Archive for the 'Formatting' Category

• 07.31.08 Handling a character’s POV shot

  I have a character — let’s call him Evan — leans out an open kitchen window. I want it to be a POV shot, so everything on the screen is outside the window. Do I have to put the action of what’s going on, outside, under a new scene heading (EXT. FRONT YARD [...]

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• 07.21.08 Five quick questions

  I have lots of questions, but by all means choose two you’d like to answer.

  – Ric New Zealand

  1) What’s the commercial potential of movies without happy endings? I’m tired of every movie having to end in a good way, even if that’s a main character surviving a slasher flick. Does a movie automatically fail if it [...]

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• 06.18.08 How to cut pages

  One page of screenplay translates to one minute of movie. Since most movies are a little under two hours long, most screenplays should be a little less than 120 pages.

  That’s an absurd oversimplification, of course.

  One page of a battle sequence might run four minutes of screen time, while a page of dialogue [...]

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• 05.19.08 Writing silent scenes

  I have a question about formatting for a script I’ve been working on. The concept involves some scenes being completely silent, but with an occasional sound coming through (i.e. everything’s silent, including speech, until someone breaks a glass and the shattering is audible).

  I’ve tried a couple of different methods of formatting this but I’m [...]

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• 04.01.08 One-sided dialogue

  I’m writing a script in which a main “character” is invisible and the audience will never see or hear him. The character (Bob) is built from his interactions with the lead character in the story (Jane).

  My question is, what is the best way to write dialog between the real and invisible character, [...]

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• 10.25.07 Pre-Lap

  Thanks for posting the script to The Nines. In it, you give some dialogue a “(PRE-LAP)” extension. This dialogue begins in V.O., bridges us to the next scene, and continues onscreen. Obviously, it’s a useful and commonly used device.

  The term “Pre-Lap” makes obvious technical sense, but is it common enough for [...]

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• 07.11.07 Split screens

  How would you go about writing two scenes in a script that run at the same time in split screen, but don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other? Basically like a scene from the movie Timecode.

  –John

  That’s a real challenge to do in standard screenplay format. While someone watching a movie can [...]

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• 03.29.07 Renumbering when moving a scene

  Let’s say you’re doing revisions and are dealing with scene numbers, and a scene gets moved up/down. How do you format the scene number?

  Say scene 70 moves up in front of scene 69. Do the numbers read: 68, 70, 69? Or: 68, 68A, 69, 70 OMITTED.

  Technically the scene still exists, i.e. was not [...]

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• 02.12.07 That’s a pretty expensive pad of paper

  Reader Andrew sent a link to a company that sells specially-formatted paper for hand-writing scripts. Since I almost always write first drafts longhand, I’m theoretically the target audience for the product.

  Buying one 80-page pad will cost you $22 with shipping, roughly five times more than the Ampad pads I use. But my pads merely [...]

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• 01.14.07 The Hollywood Standard

  This site caters largely to aspiring screenwriters new to the profession. That’s by design. My initial ambition in writing the IMDb column, and then in creating the site, was to answer a lot of the questions I had when I was first starting out.

  Screenwriting is an odd form: half stageplay and [...]

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• 11.05.06 Chicago: The Musical. No, not that one.

  I spent a few days in Chicago1 to see the premiere of my friends’ new musical Asphalt Beach, which is workshopping at Northwestern University. The show was terrific, and vindication for my decade of belief in my friends’ talent.

  I took advantage of being away from L.A. to start writing something brand new. That’s my [...]

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• 10.18.06 When characters have multiple names

  In screenwriting classes they say not to introduce a character by one name only to switch it later on. For example, introducing a character as BARTENDER only to change it to BOB two pages later for no reason. However this feels like a different situation than my problem.

  In my script there is a character that, [...]

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• 07.27.06 Mixing in bits of other languages

  I’m writing a script at the moment which at various points throughout requires characters to speak in different languages other than English. I was just wondering if there is a strict code for writing small moments of French or Italian in an English speaking script?

  For example, do I write the foreign language as a [...]

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• 02.23.06 How to format lyrics in scripts

  I was quite curious as to how one would write a scene with characters singing a song, musical style. Do we just include “singing” as an action within the handy parentheses? Or is there some other formatting we must use? And how much mention are we supposed to give to the music itself?

  – Adam Scott Perth, [...]

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• 09.17.05 Should I fudge the date on the cover?

  I have a question with regard to whether or not you should date scripts when sending them out.

