From PRACTICAL SCREENWRITING (Focus Publishing, 2005) by Charles Deemer. For information: http://www.pullins.com/Books/01281PracticalScreenwriting.htm

4.

Screenplay Format

Before beginning to write, students must learn correct screenplay format. This sometimes causes more stress than necessary. Screenplay format is pretty straightforward—except that the conventional style is always changing.

It is useful to look at formerly acceptable formats out of fashion today. Older formats included camera angles and other visual concerns now considered the province of the director. Today's format, a more general “master scene approach” to storytelling, often includes only a scene’s basic visual locations.

Screenplay software is available to format your script as you write, and serious screenwriters should own such a program. If you can't afford it, add-ons and templates to your word processing program will also work.

Spec Scripts v. Shooting Scripts

First, let’s go over the rudiments. Screenplay formats can be initially confusing because students seldom see examples of what we call spec scripts, scripts written “on speculation” and subsequently marketed. The published scripts we commonly see are “shooting” scripts, different in several ways because they are the product of collaboration between writer, director, producer, and possibly even actors.

Let’s compare a shooting script with a spec script. Here is a sequence from the shooting script of Magnolia:

39. INT. SMILING PEANUT BAR—NIGHT

CAMERA moves in on a young woman CLAUDIA (20s) sitting alone, a bit drunk. A vaguely creepy looking MIDDLE AGED GUY (40s) takes a seat next to her.

MIDDLE AGED GUY

Hey.

CLAUDIA

Hi.

CUT TO:

40. INT. CLAUDIA'S APARTMENT—LATER

A series of quick shots where the following happens: CLAUDIA and the MIDDLE AGED GUY stumble into her apartment. CAMERA DOLLIES in quick as she snorts a line of coke from her coffee table ... TILT up and PAN over to him.

MIDDLE AGED GUY

So?

CUT TO:

41. INT. CLAUDIA'S BEDROOM—MOMENTS LATER

CAMERA DOLLIES in quick as they're having sex. He's on top of her, she's below, CAMERA lands in a CLOSE UP of her face as she gets through the experience ... CAMERA moves up and past her, finds a reflection of the TELEVISION in a picture frame on her wall ...

DISSOLVE TO:

This is not acceptable spec script format. Compare this with the version rewritten as a current spec scripts:

INT. SMILING PEANUT BAR—NIGHT

A young woman, CLAUDIA (20s), is sitting alone, a bit drunk.

A vaguely creepy MIDDLE AGED GUY (40s) sits next to her.

MIDDLE AGED GUY

Hey.

CLAUDIA

Hi.

INT. CLAUDIA'S APARTMENT—NIGHT

Claudia and the middle aged guy stumble into her apartment.

She heads straight for the coffee table, where she snorts a line of coke.

MIDDLE AGED GUY

So?

INT. CLAUDIA'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

They're having sex. The middle-aged guy is on top.

Her expression reveals she's just getting through it.

A picture on the wall reflects the television screen.

Note the absence of camera angles or even references to a camera. All of the images in the shooting script are retained in the spec script but no information about how the images should be shot. The spec script simply tells the story, letting the director figure out how to shoot it.

The Elements of Screenplay Format

Format boils down to this:

FADE IN:

INT. CHARLES' OFFICE—NIGHT

CHARLES, 60s, sits at a computer. Looking over his shoulder is JOHN, 20s, one of his students.

CHARLES

This format stuff isn't as hard as

you think it is. There are a few

simple rules, and all you have to

do is follow them.

JOHN

What are the rules?

CHARLES

For most of your writing, you'll be

using only four format elements.

Watch the computer screen.

John moves in closer as Charles begins typing at the keyboard.

The following appears ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN:

“THIS IS WHERE A SLUGLINE GOES”

“This is where an action line goes.”

“CHARACTER NAME HERE”

“Dialogue here.”

Charles stops typing and looks at John.

CHARLES

See how easy it is?

The Four Basic Elements

Let's review this.

