Search Results for: scene headings

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 document? Something else I don’t know about? Thanks.

–Ryan
Los Angeles

Since you can’t count on your friends having the right version of any given program, your best bet is to convert it to a .pdf document. Both Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter can do this pretty easily.

In Screenwriter, choose “Print…” from the File menu, then choose “PDF (Adobe Acrobat) File” from the “Print To:” pop-up menu. Screenwriter gives you the option to make bookmarks from all the scene headings in the file, which is helpful.

In Final Draft, simply choose “Save as PDF…” from the File menu. One caveat: in some versions of Final Draft, the .pdfs generated this way are huge.

As an alternate for Mac OS X, you can choose “PDF” from the main print dialog box, which bypasses the program and grabs the real information that would be sent to the printer. This system-wide ability of Mac OS X is a godsend; I use it all the time.

Almost everyone I know uses .pdfs these days to turn in scripts. You can pretty much count on them printing out properly, and it saves a lot of hassle dealing with couriers and photocopiers.

Following up on an [earlier question](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/avoid-cut-tos-in-a-busy-sequence#comments): 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:

Is it correct to assume that by using slug lines, I could avoid the scene headings? If I were to do it that way, would I use a slug line that is essentially identical to my scene headings but without the “INT.”? or “EXT.”?

— Brock

This type of scene happens all the time. Think about [24](http://imdb.com/title/tt0285331/combined). If you put in a new slugline every time you changed speakers on a phone call, the script would be 180 pages.

Behold, the magic that is “INTERCUT.” Instead of your second “INT. MARIA’S KITCHEN”, just have a slug that says INTERCUT or INTERCUT MARIA / SEAN. Then you don’t have to keep doing the location sluglines. They’re really in one scene, even though it’s split between two places. It’s much easier for the reader to follow.

Your scene would end up looking like this:

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.

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.