  Would it put someone off from looking at a script if they saw a date on the cover page that was one or two years old, (or more!) and therefore subconsciously make them think the idea is no [...]

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• 08.15.05 Welcome to the O.C., bitch

  When you have a character talking on the phone who is not in the scene that the audience is watching (e.g. Bill is in a phone booth talking to Jim who we only hear but never see) — do you use (O.S.) or (O.C.) or something else?

  – RMT Los Angeles

  I would use O.S., which means “off [...]

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• 07.28.05 What format should I send my script in?

  I’ve just finished my first script and a few people who I’d like to impress have asked me to send it to them over email. My question is, what is the proper format for sending scripts through email? Do I attach it as a Final Draft document? Convert it to a Word [...]

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• 06.16.05 Formatting the one-sided phone conversation

  I’m curious about your format for writing a one-sided phone conversation.

  I’ve seen it done in so many different ways now, that I have no idea if there is a more uniform way of doing it, or a preferred way.

  I’ve seen…

  KEVIN

  (on phone)

  I know it’s your birthday…I can’t make it…Look, that’s not my [...]

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• 06.10.05 Fixing double-spaces after periods

  Before I was a screenwriter, I worked in graphic design, with a font collection that was the envy of my dorm floor. So it’s life’s cruel joke that I now make my living in 12-pt. Courier.

  Modern typefaces are designed to look best with a single space after the period which ends a sentence. [...]

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• 06.09.05 Handling dialogue-like situations

  I’m writing a screenplay where a magical typewriter communicates to people by typing them messages. Nothing verbal. Since this will be a selling script is ok to put in a note saying this, then proceed as…

  TYPEWRITER Hi John, how are you today?

  Or is there another way to do this? This type [...]

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• 05.24.05 From FD to MMS

  Craig Mazin of Artful Writer has had enough headaches (and heartaches) with Final Draft. He’s switched over to Movie Magic Screenwriter. You can read about his reasons why here, followed by a lot of opinions from fellow screenwriters.

  Me, I’m still using Final Draft, though as often as I complain about it, I should [...]

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• 05.23.05 Opening titles

  The script I’m working on has a highly relevant scene (which might include bits of dialogue) that sets up the main character. I want this action to occur during the opening credits. How do I indicate this in proper format?

  – Alan McCoy

  Most screenplays don’t mention anything about their opening titles, leaving it to the director to [...]

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• 05.05.05 Teenage girls and gay men

  I have a quick question in regard to my current screenplay. I have a scene set at a concert and it contains the line:

  The enthusiastic AUDIENCE is made up mostly of teenage girls and gay men.

  Should I just capitalize “audience� (as I have at the moment) or should I also capitalize “teenage girls� and [...]

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• 04.13.05 How to include abstract images

  There is one element that I have to include, as it is integral to the script. It is a recurring image of a curved line that reveals itself as a circle to the background of a high speed train.

  How can I format this properly as there is no scene heading for it?

  – John C. via IMDb

  Beginning [...]

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• 04.10.05 Printing words on-screen

  When you want a title to appear on the screen (i.e. “Two days later” or “September 1987″) how do you write it exactly?

  – A. B. via IMDb

  Printing words on screen works much just the way you’d think. You write TITLE OVER, like this:

  INT. JOHNSON FARM - DAY Robin pulls open the curtains, so tattered they [...]

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• 04.08.05 Intercutting

  Following up on an earlier question: Maybe I’m foolish for asking this.

  For location changes I have been using scene headings, so that in a phone conversation I will have:

  INT. MARIA’S KITCHEN - NIGHT

  Maria paces the room, phone glued to her ear.

  MARIA

  I can’t believe you’d do that!

  INT. SEAN’S KITCHEN - NIGHT

  SEAN

  Do what?

  INT. MARIA’S [...]

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• 04.05.05 Sensible sluglines

  Thank you for keeping your site up to date and offering so many great resources, not the least of which: your scripts. I have read your scripts, Rawson Thurber’s Dodgeball, and many others.

  I have a question on the usage of slug lines and pacing.

  A quick example:

  TOM carefully turns the dial a tad. THE MACHINE Hums, LIGHTS [...]

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• 03.22.05 Picking a printer

  What kind of printer do you have? As a fellow geek, I’m curious. In my imagination, I see a professional screenwriter requiring a huge, high-powered beast that can print one script per minute. Or, do you not even print anything since it’s all sent out via PDF in these modern times? How much do you [...]

