As a screenwriter, your words have one job: connect. While you control what hits the page, professional writing demands purpose. Every screenplay balances different styles beneath your unique voice.

In his 1988 doorstop “The Satanic Verses,” one of Salman Rushdie’s characters muses, “To meet a writer is, usually, to be disappointed.” It’s a classic bit of self-deprecation that, in this case, does ...