I’m writing a screenplay in which an administrator reads excerpts from a statistical report. I’m not quite sure how to write the numbers which he uses in dialogue. Should I use numerals? Words? Doesn’t matter?

– Marcus J

For dialogue, a screenwriter should use as few numbers as possible, and write them out unless it’s cumbersome to do so.

Write out:

• “We’ve got nineteen calls on hold.”
• “That joke’s got to be a hundred years old.”
• “Alaska may be the forty-ninth state, but it’s first in awesome.”
• “We have an unidentified craft, bearing thirty-one mark nine.”
• “This suit cost me five thousand. You stole yours from a hobo, I’m guessing.”

Use numbers for things like dates, codes and phone numbers:

• “According to this, he was born March 10th, 1970. That means he’s already forty.”
• “The combination is 21…34…17.”
• “Just call this number: 555-764-2002.”

In action lines, I generally spell out numbers less than ten. But I’ll happily break that rule if it looks better on the page. I never start a line with a numeral, and will favor unspecific counts when possible: a thousand stars rather than 1,000 stars.