogues in history in my opinion

"I'm fine" is the Thanos of subtext

Dialogue is natural speech with purpose and panache.

Yeah but I can quote more lines from The Room than from any Tarantino movie

God the way you described the first encounter between Hannibal and Clarice is exactly how I feel about it. A conversation which says so much more than what is being spoken.

"They point a Gun at them and start reciting bible verses?" the funniest thing a YT'er ever said for some reason.

I’ve always felt that Christopher Nolan (as a director) has always had that issue you pointed out: a desire to express his theme openly through dialogue when it never needed it. What always came to mind for me was the scene in The Dark Knight when the Joker’s plan with the ferries fails, and Batman says: “What were you trying to prove? That deep down, everyone’s as ugly as you?” As though we ever needed that piece of dialogue. For one, Joker made his plans abundantly clear in the interrogation scene, and two, the scene itself (through visuals) illustrated the idea perfectly. It’s almost as if sometimes, Nolan wants us as an audience to know that he fully realises his ideas or something like that. Little lines like those are scene-breakers for me. Appreciate you pointing it out though; epic video man.

About Star Wars Episode 2: Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman decided to play a joke on Lucas, and read their lines as if they had no acting skills. Lucas liked it, and put that scene in the movie.

so Game of Thrones/ Song of Fire & Ice is 100% subtext. Drax from Guardians of Galaxy is 100% no subtext

"I need a weapon" "Sir, finishing this fight" "Relax, don't want to piss this thing off" "Thought I'll shoot my way out, mix things up a little" "I thought there won't be any cameras" "That's not going to happen" "No, I think we're just getting started" I swear, this character's almost every line is always golden

You should do a video where you compare & contrast the writing styles of the most revered dialogue writers like Quentin Tarantino, Aaron Sorkin, David Mamet, etc...

"How often do you see someone get so angry they point a gun at someone and start reciting bible verses" *Heavy Father Anderson breathing*

Great video, but I disagree with one tiny bit, or rather I think that it requires a little expansion... I Personally (and this may just be me) believe that dialogue (and most other aspects of story telling in general) shouldn't be realistic, or above realistic as you suggest, necessarily but faithful to the universe of the story itself. Look at Wes Anderson: he doesn't write vaguely realistic dialogue, but it is consistent with the tones of his films. It isn't realism, or degrees of realism that are important, but verisimilitude, in my opinion. Like I say, I loved the video, keep up the great work!

Great instruction! "Subtext is the difference between what a character says and what a character means. Subtext is the "show don't tell" applied to dialogue. It is what the character is really saying, minus the words they speak. Conversation is not dialogue. The two are entirely separate things...write dialogue that feels so real to the audience that they believe it to be authentic, even though there is very little real about it. A real conversation is like a winding river...never even completed...but a good dialogue exchange is like a train track...that serves the master purpose of the scene and builds towards that final resolution."

He recommends a book... Me: The subtext says "it´s an ad"

As the wise videogamedunkey once said, “Why do I even exist?”

Dialogue is about the character. Not the conversation. It is about the relationship. The gestures and mannerisms. The feeling behind the spoken words.

Fantastic video as usual, this one came at a good time for me. I'd argue, though, that you're wrong about the moment you talk about in Empire, I feel that not only was Vader revealing to Luke that he is his father, but also that Ben, one of the last bastions of hope for Luke, lied to him about it. Not sure if that made sense, its not much, but it's there. bUt tHat'S JusT a ThEoRy

I have to disagree with the dialogue you showed from The Room serving no purpose. I believe the idea was to show how Johnny was super popular and a great guy that everyone loved, basically a Gary Stu. The dialogue and scene was still terrible, though.

The flower shop scene in The Room is AMAZING and that dead pan delivery I adore it best dialogue ever EVER I SAY!

Big rip he didn’t mention Obi-Wan telling Anakin when he had the high ground.

Just get out of class and BAM! This popped up right as I open RU-vid. Hell yeah!! I love your videos, and so does my Creative Writing professor!

“I am your father” has lots of subtext. It represents a shift from our hero having descended from a martyr to having descended from evil. For Vader personally, it means “You will join me if you have any sense” And for Luke it means he has to reconcile this

3:30 for a second I though this scene was in _“Godfather III”_ partially because my glasses were dirty so I was internally reading Anakin’s line in an italian/godfather-esq accent (because I thought it was godfather and because I was listening this video on my mobile) _“I’ma haunted by da kiss I did not-a deserve-a”_

I LOVED interstellar. But that line about love transcending space and time was absolute dogshit

Watching this video made me realize a few things about myself. One, I probably should take notes next time I watch another video. Two, I have a lot of flaws for the story I am writing just based on what you said. And 3, writing is a lot more complex than I thought. Besides that, you’re good at giving a clear explanation for writing tips a whole lot better than any of my teachers back at high school. P.S I mostly draw and wanted to write and eventually publish a manga. But I have little to no experience in writing at all.

I've actually heard some pretty entertaining stuff from accidentally eavesdropping on people's dinner conversations. By far my favorite that I've heard so far is: Guy: "Dad, you're so obsessed with money, you eat, sleep, and drink it!" Old Guy: "Gotta keep a balanced diet."

The scene from Interstellar portrays perfectly one of the main problems I have with Anime. Some have interesting ideas, great messages. There are so many fantastic worlds displayed, stories told and ideas presented in Anime, but sometimes I feel like Anime-writers think the viewers are retarded. Maybe it stems from the fact that Anime has its roots in children cartoon, but the constant slapping in the face of the morale, that is perfectly conveyed by the scene itself, is annoying as hell. ''Hey, did you see how that character sacrified himself? Let me tell you how virtuous he is." Even Attack on Titan, which is much better in many aspects as the cliche animes, makes that mistake. They LITERALLY deliver the message by one of the characters shouting at the screen (with epic music in the background), that you sometimes have to sacrifice everything to win.

