John August

Formatting

Formatting notes in a screenplay

Formatting, QandA, The Nines

questionmarkI’ve searched through The Hollywood Standard and most of your site’s scripts, and nothing pings for “WRITER’S NOTE.” Does that mean they don’t really exist or should never be used?

If they can be used, what would you suggest as a way to format instances where the screenwriter wants to stop and point something out that helps the readers read? Even saying that makes it sound like you shouldn’t do it, but I swear I’ve seen them used before…even though I can’t find any examples now.

— Steve Maddern

answer iconIn most cases, you can handle things like this in scene description. For example, if you have a recall of a character we haven’t seen in a long time:

Durban’s massive Henchman -- the same one we saw in the opening sequence -- emerges from wreckage, cut and bruised but somehow still alive.

Or to describe how a sequence is meant to be shot:

In a dreamy, super-saturated haze, Celia makes her way through the crowded party, a grin stretched ear-to-ear. She is floating, with TEENAGERS rushing past her.

Only very rarely do you have to do a full dead stop to explain something to readers. I’ve probably done it twice in 40+ scripts. For The Nines, I have a note to readers right after the title page:

nines reader note

But that’s a really odd case.

You’ll almost always be able to handle it in-line with scene description. Set it off with parentheses, brackets or dashes if it helps. But there’s no need to label it as a writer’s note or somesuch.

Formatting an interview montage

Formatting, QandA, Words on the page

questionmarkI’m writing a scene where my character is going on a series of interviews, but instead of writing out each individual interview, I want to do a montage of sorts, where different questions come from different interviewers.

The problem is I don’t know how to format it. Do I clearly mark it as a montage and just give each interviewer a different name, or do I have to go through and put each interview question under a different slug line?

— Trent
Iowa

answer iconYour instinct is correct. This is a classic montage, and is simple to do on the page. If you’re staying in one location — or a series of similar locations — you don’t need individual sluglines.

INT. CONFERENCE ROOM / A IS A INDUSTRIES – DAY [EARLIER]

MONTAGE: Randy meets with a series of INTERVIEWERS, beginning with WALTHAM GROEPNIK (50).

GROEPNIK

Consider an anthill.

RANDY

Okay.

GROEPNIK

Is it rational for the ants to work only for the benefit of the collective? Can an ant even be considered rational?

A beat. Randy blinks. Concentrates.

RANDY

What color are the ants?

CUT TO:

VIVIAN LAKELAND (25) is darkly seductive, but icy.

LAKELAND

What is your greatest weakness?

RANDY

I guess I’m late sometimes. I oversleep.

LAKELAND

Why would you admit to weakness?

CUT TO:

TREVOR KNIGHT (30) was probably a high school football star until he left the field mid-game, never to return.

KNIGHT

Would you say you’re a team player?

RANDY

Sure.

Knight makes a note on his form.

RANDY

Wait, no. No.

But Knight keeps writing.

RANDY

Yes?

QUICK CUTS:

GROEPNIK

If knowledge is the awareness of reality, how could you be aware of something unreal?

LAKELAND

(lighting cigarette)

Why do you bore me?

KNIGHT

What is the largest criminal organization in the world?

Randy thinks for a long moment.

RANDY

The Girl Scouts?

Knight smiles. Nods.

For production, the AD would likely break these out as a series of scenes (e.g. A24, B24, C24) on the board, but it can stay the same on the page.

If your character is going out for a series of interviews in different locations — Company A, Company B and Company C — you’re generally better off using sluglines the first time each of these is introduced. Once you’ve set up all of them, use INTERCUT (just once) to signal the reader that you’ll be cutting back and forth.

Outlines, treatments and numbered pages

Formatting, QandA, Treatments

questionmarkI was looking through your library section at the TV shows you’d written and noticed a few things that caught my eye. I’m trying to write a treatment/pitch for a TV series and, well, first of all:

In writing it out, is it called a “pitch” or a “treatment” or a “write-up”?

I noticed that all three of your “write-ups” were different in terms of style, as in there didn’t seem to be any sort of template or format to follow specifically, like you would with a screenplay. How do you know what to do technically? Even down to the fonts used, and what is in bold. Sometimes there are bullets.

I also noticed your page numbers: 1 of 5, 2 of 5…. and so on. How did you do that? Did you do that manually or is there some setting I am not seeing in Word that allows for that, because I couldn’t find it.

— Jeff Fradley
Anchorage

answer iconTo me, an outline tends to be less prose-y and feature more bullet points, but there is no common consensus in Hollywood about what’s what. In features, we use “treatment” and “outline” and “beat sheet” interchangeably.

A “write-up” is generally a written version of something you’ve pitched. It could be long or short. A “leave-behind” is a written summary of a pitch that you literally leave behind after the meeting. ((Leave-behinds are often a terrible idea, because this written version becomes the basis of all future conversations. And you’ve essentially just delivered free work.))

As far as page numbers, I’m a big fan of X of Y headers — I even do it on handwritten documents. They were probably more important back when we were faxing documents around, but they’re a good idea overall.

ops sample

Pretty much every word processor can do this kind of page numbering.

In Pages, Insert > Page Number. Then type “of.” Then Insert > Page Count.

In Word, use the header bar/ribbon thing to Insert Page Number, then “of,” then Insert Number of Pages.

In Google Docs, well. It’s hard to do in Google Docs.

Okay to use bold for scene headers?

Formatting, QandA

questionmarkSounds trivial, but I’ve been seeing a lot of scripts recently with sluglines (or scene headers) in bold formatting. Is this a trend? I kind of like it, but is it appropriate to use bold sluglines in a spec as a first-time writer?

— Shane

It’s simply a matter of personal preference. As long as you’re consistent through the script, either bold or normal weight is fine.

KYLE’S DAD

Half-done is half-assed, Kyle.

KYLE

So you want full ass, you’re saying.

KYLE’S DAD

I want less lip and more hustle. Now.

CUT TO:

EXT. HOUSE – DAY

Kyle drags the giant spider’s carcass from the garage to the curb. It’s too big to fit in the garbage can -- he couldn’t lift it anyway -- so he tucks the legs underneath the body.

or…

INT. BENNIGAN’S – NIGHT

Aspiring mixologist JIMMY WAKE (24) strains his latest creation into a chilled martini glass. The liquid has an unsettling yellow-green hue with streaks of blood. He garnishes it with a pickled crow’s foot.

Either is fine.