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• 03.08.05 Keep scene headers simple

  I’m struggling with how to format (another way to say procrastinating on telling the story) a rather large location. It’s a massive complex that has all kinds of sub-locations. Some scenes take place inside a PENTHOUSE APARTMENT inside the complex, some in a BOARDROOM, some in a FACTORY, etc.

  Would it be better to say:

  INT. COMPANY COMPLEX — BOARDROOM — [...]

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• 03.02.05 Introducing off-screen characters

  Ok, I have a question. Opening scene, no characters introduced yet and I’m starting close on a pair of hands with a short dialogue over. We then widen to the characters that are speaking.

  Since all we see are hands, would you designate any of the dialogue as (O.S.) or is that just too much of a “duh” situation? [...]

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• 02.22.05 Celtx screenwriting application shows promise

  [Steve](<a href=”http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/new-css-template-for-screenplay-formatting#comments”>http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/new-css-template-for-screenplay-formatting#comments</a>) wrote in to point out a new-ish screenwriting application under development called Celtx, which seems to incorporate a lot of features I’ve been clamoring for in terms of leveraging new technology. It’s certainly not a Final Draft killer yet, but it’s worthy of a look.

  In many ways, this seems to be the [...]

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• 02.10.05 How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Courier

  I originally posted this as a reply in a screenwriting forum, but it’s pretty relevant here.

  When I bought my first LaserWriter printer (probably 1993), I freaked out because Courier was suddenly ghastly thin. On my old StyleWriter inkjet, it had looked properly typewriter-like, but coming out of the laser printer, it was a [...]

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• 02.04.05 Formatting for sign language

  I’m having a little trouble with this current script that I am writing. A character in my story is deaf and uses sign language to communicate. I have no idea what the proper writing format is for that and I was wondering if you can help me. That character also reads lips and I do [...]

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• 01.14.05 Formatting text shown on screen

  First, it was such a pleasure to meet you in Austin last year. Hope to see you next year, too. I had a question that I’ve never gotten a straight answer on.

  How do you format it when you’re trying to show text being written on a computer monitor, specifically showing the exchange between [...]

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• 12.26.04 Cover page artwork

  Is artwork that only appears on the title page of a screenplay frowned upon?

  – Darryl McD

  Yeah, that’s kind of cheesy. If I had to choose between two scripts in front of me, I’d probably pick the one without the artwork.

  That said, if you look in the Downloads section, you’ll see that I used a [...]

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• 12.07.04 Formatting a reality show proposal

  How should a proposal for a reality show be structured? My research to date suggests that reality shows have been evolving towards a more “scripted” format, although I understand that writers don’t get credited (yet).

  I have an idea for a reality show (doesn’t everyone, eh?) - so how should it be presented to a producer? [...]

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• 11.12.04 How many lines per page?

  Today’s question isn’t really a question at all, but rather an investigation into how many lines of type should fit on a standard screenwriting page. While this may seem frivolous — a little like “How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin” — almost every screenwriter has tweaked and shuffled, [...]

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• 10.27.04 Page count and tight formatting

  I have a question regarding page count. I have a screenplay that I’ve completed, which is about 135 pages or so. I brought it down from 143, but I keep hearing about this magic number of 120 pages, and how that’s what Hollywood looks for. I know my story is tight; it’s now to a [...]

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• 10.20.04 New CSS template for screenplay formatting

  One frustrating part of discussing scripts on the internet is that the formatting is always wrong. Changing the typeface to monospace (such as Courier or Monaco) helps a little, but the indentations are still wonky.

  Beginning with yesterday’s post, I’m using a new CSS style template I created to handle screenplay markup on the site. [...]

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• 10.19.04 Avoid CUT TO’s in a busy sequence

  I’m piecing together a climax sequence that takes place in a park, with dozens of cuts back and forth between four main characters as they perform different activities at different locations within the park. Is there an efficient way to format this without creating a new, full slugline for each cut, and without using too many CUT TOs?

  – Joseph Uppsala, [...]

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• 10.04.04 What does I/E mean?

  During my screenwriting process, I have encountered something called “I/E,” which I can’t find in your glossary. What does it mean?

  Mats Gothenburg, Sweden

  I/E is simply a shorthand way of writing “INT./EXT.” in a scene heading, when the action will be taking place both inside and outside of a given location, like a parked car or a [...]

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• 08.11.04 Page count for animation scripts

  First, I’d like to thank you for answering my last question. It was a big help and since then my writing career has been moving forward — slowly, but forward nonetheless. Also, my spine is in better shape.