You seldom need more than four format elements to tell the story with a professional look:

· the slugline

· the action area

· the character name

· the dialogue

THE SLUGLINE

The slugline, always in caps, identifies the shot. In the current “master scene” approach most sluglines will begin with INT. for an interior location or EXT. for exterior.

Following INT. or EXT., the place is identified: for example, INT. BEDROOM. If we need to first establish a broader context, it might look like this: INT. JOE'S HOUSE—BEDROOM. We move from the general to the specific here—for example, we do not write INT. BEDROOM—JOE'S HOUSE.

Following location, time of day is indicated, almost always DAY or NIGHT. If something more specific is required (such as Afternoon) – it usually isn't – indicate this in the action area or in parentheses, for example, DAY (AFTERNOON).

So, a full slugline: INT. JOE'S HOUSE—BEDROOM—NIGHT. After establishing we are in Joe's house, subsequent sluglines can drop this broader location of place. A sequence of scenes looks like this:

INT. JOE'S HOUSE—BEDROOM—NIGHT

INT. DINING ROOM—NIGHT

INT. KITCHEN—NIGHT

EXT. BACK PORCH—NIGHT

Some writers drop DAY or NIGHT once established in the scene sequence, but I discourage taking shortcuts with sluglines. I recommend designating the time in each slugline because assistant directors usually use sluglines to make the daily shooting schedule rather than using the script’s page sequence. If all sluglines are self-sufficient, the assistant director won’t have to struggle backward through the script to find the needed information. Be a good collaborator!

Sluglines are flush with your left margin. A good place to set the left margin is an inch in, about 17 spaces.

THE ACTION AREA

Action lines are also flush left. The important thing to remember is you need to surround action with lots of white space. Consider this action description, from James Cameron’s Aliens, written in an older format style.

EXT. COLONY COMPLEX

The town is a cluster of bunkerlike metal and concrete buildings connected by conduits. Neon signs throw garish colors across the vaultlike walls, advertising bars and other businesses. It looks like a sodden cross between the Krupps munitions works and a truck stop casino in the Nevada boondocks. Huge-wheeled tractors crawl toadlike in the rutted “street” and vanish down rampways to underground garages.

ANGLE ON THE CONTROL BLOCK, the largest structure. It resembles vaguely the superstructure of an aircraft carrier, a flying bridge. VISIBLE across a half kilometer of barren heath, b.g., is the massive complex of the nearest ATMOSPHERE PROCESSOR, looking like a power plant bred with an active volcano. Its fiery glow pulses in the low cloud cover like a steel mill.

Compare this with:

EXT. COLONY COMPLEX

The town is a cluster of bunkerlike metal and concrete buildings connected by conduits.

Neon signs throw garish colors across the vaultlike walls, advertising bars and other businesses. It looks like a sodden cross between the Krupps munitions works and a truck stop casino in the Nevada boondocks.

Huge-wheeled tractors crawl toadlike in the rutted “street” and vanish down rampways to underground garages.

THE CONTROL BLOCK is the largest structure. It resembles vaguely the superstructure of an aircraft carrier...a flying bridge.

Visible across a half kilometer of barren heath is the massive complex of the nearest ATMOSPHERE PROCESSOR, looking like a power plant bred with an active volcano.

Its fiery glow pulses in the low cloud cover like a steel mill.

Because white space breaks up the action, the second version is much easier to read. You can break up the action even more. A writer friend who has sold action/adventure scripts to Columbia will not write an action section longer than five lines before starting a new paragraph and prefers keeping action paragraphs at three lines and under.

We drop ANGLE ON from current format style because it’s redundant. The fact you’ve isolated “The Control Block is the largest structure” in its own paragraph is sufficient to emphasize you are “angling on” it. Omitting ANGLE ON is another example of removing all reference to the camera.

The White Space Test

Screenplays are not so much read as skimmed, at least in your first “reading”—which may be your only reading. I once saw a producer pick up a script and flip the pages quickly – not reading – just watching the print rush by. “Not enough white space,” he said. He tossed the unread script into the reject pile.

By submitting a spec script, you are competing with hundreds of other screenplays usually being read by a harried, underpaid reader who gets paid per script. Imagine being a reader for a studio or production company. On your desk are 100 scripts demanding attention. How slowly and carefully would you read? Are they to be rejected or “read” a second time more carefully?

