The Dialogue of Noir

Two weeks ago four members of my writing group and I did the very first table reading of Cleveland City. We read a critical Act 1 scene out loud, in character. I mostly listened. And for the first time I heard the words of my 10-year project come to life.

Dialogue is very tricky. I once read somewhere that if you nail your dialog, then you can remove the character names from the script and be able to know who is saying what based on the words themselves.

That is how important language is. Each one of us speaks just ever so differently. The language of characters on screen is not the formal written language most of us learned in school. No one really writes how they speak or speaks how they write. And as a screenwriter, my job is to write the dialog that's authentic to each character's personality, backstory and actions. It must also be conversational. It must flow.

The first table reading of Cleveland City helped me realize that as is the dialogue is too clinical. The cadence of the language didn't really change all that much from character to character. So I'm working with Jacob, my partner on this project, to massage that aspect of the story. To give dimension and spice and humor to the words on the page.

A script is only as good as the interest level it attracts in a working team, including the director, producers, investors and all the behind the scenes crew people. But mostly, it must appeal to the actors. Their desire to say those words out loud and to act out the action, scene by scene, page by page, is what motivates the writers. And if it doesn't, it should.

The dialog of Noir takes all this to the next level. Above all, it must have wit. 

There's a heightened intelligence required to write Noir. The characters must banter and that banter is like a sport of words. Watch and listen to any great Noir film, classic, or the NeoNoir of the 80s or 90s, and whether sexual innuendo or the threat of violence or someone thinking they have upper hand just to have the character in front of them drop a verbal bomb on them and bam! The power shifts.

Body Heat, with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt, does not disappoint:

               Ned: I need someone to take care of me, someone to rub my tired muscles, smooth out my sheets.

               Matty: Get married.
               Ned: I just need it for tonight.

This kind of dialogue gold must sustain itself throughout the entire screenplay. Because the audience wants to be entertained. And surprised. And to experience something they haven't, and it must last as long as the picture is on the screen.

The job of every successful scene is to showcase a transaction. By the end of the scene, there's been a movement between the characters and the pendulum swings in the direction of the character we least expect, sometimes knocking them down in the process.

I'm excited to workshop the dialogue and see how the characters will further reveal themselves. They have so much to say. My job is to hear them as they are. And then get it all down on paper.

Body Heat image & dialogue: IMDb.com