  My question is this: Is an animation script supposed to time out the same as a live action piece (one page equals one minute of screen time), and if not, how do you know how long a scene — especially an action-filled scene — will last on screen?

  The two animation scripts I’ve read (half hour TV) are both long and short. One was 35 pages long. The other was 22 pages long, which is still longer than the 19 minutes of screen time, but not by much. Any words of wisdom?

  Oh, and in case you haven’t mentioned it on the site, a great TV writing website is TVWriter.com.

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• 08.07.04 Writing the script for a cooking show

  I am a culinary student with an idea for a cooking show. Every book I have read, and all the websites I have visited regarding script writing focus on television shows and film, but since my idea isn’t the typical script, how would you go about putting it on paper to pitch the idea?

  Is there a standard formatting method for cooking shows? I have an outline with my concept and details for various segments, but I would like to give myself a chance and don’t want to embarrass myself by submitting something that isn’t formatted properly.

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• 05.26.04 ‘A’ scenes and ‘B’ scenes

  What are “A Scenes and B Scenes”?   –Jim Rancho Santa Fe, CA

  In film production, A’s and B’s are used to squeeze extra scenes or pages between two pre-existing numbers. Otherwise, you would have to renumber and redistribute all of the relevant scenes or pages, which would be confusing for everyone, and mean a lot [...]

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• 05.08.04 Screenwriting software survey results are in

  Two weeks ago, I set up a survey to gauge how screenwriters felt about the screenwriting software they used. This morning, I closed the survey, which capped out at 130 responses — most of them coming the first week. My thanks to all the writers who participated.

  Is 130 responses a statistically valid sample? [...]

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• 04.28.04 Using a different font for the cover page on a script

  On your posted drafts of GO and BIG FISH, you have a different font on the cover page for the title of the script. Since you have made it widely known that you use Final Draft, I assume that you used the “export to PDF” feature in Final Draft to do this. When I try to [...]

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• 04.22.04 Survey up for screenwriting software

  The ongoing conversation about screenwriting software, prompted by the release of Final Draft 7.0, has gotten a lot of readers wondering why a better program isn’t out there. After all, compared with the complexity of editing video or managing a website, simply formatting a script should be cake. It’s just words, after all. [...]

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• 04.18.04 Met the guy who runs Final Draft

  Last night, I co-hosted a benefit for The Story Project, a very worthwhile organization that promotes teen literary in Los Angeles. One of the guests was introduced to me as, “This is the guy who runs Final Draft.”

  I resisted the urge to tell him how crappy his latest release was, and the discussion on this [...]

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• 04.08.04 New Final Draft version 7.0 is…marginally better

  My screenwriting software of choice has long been Final Draft, which is 90% great, 10% maddening and significantly better than any of the other programs I’ve tried — and believe me, I’ve tried a bunch. This past month, Final Draft came out with version 7.0, which was the first major update in a while.

  On [...]

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• 03.31.04 Formatting a montage sequence

  I was just wondering what is the actual format to cite a montage? Is it similar to:

  EXT. MONTAGE - DAY

  There are so many images coming from so many different places, how does one cite such a thing as a montage? Thanks for your time and help.

  –Mike North Carolina, USA

  A montage is a collection of [...]

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• 03.11.04 Incorporating titles into a screenplay

  How should I incorporate titles regarding date, time, location, etc. into a script for the viewer to read on the screen when the movie is complete?

  –DJ

  Anything that needs to be printed on screen (that is, it’s not part of the set or other design) is preceded by two magic words –

  TITLE OVER:

  You then center [...]

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• 09.10.03 Script writing software

  Would you recommend that a beginning writer use script writing software? If so, do you prefer a specific program?

  –Mike

  I used the style sheet formatting on Microsoft Word for my first few scripts, partly because screenwriting software was still in its infancy, and partly because I was too broke to buy any other program. If [...]

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• 09.10.03 Voice-overs

  I have noticed that many films seem to depend on voice-overs, especially films adapted from novels, I worry about overusing voice over in my own script writing because it seems like a kind of compensation when one can’t write the action of a scene, or translate a character’s thoughts into a compelling visual. What guidelines [...]

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• 09.10.03 Secondary scene headings

  I have a very simple question that has to do with secondary scene headings. I know this differs writer to writer, but let’s say you have a character who walks into a closet — how do you label it in the script? Is it:

  INT. CLOSET - MOMENTS LATER or INT. HOUSE - CLOSET - MOMENTS LATER [...]