You the writer have your first five or ten pages to “hook” the reader. Without lots of white space, your script will be physically difficult to read in a rush (i.e., “skimmed”), another excuse to toss it.

Making Scripts Vertical

At the 2002 Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles, where I was on the faculty, speaker after speaker urged beginning screenwriters to make their scripts "vertical." What does this mean?

Reading is a horizontal exercise. We begin at the left of the page, read across to the right, drop down a line and repeat the horizontal sweep.

The screenplay, as we’ve said, is not a literary document, but an invitation to a long journey toward a competed film, a blueprint to be skimmed.

What is easier to skim, dense paragraphs with long complex sentences or snappy sentences in short paragraphs? Why? Because the eye, seeking information, travels more quickly down the page. Vertical writing allows potential producers to skim the story, characters, genre, and budget.

Let’s look at a paragraph from a student script:

Derek is walking across campus. All over, students read copies of the official campus newspaper and Derek's magazine. One girl, ANNA KABIS, laughs hysterically. She is young and beautiful. Derek stops and stares at her. A friend of Anna's is reading over her shoulder, a look of shock on her face.

The writing is good: clear, simple sentences. However, the verticality is poor.

Let's make this passage vertical:

Derek is walking across campus.

All over, students read copies of the official campus newspaper and Derek's

magazine.

One girl, ANNA KABIS, laughs hysterically. She is young and beautiful.

Derek stops and stares at her.

A friend of Anna's is reading over her shoulder, a look of shock on her face.

Notice how much easier it is to skim? The eye races vertically down the page, rather than slowly across.

There's a hidden advantage in this for the writer. By isolating paragraphs this way, the writer is implicitly directing the movie! Each short paragraph suggests a new shot: a wide shot of students, close on Anna, back to Derek, back to Anna. Writers, forbidden to direct the movie, can influence the flow of images by suggesting new shots in new paragraphs.

The vertical script is like a long strip of film passing in front of the eyes. Adding verticality to your script has no down side.

Remember that published screenplays are terrible models for the beginning screenwriter. They lack verticality because they are not spec scripts. Professional screenwriters sell their ideas first then write. Once a script is regarded as an investment it will be read no matter how verbose and literary.

As I said, don’t let your writing get in the way of your story. And don’t let formatting keep it from being read. Never forget that Hollywood is story-driven, and in a hurry.

More About the Action Area

This is not an easy adventure you're embarking on! You need to learn many things before you pack into the mountains for that long climb. Here is some more about writing in the action area.

The first time character names appear in the action element, they are capitalized. Afterward, they are written normally, with only the first letter capitalized.

The action area has picked up one additional burden in the current format: parenthetical descriptions have fallen from fashion. For example:

Old Style

JOE (angrily)

Damn it, that's not right!

Current Style

Joe slams a book down on the desk.

JOE

Damn it, that's not right!

In other words, instead of labeling an emotion and enclosing it parentheses, demonstrate emotion through an action or describe an action that communicates it.

FORMATTING THE CHARACTER NAME

The character name is indented 43 spaces (26 from the margin set at 17) and always capitalized.

FORMATING DIALOGUE

Dialogue starts at 28 spaces (11 from margin at 17).

Summary

Standard tab settings for format are:

· 17: Left margin

· 28: Dialogue

· 35: Parenthetical directions (not in fashion)

· 43: Character name

· 66: Transitional instructions (CUT TO:, etc.)(not in fashion today)

· 72: Page number (page numbers have a period after them: 77.)

· 75: Right margin (right margins are not justified)

Font

Screenplays are submitted in 12-point Courier or New Courier. Nothing else. This is important.

Other Considerations

The four basic elements—slugline, action, character, and dialogue—are all you need to write in today's “master scene” format. Here are a few other things to consider.

· Cover, brads, title page: Nothing fancy! Bind your script with card stock in the same color as a file folder. I sometimes use white or gray.

· Bind the script using two brads. Punch three holes in the script but only two in the cardstock.

