One thing I consistently see in spec scripts is the writers' need to describe action explicitly. This generally comes in the form of large blocks of action, mis-capitalization, and camera direction. We'll start with the easy fixes. Take a look at the following lines of action.
John stands above the burning wreckage. CU on his face as he grins smugly. We see Jack, groggily shaking his head and picking himself up.
Instead of using camera angles to describe action, you can imply different "shots" and "cuts" with your line breaks.
John towers above the burning wreckage.
He grins smugly, scanning the carnage in front of him.
Jack shakes his head, picks himself up.
Each time the reader is forced to start a new line, it is essentially creating a new "shot" in the script.
Here's another example of clumping too much action together:
Jim watches angrily as the Sargent slowly makes his way past the pile of bodies surrounding the troops. The Sargent pauses in front of a dead soldier and looks back at Jim. Jim spits in disgust as the Sargent leers at him. The Sargent smiles and keeps walking past the men without another sound.
A better way to handle large blocks of text is to break them down into shots in your mind. It's always best not to tell the director how to do his job by explicitly using camera direction. However, there is nothing wrong with using a little subliminal suggestion for getting your ideas across.
Let's see how we can clean up the first scene:
Jim stares as the Sargent marches past the pile of bodies surrounding them. The Sargent stops in front of a dead soldier.
He looks back at Jim, then over at Joe and Dave.
Jim spits in disgust as the Sargent leers at him.
The Sargent smiles and walks past the men.
For one thing I've removed a giant block of text and replaced it with quick, digestible chunks of action. I have implied different shots by using line breaks where appropriate and I've done it without explicitly using camera direction. This reads faster and more cinematically.
More on this topic soon...