Good dialogue should (a) sound real without actually being real. No Ahs, umms, let me backtrack a moment, what I meant to say. Skip that stuff. (b) The dialogue/scene should have an undercurrent. Something else is going on that isn't being said, or at least not directly. If everyone says what they mean it is said the dialogue is "too on the nose". If a guy is talking about how his favorite baseball player was in the news for taking steroids this morning, and thus he's been drinking for an hour over the betrayal and all, he's saying that while diffusing a bomb, you've created additional tension for the guy standing buy holding the tools who cheated with the guys girlfriend last night and may not know if the bomb guys knows (the scene is then all about betrayal and death but not talking directly about it). There is even another level if the bomb disposal guy knows his partner betrayed him or not. Try for subtext to build tension or depth. Maybe not in every scene though. Sometimes you just need to show character, setup a joke or move the plot forward. (c) Dialogue should be fairly easy to say. Speak your dialogue out loud and listen to it.

RJSchwarz

Is it true that "Casablanca" is considered the best script ever written? You might want to study the dialogue from that movie to see what makes great dialogue just for starters.

But, overall, I believe that great dialogue is basically a matter of talent. I can't teach talent, and no one else on this forum can teach talent either. Talent is something you're born with. As Syd Field says in his book "Screenplay," "Talent is a gift from God. Either you have it or you don't."

Don't worry about whether you don't have any talent, though. It certainly is hard to figure out what makes dialogue great. I have a lot of script ideas that I haven't typed out yet and I'm not sure whether or not they're going to work. I constantly worry that the dialogue I'll be writing might sound like a detective movie from the '40's. Most of my movie ideas, however, are in the dramatic-comedy category, and take place in the present day. Obviously, I worry quite a lot that those lines I've come up with won't sound natural to this generation and might become distracting. Oh well, I'll just write that dialogue anyway.

Just quit worrying about whether the dialogue is bad or not, write the script. But I'm sure you're worried about typing it up because you're not sure whether the dialogue will turn out right. Again, stop worrying. Your script probably will be terrible the first time. Just remember: "Nothing is written, it's re-written." Stay away from the script for a week after you've finished your first draft. After the week is over, look over it again and see what you think of it. Think about your script for a while, and see what could be improved. Do a second draft of it. Repeat until you're satisfied by the result or you've reached the deadline. Hope this helps you with your scripts! ?8D?

Okay thanks! This really helped, I guess I just need to stop over thinking it and just do it then get someone(NOT A FRIEND) to criticize it thoroughly. Then I can build off that and repeat. Thanks again!

"Listen...Do you hear that? No? Well guess what, me neither! But don't worry about it, being deaf ain't so bad, specially when got people writing books about it and crankin' out a hundred movies a year based solely on water pumps and crazy girls. Just know that I ain't gonna hurt ya nun, long as long as ya promise me to be good and wait here until I come for ya, we got that clear? Okay, good boy, just wait..."-Mulch