· On the title page use a simple format, centered, about 2/5 down the page from the top: NAME OF SCREENPLAY by Your Name. Near the bottom, flush left or flush right, put your address and phone number or your agent’s name, address and phone number.

That's it. No fancy colors, no WGA number on the script, no illustrations, no colored paper.

The first page: Begin flush left with FADE IN:

Double space and write your first slugline. Note the following spaces between elements:

· single space between character and dialogue; within action paragraph; within dialogue paragraph.

· double space at end of action paragraph or element (to another action paragraph, or new element such as character or slugline); at end of dialogue; at end of slugline.

· optional triple space (instead of double space) before each new slugline. (Start with double spacing. If your script is too short, change to triple to add pages.)

Page numbers: The first page is unnumbered. Number the remaining pages at their tops, flush right, with a period after the number, i.e., 23.

Scenes moving rapidly inside and outside: sometimes it is awkward to follow action that moves quickly inside and outside. Use this: INT./EXT. JOE'S BARN—DAY.

Montage or a series of shots: Use this format:

A SERIES OF SHOTS—JOHN AND MARY AT THE BEACH

They build sand castles.

They fly a kite.

They race to the water.

They swim and have a water fight.

Flashbacks: Use this format:

INT. JOE'S HOUSE—CELLAR—NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Insert: Now out of fashion, this was a cutaway shot to get close on something small. Today just describe the object in its own paragraph. The director will decide how to shoot it.

Establishing shot: The slugline ESTABLISHING SHOT is out of fashion. Do something like this instead:

EXT. WASHINGTON D.C.—DAY

The famous landmarks rise majestically under a bright sun.

Sounds: Important sounds can be capitalized. “They hear the CRASH of glass in the other room.” Even this is being dropped by many writers.

Telephone conversation: There are three ways to format a phone conversation, depending on how many parties we see and hear.

· If we hear only one person:

JOE

Did I wake you?…I'm sorry….I said, I'm sorry!

· If we hear both parties but only see one:

JOE

Did I wake you?

MARY (filtered)

That's all right.

In this case, we only see Joe on screen.

· If we hear and see both parties:

INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION—JOE'S BEDROOM /MARY'S BEDROOM

JOE

Did I wake you?

MARY

That's all right.

Sometimes you can do this more efficiently within the context of the story this way:

INT. JOE'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

Joe dials a number.

INT. MARY'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

She answers the phone.

INTERCUT

[and the conversation as before]

Passing of time: in student scripts, I often see fiction devices such as, “An hour later, Tom is still watching television.” This is the way to pass time in a screenplay:

INT. TOM'S HOUSE—LIVING ROOM—NIGHT

Tom is watching television.

INT. TOM'S HOUSE—LIVING ROOM—NIGHT—LATER

And still watching TV an hour later.

Here “an hour” is not a significant —we really mean “later.” But if it is, then the audience must know this, and the second slugline above becomes:

SUPER: “An hour later”

INT. TOM'S HOUSE—LIVING ROOM—NIGHT

He is still watching television.

“SUPER” is short for superimposed on screen and we use it when we put “writing” on the screen. Both SUPER and the more complete SUPER ON SCREEN are used.

Special effects: don't use FX (visual) or SFX (sound) just describe the action.

Camera directions and angles: None. I repeat: none. You are not the director. This means no CUT TO: and no ANGLE ON, both of which were common in previous styles.

Continueds: This convention is no longer used. See the exception below, with more.

More: If a character's dialogue is continued onto the next page, format like this:

JOE

I'm not done here!

(MORE)

-----page break-----

JOE (cont'd)

You also have a lousy sense of humor.

Overlapping dialogue: One of the rare uses today of parentheticals:

JOE

You couldn't tell a joke if your life depended on it.

FRANK (overlapping)

I don't have to take this.

Character off screen: If Joe in the dining room is on camera, talking to Mary in the kitchen, whom we don't see, the format is as follows:

JOE

Honey, would you bring in the wine?

MARY (O.S.)

Red or white?

Some writers use O.C. for “off camera.” Generally O.S. is for film and O.C. for television.