I discovered what you're talking about with peaky blinders, watching every character knowing how to response in a smart way and not being too direct with what they want to say

pretty much all dialogue in Game of Thrones is a masterclass in subtext

One the most best beginner guides I've seen on learning to write great dialogue. If I may emphasize one point: write dialogue, and then rewrite it to hone it. On the second pass ask all the questions you should and try to deliver as much context as possible in as little words possible - most importantly ask yourself, "would this scene be any different if they hadn't said that..." if the answer is no, then delete it.

Basically, what I would add to this is that rules are made to be broken. Personally I kind of get sick of how fake dialogue sounds in movies, and I really respect directors who get their actors to improvise conversation, or include takes where the actors stammer or forget lines. And I like slice-of-life stories that meander into different directions, that kind of prove that plot-relevance isn't the only thing that makes dialogue interesting. Quentin Tarantino does actually include this kind of dialogue in many of his films, such as Death Proof, the first half of which is basically one big chat between some friends in a bar, much of which could have been cut if your rule was "only include plot-relevant dialogue". But it's that kind of meandering irrelevant chat that, for me, makes the movie.

“Tammy.” - Ron Swanson

I really REALLY love your content, you not only nitpick things that are frustrating in film but you point out why these things are philosophically frustrating and ways to improve upon them. Which in my opinion is more important than just being able to spot when something doesn't work.

@12:25 “Again, nobody in the real world speaks like that because nobody is that clever to reply with witty zingers with such ease and immediacy” May I introduce you to the late, great, Christopher Hitchens?

The god closer look is back and stronger than ever

The advertisement was thrown in there so smoothly, and thanks for the tips

"What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?"

The scene you brought up from The Room actually serves multiple different purposes, It Characterises Johnny and explaines where he procured the flowers. It shows how he is a regular customer at the flower shop, and that he likes dogs to an extent.

I've been binge watching this channel and every reference to The Room makes me want to watch it again

"preferably literally" omg!! Imma use that forever now that's the best

My theory for The Room : The words you hear are the Character's thoughts and not their actual spoken words.

“listen to audiobooks instead of a boring teacher” now thats inspiring

"You're a big guy" "FOR YOU"

Me: "Huh, characters who just announce how they feel. That reminds me of that line from Futurama with Robot Devil." *Literally 2 seconds later* 5:32

The Room is so ahead of it's time! In a 100 years it will win an OSCAR!

This is probably an unpopular opinion but, for me, the Anakin / Padme dialog works in that scene *because* it is clunky. Anakin is a kid, awkwardly coming to terms with his emotions and just blurting out how he feels is a result of that.

This is why the movie "Live from Baghdad" was so great, the whole movie is just good dialogue and it's basically one verbal conflict in various levels after another. From "Ok we have different opinions but we are working towards the same goal." to outright hostility.

Your content is an absolute gold mine, bless you for it.

7:05 "It's Nolan saying 'Hey, the theme for this movie is 'love'." Small nitpick, apologies: 'Love' is not a theme. 'Love' is a topic or idea, but not a 'theme'. A rule of thumb is that it's not a theme unless it's a full sentence. Eg, "Love conquers all" is a theme. "Love always survives" is a theme. "Prioritize what you love above all else" is a theme. "Love" on its own is not a theme. Again, sorry for the nitpick, it's just a common mistake I see and thought it was worth bringing up. Great video!

I just found your channel and I'm enthralled. You really nail the subject with an eloquence I haven't seen anywhere else. Your videos all seem to have a climax of insight, in a way mimicking their very subject matter (narratives). Incredibly clever stuff.

Oh gosh, I'm really sad to see that your latest video got taken down. I really hope this doesn't become a trend. I just figured I should let you know that you have my support, and that I hope you can continue making great content.

“Troy” -Gabriella

Hi! I know everyone says George Lucas can't write good dialogue, and I can understand that why it is a widespread opinion (although I'm not 100% convinced it can be generalized like that). But, I think the scene you cited from him now is a debatable example. I think it is written from a character's perspective, a character who is a walking oxymoron, he is powerful and powerless, grown, but still a little child, he is in love but don't actually know what that is as he is rather selfish, he is on the side of the good guys but he can't identify with them and so on and so forth. Also, Vader talks like that (with a bit of cynicism added into the mix and that makes these kind of lines sound cool, but I guess that was a result of Palpatine's training ;)). So, here we have this character, he talks as this character would talk. So, in my opinion this is a fitting dialogue for Anakin as he is exactly like that, he doesn't even care what others tell him, so it is not a traditional dialogue, the character (as later Vader) never really went for a dialogue where two characters exchange opinion, etc. he just command, voices his opinion or wish and that's it. So, in this case I have to disagree that his dialogue is terrible as it serves the purpose to show(!) what kind of character Anakin is, what he says is just the thin veil upon his desires, just look at what he does - it is cringe-worthy and very intimidating so you feel very uncomfortable watching it. That's how I see that scene, and I know many of you won't agree, but I think it's worth to talk about it.

0:25 - 0:36 "Royale with cheese"

You can't always have your characters announce how they feel, that makes me feel angry! Lmao XD

I always felt like Anikan’s dialogue went that way because it’s a representation of his character. When his emotions are strong he becomes unstable and doesn’t really know what to do, so he just reacts to the emotions. Just like when he killed the whole village of sand people. And when he swore himself to Palpatine.