We have all heard the warnings (mostly from people who have never sold a script) that there is a certain way to format a script and that if you deviate that your script will not be read.

This is not entirely true.

Granted, your script has to be in SCREENPLAY format but that format does open itself to tweaks and changes in its art form. Search the scripts on line sites and you will see a great deal of difference between the way people write action and description. It is so different that it is annoying. Some use ALL CAPS like they were running out of style and others never use them. Some put EACH ACTION on a separate line and others put it in one block of text. Others put it in two.

I have seen some teach writers to slip angles and directions into the script like this....

JOHN

He stands at the window.

(But yet some will crucify you if you do this and tell you to do it like this...)

John stands at the window.

(Others will say it is wrong and will suggest another way)

WINDOW

John stands, looking out.


And lets not even mention the ALL CAPS folks who would put it something like...

John STANDS, looking out.

Or is it JOHN STANDS LOOKING out.

Or is it John stands LOOKING out.

Reading a dozen movie scripts you see that there are a number of ways to write action and description and I find it annoying. I would prefer a static way to write. A correct way.


So, I hope you don't mind that I will begin to point out the different ways to craft an action scene because I think that there are not only many ways to do this but that some of the more common ways are actually more annoying and troubling to read.

About how to make choices of how you write something. There is a simple solution if you are not sure. It has to be clear what you want and mean with what you have written. Make it easy to read and understabd and don't go all crazy about caps and lines. A producer wants to see what is happening and who sais what. You are writer who has to make story and not bother about caps and stuff like that. Stick to the format aspects that everybody agrees on and add what you think is good.

Since we have established the near impossibility of creating new threads I tried to find one that covered the subject - more or less.

I have a question pertaining to quotes within dialogue... If a character is quoting someone within his own speech would I use quotes "to be or not to be" or go the other route with the single do-hickey 'you can't handle the truth!'? Does it even matter? Thanks all.

I don't think it matters, MJ. Personally I'd use the single-quote-mark because it's a little less jarring sitting in a block of dialogue than is a double-quote-mark.

What he said.

Wow! I can't believe the activity this board is getting lately.

Hey MJ,

I agree with both here. I prefer to see and I use 'single' quote marks.

AND - it is good so see more postings. I managed to spend over half an hour here today reading new posts. Great stuff and keep it up.

Penelope.

You're right -- screenplay formats do vary -- especially between episodic TV (60PP - hours) and features.

Basic rule of thumb on a first draft designed to sell your project: keep it short in the action lines -- most development people jump over the too-long non-dialog parts...

Try to paint as full a picture with as few words as possible...

Good luck with your writing...

I wonder why 'The Rambling Rose' has such an elaborate screenplay, in a directorial manner even(!) For example, we read on HOW the cameraman has to focus on his/her objective and HOW the luminosity effect(-s) should be.

I don't understand it. If its the director's and the editor's job to take care of such details, why should we bother?

Thank you.

~ S.M. ~

Along the lines of the CAPS discussion earlier in this thread... I was wondering what the general rule was for capitalization for actors who have no dialog and no important role in the scene?

Obviously if a new character has a speacking role or is a BANK TELLER who exchanges bills at the window with the main character, you'd put those in caps. But what about when your script contains numerous scenes on a busy street? In my description, should I be putting PEDESTRIANS in CAPS? Another example, SOLDIERS on a battlefield. There might be some description of them as a collective entity (eg. 'The SOLDIERS begin to march at double-time').

My belief is that you wouldn't want to put these types of things in CAPS in a spec, it would be annoying. Perhaps at the point it's rewritten for shooting that changes?

I'd be interested in opinions on this.

Yes, too much capping is one of the big mistakes I see all the time in novice scripts.

Do not cap instances when there are pedestrians on the street.

One script I recently critiqued had something that looked like this: "Various PEOPLE walk up and down the street." (Boy, talk about lazy writing!)

If you have soldiers in a scene, you can put SOLIDERS in caps. I probably wouldn't, but it's no big deal if you do.

For the bank teller, you can simply refer to them as TELLER. After all, we already know we're in a bank. If there's dialogue, the name slug can also just be TELLER.