Script+Format

back to screenwriting

Why does my screenplay have to be formatted? So it's easy to read. It may be OK to have a scruffy looking script if you are the only one who will use it, but to allow your cast and crew to make sense of it applying a few rules of formatting makes it easier to read. There are two main types of fictional screenplay - the spec script and the shooting script. The spec script is what gets sent out to producers and actors, but we can probably forget about that as we are going to pick up a camera ourselves, so we can write a shooting script.
 * Script Layout**

Now take a read of the sample script below. Notice the underlined words in the script layout and their explanations below.
 * Layout**
 * Scripts are best typed on only one side of the paper in 12 point courier.
 * Double spacing between lines allows you to read the script easier.
 * Leave good borders around the script.Keep to the above tips and you will have a well laid out script. This can help you time your script as now one page of screenplay will equal one minute of screen time.


 * Slug Lines**


 * INT. FRANKENSTEIN'S LABORATORY - NIGHT**

The scene heading/slug line. Consists of either INT. (Interior - eg. in a room) or EXT. (Exterior eg. on the street), the location (eg. CITY STREET. NEW YORK) followed by either DAY or NIGHT (Forget about morning/afternoon/sunset etc. as it makes no difference when it is being filmed - no one is going to shoot you for filming in the afternoon and pretending it is the morning).

Here's a few examples to give you a rough idea.


 * INT. MORTUARY - NIGHT**


 * EXT. RACE TRACK - DAY**

Scenes inside cars are INTeriors despite the fact that the car is outside. You may occasionally see **EXT/INT** or **INT/EXT** on a script. This occurs when the camera is in one location and the action is happening in another. For example :


 * INT/EXT. HOTEL LOBBY/CITY STREET - DAY**

(The camera or a character is watching the action occuring outside)

EXT/INT. CAR/APARTMENT - NIGHT

(The camera or character are sitting in a car watching something happening through an apartment's window. Hey, maybe their on a stakeout or something!)
 * The Business**

The scene direction/business. This tells the reader what is going on. Clear, concise. Always showing rather than telling. Don't say that :

DAVID is suffering inner torment because of his wife's kidnapping.

...show us!

DAVID runs his hands through his hair. Picks up a shot of bourbon, tastes it and winces. He throws the glass across the room, hitting the mirror which SHATTERS.

Oh yeah! Write in the present tense. It gives events and action much more immediacy, like they are really happening, which is what you want.
 * Dialogue**

Dialogue appears in a column down the centre of the page indented from the business. Its in the form : NAME

 (Direction)

 Hey, this is what your character says.


 * The name** is straighforward right? It goes in Upper Case.


 * The direction** isn't always given, in fact in a spec script you would provide hardly any - telling an actor how to act is as bad as telling a director how to direct! The only occasion you might put some in would be if dialgue was directed specifically at another character eg. (To Alberto) or if it has to be said in a particular style (Whispering).

And finally **the dialogue** itself. Try to keep it to a minimum, no long speeches here. That way there is less for your actors to remember and less for them to muck up. Good actors will always make the best of what you have written for them and can provide so much more with their intonation and body language which you simply cannot write. I'm sure I read somwhere that only 20% of communication is speech.

Avoid exposition (that's when you character explains something in detail) - try and show rather than tell. Keep it simple and heed Lew Hunter's words 'Good dialogue is dialogue that illuminates what the characters are not saying'.


 * Character Names**

When a character first appears their name in the scene direction should be in CAPITALS. After that their name is in lower case.

Try to avoid giving minor characters names like THUG 4 as its pretty demeaning to have to play such a lowly character - 'Hey, I'm not even playing THUG 2'. You needn't go to extremes and give them a full name (unless the character is named by another character), just spice it up, so that when you offer the part to your friend, rather then being the fourth thug they could be a MEAN THUG or a TATTOED THUG. Let's hope your friend doesn't take the description too personally, eh!


 * Sound**

You can put important sounds in CAPITALS, so that monsters SHRIEK and cars EXPLODE, but this is up to you. Some people like to, others don't. If you do put sounds in upper case try not to overdo it.

You see the word OVER used in scripts. This means that there is an important sound OVER the normal soundtrack eg. music.


 * Camera Directions**

As this is a shooting script we can add camera and actor directions to the script - in a spec script you wouldn't do this - just like you wouldn't turn round to Coppola and say 'Do a Close Up here'. But as this is our show we get to play director.

There are several abbreviations to speed the writing and reading along.


 * Composition/Field of View**

C/U - Close-up

MS - Medium Shot

LS - Long Shot

Two-Shot - Shot of two characters in the same picture

V.O. - voiceover (e.g."Ex-Cop, Ex-Bladerunner" from er...Bladerunner)

O.S. - off screen

P.O.V. - Point of view (eg. one of those wobbly cameras they use when someone is breaking into an apartment in a horror movie. For a great example watch the first few minutes of Strange Days).

M.O.S. - without sound. Apparently comes from "Mit out sound" which some German director used to shout (or something). Great for when your characters are staking out some joint, watching the bad guys pull off some drug deal and they can't hear what they are saying.


 * Camera Movements**

CRAB - camera moves completely to the left/right

PAN - camera pivots left or right

TILT - camera pivots up or down

BOOM - camera moves up or down.

DOLLY - camera moves in/out from subject

ZOOM - camera zooms in/out from subject (not strictly a camera movement cos its the lens that's moving not the camera but you knew that right?)


 * Transitions**

These are how you change from one scene to another. They always sit over to the right of your script and on the whole you will find yourself using


 * CUT TO** : which is a straight change of picture from one scene to the next.

There are some other transitions available but be careful, they have different connotations to the veiwer.


 * DISSOLVE TO** :

The final shot of the previous scenes fades into the first shot of the next scene. This can be used to suggest the passing of time. Oh! And you will need a three machine edit suite or a non-linear computer editng system to achieve this.


 * FADE IN** :

Usually used at the start of films, with **FADE OUT** used to end the movie. You can also use **CUT TO BLACK** and **CUT FROM BLACK/CUT IN**.

You can use these transitions together to alter the mood and pace. For example :

NICK grins at ALBERTO.

NICK

You're even uglier than I remember.

Alberto scratches his head, thinking, before pulling his fist back and hitting Nick full on in the face.


 * CUT TO BLACK** :


 * FADE IN** :


 * INT. BEDROOM - DAY**.

Nick comes around, groggy at first. He gingerly feels his chin, pulls himself off the bed and over to the sink. He grimaces and spits out a few teeth.