John August

QandA

Keep scene headers simple

Formatting, QandA

[question mark graphic]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 — DAY
  • Action, action, action.
  • INT. COMPANY COMPLEX — PENTHOUSE — DAY
  • Action, action, action.
  • or
  • INT. COMPANY COMPLEX — DAY
  • BOARDROOM.
  • Things happen. Blah, blah, blah.
  • In the PENTHOUSE –

etc?

I’m sure either is fine, but the first doesn’t feel right. And the
second feels like I have a single giant scene, when it’s really a
bunch of smaller scenes. Any insights would be great.

— Trey
Dallas, TX

Unless there’s a reason you could expect the reader to get confused, try to keep the location scene headers short. You could probably omit the “COMPANY COMPLEX” in all of these examples, or at least find a simpler way to distinguish it. For example, if the company in question was named SuperCorp, you could simply label it “INT. SUPERCORP BOARDROOM – DAY” and leave it at that.

(But if the movie never goes to any other corporation, just leave it at “boardroom”.)

In cases where you’re going to be intercutting between two environments which have similar-sounding rooms, then yes, it is a good idea to be specific. The classic case is when you have dueling ships, each with their own bridge, engine room, etc. Then, INT. NAUTILUS – GALLEY – DAY makes a lot of sense.

Introducing off-screen characters

Formatting, QandA

questionmark
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? If yes, would you
designate both of the characters or just the one we see no part of?
Example…

INT. HOUSE – DAY

A PAIR OF ROUGH HANDS open a fresh pack of cigarettes.

CAIRO (O.S.)

Can I get one of those?

JULES (O.S.)

Do I look like I like to share?

JULES, 64 and confined to his bed, removes his oxygen tube and puts the unlit cigarette to his mouth. Blah, blah, blah, grabs a lighter, blah.

Share your wisdom, oh great one.

— Doug
New Orleans

The way you’re doing it is fine. I might be a bit more specific in the last line:

As the hands lift a cigarette to the man’s lips, we REVEAL:

JULES, 64 and confined to his bed. He pulls off his oxygen tube. Flicks open a lighter.

To Do: Destroy the world

Geek Alert, Genres

So far, I’ve worked on one movie in which the Earth is destroyed. In Titan A.E., a mysterious alien race called the Drej show up one day and blow up the Earth because…

…well, I don’t actually remember the motive. Plot wasn’t the strongest aspect of that movie.

What’s important is this: *aliens did it*. So if scientifically-minded viewers questioned the physics of how exactly the Earth was obliterated, I could simply point to the semi-transparent Drej and say, “With their superior technology, far beyond anything we can imagine!”

It’s a lucky thing that Titan A.E. had villainous aliens, because it turns out that destroying the Earth is extraordinarily difficult. With [this site](http://qntm.org/destroy), Sam Hughes examines 18 possible methods for “geocide” — a terrific word that you just don’t get to use very often. His conclusion? Aspiring supervillains need to be patient, or very lucky, because mere mega-wealth won’t guarantee you the chance to smash the Earth to smithereens.

Keep in mind that Sam focuses strictly on physically destroying the planet. Merely making it uninhabitable is several orders of magnitude easier — and we’re already well on our way!

(Via [Cruel](http://www.cruel.com).)

Celtx screenwriting application shows promise

Formatting, Geek Alert

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

In many ways, this seems to be the screenwriting program I yearned to write. It’s open source, standards-based and well thought out. If I’d known I could get what I want by sitting on my ass and doing nothing, I would have not-done it sooner.

Celtx uses the Mozilla Application Framework, the same underlying technology as [Firefox](http://mozilla.org). That goes a long way towards making it platform independent, since Mozilla can run under Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It’s a two-edged sword, naturally: for sake of compatibility, it can’t use some only-on-Mac features and eye-candy.

[](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/celtx-full.png)
Unlike Final Draft, which strives to keep the screen matching up exactly to the printed output, Celtx takes a more relaxed approach. All the standard formatting blocks are there (Scene Header, Action, Character, Dialogue, Transition), but there are no rulers or page breaks. That’s a reasonable choice; you shouldn’t worry about every (more) and (cont’d) as you write. The program generates .pdfs, rather than trying to print directly — again, a smart call. However, I suspect many writers will find they need more control when it comes time to print.

One of the biggest psychological hurdles with Celtx is how it handles screenplay files. Currently, they seem to reside on Celtx’s server, rather than staying local on a writer’s individual computer. (I say “seem” because each project shows a URL, and you’re not prompted where you’d like to save your file.) This client/server model makes a lot of sense for collaboration, but would make a lot of writers nervous, both in terms of access and security.

**Update:** The developer wrote in to say that files are indeed kept locally on your computer, unless published to the server. A “Save As…” feature is in progress, according to the support forum.

You can import an existing script from Final Draft or other screenwriting applications, but only by saving it first as a formatted text file. (Final Draft uses a proprietary file format; if any reader out there has figured out how to decode it, please write in.) My import test was a mixed bag. Most of the formatting came through intact, but it lost all of the character names at the head of dialogue blocks. I suspect that’s an easily-addressable problem, however.

More impressive than its importing function is Celtx’s ability to export. It generates .pdfs and HTML, which, if you look through the source code, is actually properly formatted with CSS, as opposed to Final Draft’s ridiculous wrapped text file.

I haven’t fully examined Celtx’s outline and resource capabilities, but you can flag elements such as characters and props, which can be useful for generating reports. (Not that I ever use this feature in Final Draft.)

Celtx is currently in beta. Right now, it doesn’t offer enough to get me to switch from Final Draft. But I’m certainly fascinated by it, and would encourage any interested reader to give it a try.