DESCRIBING THE STAR If any part of your screenplay requires skillful writing, it’s this. Because you’ve got to indicate a lot with a little. The reader must know the vehicle role has just appeared on the page. But you can’t go overboard in loading on attributes. Plus, you’ve got to be, if at all possible, vague. Here is an example of a damaging description: CUT TO CHALK BROCKTON IN CLOSE UP. CHALK stands silent, a dead cheroot between his lips. Fifty years old, six foot four, you get the feeling there’s not a lot his blue eyes haven’t seen. Nothing nowadays surprises him anymore, and nothing
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