Formatting

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 that the actor
can see at a glance
that their character is in a scene if the name of the character is in capitals.
Indeed I was taught this as well in a University Degree in screenwriting. But
I have had feedback from some producers who say this is wrong.

–Brendan

In stage plays, the characters’ names are generally capitalized throughout.
In screenplays, characters’ names in the scene description are capitalized
only when a character first appears in the script. (And by capitalized, I mean
in all caps, like MIKE or BOB.)

Yes, I’ve seen exceptions to both rules, but I think the conventions make
sense and should be followed. Here’s what it looks like:

Bartender BOBBY DENTON is 29, with a mullet haircut and pit stains.
If your drink takes more than two kinds of liquid, Bobby’s not your man.

Subsequent mentions of Bobby, in this scene or later, would not be capitalized.
One possible exception (which came up in BIG FISH) is when a character’s age
changes so much that it obviously involves another actor. In that case, you
might capitalize YOUNG BOBBY the first time the five-year old version is introduced.

I can’t tell you with any certainty how stage plays and screenplays evolved
to do things differently. One theory might be that in a stage play, it’s very
important that an actor enter a scene at exactly the right time, thus the rampant
capitalization to make it more apparent. (In fact, stage plays often use "small
caps," which are a point size smaller than the regular typeface, just
to make it more readable.)

In movies, on the other hand, it’s often very important to know in what scene
a character is first established, particularly because scenes are often filmed
out of sequence. Thus, his or her name is capitalized only that one time.

The Script Police are not going to arrest you if you decide to capitalize
your characters’ names all the time, but it does make for a messier page, considering
the other things that need capitalization: sounds, sluglines, scene headings
and such.

So forget what you learned in university. Leave the caps to Shakespeare.

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 be used when placing foreign languages in
a script?

–Jaklene

The "secret language" spoken in CHARLIE’S ANGELS is actually Finnish,
although the pronunciation is probably spotty. The screenplay only printed
what they were saying in English. A translator came in quite a bit later, just
before filming. (Incidentally, the subtitled English is completely different
from what they’re actually saying in Finnish. Because some scenes got flopped
around in post-production, we used the subtitles to switch a major part of
the Dylan/Knox timeline.)

In terms of your own screenplays, obviously, most readers won’t be able to
read dialogue in a foreign language, beyond the occasional "hola" or "s’il
vous plait" which can go untranslated. So you need to make a decision
how you’re going to handle it in your script. There are no hard-and-fast rules,
but here’s how I usually do it.

1. If it’s just a word here and there, and the meaning is obvious in context,
   don’t bother translating it. An example is when a ubiquitous foreign bad
   guy shouts at his men to do something. Since it doesn’t really matter what
   he’s
   saying, just use the foreign word if you know it. Sometimes, this type
   of dialogue doesn’t even make it on to the dialogue line, and gets summarized
   in the action
   like, "Moldona SHOUTS at his men to stop the angels."

2. If you think the dialogue would probably be subtitled in the movie, italicize
   it in the script.

3. If characters are speaking in a foreign language for the duration of a
   scene or scenes, put a parenthical like "(in Russian; subtitled)" for
   the first speaking character, then just use italicized English for the
   rest of the scene or scenes.

4. This is more of a pet peeve, but a lot of words that are technically foreign
   are pretty common in Engish too, so don’t italicize things like gringo,
   taco, samurai or vis-a-vis. It sticks out and feels pretentious.

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, the location is changing, but the time-frame is the same), then
you can use [FLASHBACK] for each of those scene headings, or maybe [FLASHBACK,
CONT’D].

When in doubt, just use common sense. If the flashback is really another sequence
in the movie, like the three chapters in GO, then don’t put anything in the
header.

The same logic applies for dream sequences, e.g. [DREAM SEQUENCE], with the
caveat that sometimes you don’t want the reader to know at the head of the
scene that it’s not real. So obviously, you wouldn’t put the tag there at all.

In general, try to read the script as if you didn’t write it, then see what’s
clearest.

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 name
that the character is at that time.
My question is – am I right? I figured since I give an explanation a head
of time, that I could easily just call the character by his name or alias,
and there would be no confusion.

–Andy

You’re right in assuming that the most important thing is to avoid confusing
the reader. Every script finds its own way of doing things, so there’s no hard
and fast rule. If I were writing the next BATMAN, I suspect I would call use "Bruce
Wayne" when refering to the awkward billionaire, and "Batman" when
refering to the Caped Crusader. In a movie like this, the two different versions
of the character rarely appear in the same scene, so it would probably be less
confusing.

In the case of a movie like TOOTSIE, I’ve never read the original script,
but I suspect that when Dustin Hoffman’s character is dressed as either a man
or a woman, the script refers to him as Michael. When he’s in drag, his dialogue
headers probably read like, "MICHAEL (as DOROTHY)" to make it clear
which persona he’s playing at the time.

In the case of a movie like FIGHT CLUB (warning, spoilers
follow), since
the reveal that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are actually the same person comes
so late in the story, you would obviously treat them like two completely separate
people.