What Screenwriters Know About Dialogue That You Don’t... (Yet)

How REAL Humans Talk! Dialogue Writing Essentials with Lauren Veloski

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How REAL Humans Talk! Dialogue Writing Essentials

Learn to write flawlessly fucked-up, halting, gorgeously messy and staggeringly good REAL dialogue! This is a fun, exploratory, and interactive workshop (Think public eavesdropping as homework!) where we learn to identify and adore the perfect imperfection of how “real humans REALLY talk.”

Mushy, sentimental, robot-stiff, ridiculously poetic, or full of cloying exposition? Dialogue that HASN’T been trained on real human conversation is a liability. But when we nail authentic “voice,” we DEEPEN investment in our fictional worlds and celebrate the gnarly mess that is humanity. Boost your fiction, screenplay writing, or playwriting with a top-to-bottom dialogue glow-up.

I’m Lauren Veloski, and I’m a screenwriter. I’m also a full-time teacher and coach who works with writers of ALL modes. But I find that a screenwriting lens is a the perfect “in” point for radical dialogue work, because dialogue is THE dominant tool of the screenwriter!

Workshop Takeaways

• Learn what great dialogue is definitely NOT (academic, omniscient), and why.

• Learn what great dialogue IS (lying, gloating, deflecting) in order to masterfully create conversational authenticity on the page that will MOVE an audience.

• Through “urban safari” assignments, ear-train your writerly brain on REAL WORLD conversations (in your local bodega, or at the dentist’s office!), then learn to use them to power your own dialogue work.

• We’ll dissect how to “check your subtext” and work with emotional “false floors.”

• Learn when/how to employ dramatic aplomb (monologue, et al) without shredding your audience’s trust.

• You’ll master the beautiful chaos of “crosstalk” towards writing hilarious and gutting arguments.

• Most importantly, “voice-sharpening”: learn to write characters who sound undeniably different from one another (and from you!).

We’ll learn together through a dynamic combination of watching exemplary clips from some of your favorite TV shows and films, reading stand-out examples in script form, listening in the wilds of the real world, and playing with our own voices with abandon.

Paid subscribers receive full access to this and all of our workshops for $10/mo

About The Instructor

Lauren Veloski is a screenwriter, comedy writer, creative coach, and founder of THAT'S BANANAS. Her first feature script, the indie comedy “SORRY, THANKS,” was praised by Lena Dunham for writing “as seamless as any studio rom-com—if studio rom-coms had astute, nuanced dialogue.” An “unromantic comedy” about casual douchebaggery, “SORRY, THANKS” world-premiered at SXSW, played 15 fests internationally, and sold to IFC/Sundance. After 15 years as the “story brain in the room” on countless television and film projects, Lauren launched THAT'S BANANAS in 2022 to do what she most loves: work one-on-one with writers at all levels, helping them come fully into their badassery and power on the page. Visit her online at www.thats-bananas.com or on Instagram at @writingisbananas.