Whether you’re writing a rom-com or an action flick, at some point, you’re going to want to have your characters express their feelings, honestly and openly. 

When you feel that urge, immediately suppress it.  Feelings are the weak link of most films, and it’s because we want to be absolutely clear about how a character feels. 

And while clarity is, in most cases, a wonderful thing to behold, when it comes to expressing feelings in a film, things get a little complicated because your real ultimate goal is for the audience, not necessarily the characters, to feel. 

If a character feels an emotion, you want the audience to feel that emotion.  And letting the character simply talk about how they feel doesn’t do it.  (Not to mention you’re also not getting the reader of your script to feel any emotion). 

My advice in this scenario is two-fold.  One, take a page out of the sensationalism handbook and use descriptions of physical sensations. (Related further reading: 1) “The Feeling of What Happens,” and 2) Edgar Allan Poe’s “How to Write a Blackwood Article” - which, while a satire, elucidates the general idea of sensationalism fairly well, despite the fact that he’s mocking it.)  Two, represent emotions through concrete actions. It isn’t what he says that makes us believe Lloyd Dobler loves Diane in “Say Anything,” it’s that he’s laying his jacket over a puddle and dancing in the street. The belief of the audience – knowing how we would feel if we performed those actions – is what allows us to feel that through empathy.