1. Know Exactly Why Everything Happens
So many screenplays nowadays rely on ambiguous endings and audience interpretation. That's fine - it makes movies interesting, and gives them a longer shelf-life. The fact that we're still talking about
Prometheus now means that - to some extent - its vagueness has paid off (from a marketing point of view, anyway). But try to remember that, whilst writing your screenplay,
you know why things are happening, even if you don't plan of letting the audience know the full extent. In the case of
Prometheus, you can tell that Damon Lindelof was working in the shadows of the screenplay: he attempted to pass off certain plot elements as purposely ambiguous, but it came off like he was making it up as he went along (which he likely was, if his work on
Lost is anything to go by). But consider that if you, at least, know the reasons why the events in your screenplay are occurring, you will ultimately write a better movie. That way, you can't defy the logic that you have set up, and plot holes won't reveal themselves in the way they did with
Prometheus. Again, this isn't advising you to spell out everything for your audience. That's even more of an insult, and can even prove more frustrating. But making sure that you're confident in your ideas will make you feel better about every single word you put down. Then the fun comes in working out exactly the right amount of information to reveal to audiences.
Like this article? What lessons did you take? Let us know in the comments section below.