Narrative voice-over: If a narrator is telling your story, format as follows:

EXT. LOS ANGELES—FREEWAY—DAY

Bumper-to-bumper traffic on a sweltering, smoggy day.

JOE (V.O.)

They call it the City of Angels. The Chamber of Commerce

will tell you how the sun's always shining and you can pick

fruit off the trees right in your own backyard.

This should cover the majority of format situations. When in doubt, use common sense and the above examples as a guideline.

TV Formats

You can write MOWs (movies of the week) using standard screenplay format.

Writing for sitcoms and other specialized TV shows is beyond the scope of this book. Your best source for this is the Internet.

Software for Screenwriters

If you are serious about screenwriting, I recommend that you purchase one of the specialized programs that format your script as you write. Top-notch programs also provide scene breakdowns, permit an interface with an index card outlining program, do spelling checks and instant reformatting, and much more.

Software programs fall into two general categories: “stand alone” specialized word processors for screenplays; and specialized tools for screenwriters, such as story development tools.

The Whole Enchilada

As soon as you can afford it, purchase a full-fledged screenwriting program. Not only will it format your script and automatically reformat as you rewrite, a top-of-the-line program will feature an index-card interface for outlining, scene breakdown features, and much more.

There are half a dozen such programs on the market. The four full-fledged programs I like the best do all the basics well (format, create character lists, etc.) but have different features.

· Hollywood Screenplay (formerly Movie Master for Windows). I like the highlighting tools for locating and easily finding plot points for a quick overview of structure. Contact info:

http://www.ballisticware.com. Underselling its no more powerful competitors, I recommend Hollywood Screenplay as one of the best bargains.

· Movie Magic (formerly ScriptThing for Windows). I like the index-card interface, which automatically transfers index card sluglines to the script. A great tool for tree people! Contact info:

http://www.scriptperfection.com/ (800) 450-9450.

· Sophocles. The latest of the four programs introduces a new kind of interface, splitting the screen vertically, an outline on the left and a script on the right. I confess I've fallen in love with this software, which is competitively priced, and Sophocles is the program I regularly write with. See http://www.sophocles.net.

· Final Draft. Perhaps the most popular screenwriting program. http://www.finaldraft.com.

A Word of Caution

Because all screenwriting programs have different features and a different “feel,” they can be as personal as buying a car. One person's dream program will not be another's. The best approach is to test demos yourself.

Templates and Macros

If you can't afford a full-fledged screenwriting program, the less expensive alternative is a template or set of macros that turns your regular word processing program into a script-formatting program. Check out: http://www.dependentfilms.net/files.html.

Where to Buy Software

Look for sales at:

· The Writer's Computer Store: from US or Canada phone 800-272-8927 toll free, from US or Canada; writerscomputer.com

· Starcomp www.leonardo.net/starcomp/ (818) 609-0330.

Information on the Internet changes rapidly, so be sure to do a search for the latest URLs and information.

Exercises

1. Correct the following incorrect sluglines:

INT. BEDROOM – JOE'S HOUSE – NIGHT

EXT. IN MIDDLE OF FIELD – DAY

EXT. MASTER BEDROOM IN JOE'S HOUSE – DAY

2. Open up the following action description to provide more script verticality and isolation of major images.

Joe steps into the living room. He turns on the light. He faces a room that is a total mess. Empty beer and pop cans are everywhere. Ash trays are filled with cigarette butts. Old newspapers are strewn about. Dirty dishes and glasses are on tables and even the floor. A radio is on, tuned to a rock station. A light from the kitchen spills into the room. Joe hesitates, then steps in the direction of the kitchen.

3. Joe is at a phone booth on a street corner. Mary is at work at a café where she is a waitress. Joe calls her. This is their brief conversation:

“Is Mary there?” “This is Mary.” “I didn't recognize your voice. This is Joe.” “Why are you calling me at work?” “Mary, we need to talk. I—“ “I can't talk now.” “Just give me a minute.” “Call me at home tonight.” “This is important.” “Goodbye, Joe.”

And she hangs up. Write this in correct screenplay format.