WHITE SPACE

Thursday, July 2, 2009
Joe Wehinger

We develop many projects.  Some where myself and /or the company is involved as a consultant, executive producer.  And separately for me as a producer/director/writer.  One of the writer-only projects is for a veteran financier.  Old, old school guy.  Successful.  

We quarrel over white space.  I believe the less writing on the page and the better spaced it is, makes it an easier and friendlier read -- hence more likely to be read.  Whereas he wants as much white filled with black as possible.  On this project he's the boss, so be it.

I was on a coast-to-coast flight seated next to an agent.  We both spent the time reading scripts, but he was much faster than me.  When asked:

"Oh, I only read about 12 words per page."

He reads just enough to get a sense of who's in the scene and about what's happening.  

So, writers, choose your words and working carefully.  Imagine spending all that time crafting hundreds or thousands of words just to have a small fraction of them read.