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• 09.10.03 Various locations

  Can you tell me what is preferred/correct for this situation? Mabel is moving through a house (and, if necessary, outside):

  INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Mabel searches for the cat.

  INT. KITCHEN - DAY Mabel searches for the cat.

  EXT. STREET - DAY Mabel searches for the cat.

  Et cetera. Thanks very much.

  –Arnold Sable

  Yeah, that [...]

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• 09.10.03 Script formatting

  Could you please refer me to a website that gives detailed information regarding the proper format that a film script is to be written before being passed around.

  –Pat Meehan

  If you’re using either Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter, you can rest assured that the standard formatting these programs recommend is fine.

  If you’re not using either [...]

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• 09.10.03 Script length

  Your advice of 110 to 120 pages for script length agrees with what others say, but upon sampling a large number of films I find their lengths usually fall between 85 and 115 minutes, including five minutes of credits. At a minute per page, something doesn’t click. Do producers expect 15 extra pages because they [...]

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• 09.10.03 Int. and Ext.

  I know this probably isn’t a big enough question, but I’m still curious and hoping for an answer. I’m not new to writing, but brand new to screenplays. I have no idea how to do notations. Like what INT. and EXT. mean and those sorts of things.

  –Micah

  " INT." and "EXT." stand for "interior" and "exterior." [...]

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• 09.10.03 Using parentheticals

  When I write dialogue, I tend to use the parenthetical a lot to describe the mood of my characters or the change in their mood. Also when I have a scene with two characters talking a lot, I tend to put lines of action between the dialogue describing the characters actions while they talk, such as shrugging, smiling, etc. [...]

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• 09.10.03 Using CUT TO:

  Can you specify how to use transitions while writing a screenplay? I’m referring to all those "cut to"-s and other transitions. I never know if I should actually use one, or just move to the next scene.

  –Lior

  In most situations, you don’t need to use CUT TO: or any other transition at the end of a scene. [...]

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• 09.10.03 Split-screen

  How would you go about writing two scenes in a script that run at the same time in split screen, but don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other? Basically like a scene from the movie TIMECODE.

  –John

  That’s a real challenge to do in standard screenplay format. While someone watching a movie can follow the action happening [...]

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• 09.10.03 Character caps

  My question concerns the use of character names in screenplays, specifically, should they be capitalized throughout the script wherein they are actually in a scene, or should they just be capitalized when they are first introduced?

  This is really driving me crazy as the screenplays I have read adhere to the capitalization throughout, the logic being [...]

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• 09.10.03 Foreign languages

  I’m curious about the use of foreign languages in predominately English scripts. In CHARLIE’S ANGELS, where the Angels speak a ’secret language’ in front of Eric Knox and his partner, how did you go about writing it? Is it standard to write the scene in English and later translate it? Could you offer any tips or ‘guidelines’ to [...]

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• 09.10.03 Flashbacks and dreams

  Should you make a special notation in scene headings that are flashbacks or dream sequences? If so, how?

  –Michael Krieger

  If the flashback is a single scene, then [FLASHBACK] is generally added to the end of the scene header, like this:

  EXT. LOUVRE - DAY [FLASHBACK]

  If you have multiple short scenes clumped together in a flashback sequence (for instance, [...]

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• 09.10.03 Characters w/ multiple names

  I have a character name question. Without giving anything away, I wrote a screenplay that involves one character that has to use two names during the duration of the script. You could probably say the same for when Superman or Batman are Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne. What I was doing was just using the [...]

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• 09.10.03 How many pages

  I have written a few short stories that turn out to be 5 or 10 minutes. Now I am currently in the middle of writing a full-length screenplay and was wondering, what is a good amount for a full length? I heard that there is an amount that, if it is under, studios will not [...]

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• 09.10.03 Courier 12 pt. font

  Recently, I’ve begun buying published screenplays, and many of them seem to be written in Times or Times New Roman. Furthermore, the action in those scripts is italicized. Is that just for publishing purposes, or are scripts better written in Times (New Roman)? This is just something that’s been bugging me.

  –Zach

  "Real" scripts are still written [...]

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• 09.10.03 Formatting and software

  This is going to sound like a lazy question. What’s the easiest way to handle all of the tabs, centering, capitalization, and formatting required in a screenplay? I know there are a lot of programs out there that supposedly "handle" all of this for the screenwriter, but there had to have been an easier procedure twenty years [...]

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