Your point about Strine is interesting. How do you signal that it should be subtitled? Written on the page it may seem perfectly clear…

I also happily add slang terms as the nature of the character dictates. In one script, I leaned heavily into the Strine dialect, with a view to including subtitles for American audiences. That was where Working Dog fell over with ‘The Castle’, when they redubbed it for the U.S. market.

In general, I find that dialogue needs to be ‘heightened’. The better version of what we normally say in conversation, without the ums, ahs and trail offs. Naturally, of course, characters always have that sharp, witty retort up their sleeve, instead of hours later…