Trust the Actor

It's one of the hardest things a screenwriter has to avoid and it's something which usually marks out a writer's inexperience:

Punching the line for the actor.

Typically, it looks like this:
                                         CHARACTER
                                                (angrily)


                                          CHARACTER
                                         (head in her hands)


                                         CHARACTER
                                          (looking soulful)


Actors hate this. They're often referred to as 'wrylies' as in:


                                        CHARACTER
                                             (wryly)

If your script is good, there's no need to put these in anyway. But most of all, it shows that the writer lacks confidence in their own ability to express meaning and subtlety of emotion.

Next time you feel tempted to tell the act how to play a line, stop. Imagine the moment or scene as it will play on the screen. The valuable lesson to be learnt is:

Trust the actor.