Near the bottom, flush left, or flush right, add the copyright symbol,  date, your name,  and the address and contact detail of your agent.  If you add your own name the script is regarded as  unsolicited material.


© 2006 John Smith
The Writing Studio
info@writingstudio.co.za
Website: www.writingstudio.co.za


SPACING
Single spacing throughout the screenplay.

THE FIRST PAGE
Margins:  Set your margins, the left hand margin at 2.5cm and the right hand margin at 4 or 5cm.
Header:  Set the header at 2.5cm. For selling scripts, simply include the page number.
Footer:  Set the footer at 1.5cm.

Traditionally the screenplay begins on page 1, flush left with FADE IN. Then the slugline.

THE SLUG LINE
This is the heading of a scene. Always in uppercase, identifying the shot. It is a general or specific location and is always flush with the left margin.


INT. JOE'S CABIN
Following the location of place, the time of day is indicated, almost either as day or night.

INT. JOE'S CABIN - DAY

If the scenes moves rapidly from the inside to the outside:
INT/EXT. JOE'S CABIN - DAY

FLASHBACKS

INT. JOE'S CABIN - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)


DESCRIPTION PARAGRAPH
Visual narrative describing what happens in the scene, what characters are involved in the action, and any sound/music/special effects. Here's the opening scenes from M. Night Shayamalan's The Sixth Sense.


A NAKED LIGHTBULB SPARKS TO LIFE. It dangles from the ceiling of a basement.

LIGHT, QUICK FOOTSTEPS AS ANNA CROWE moves down the stairs. Anna is the rare combination of beauty and innocence.

She stands in the chilly basement in an elegant summer dress that outlines her slender body. Her gentle eyes move across the empty room and come to rest on a rack of wine bottles covering one entire wall.


When a character is introduced for the first time in a  screenplay, the name of the character is in uppercase, followed by a brief, one line description. Here's a scene from James Cameron's Titanic.


In her studio, amid incredible clutter, an ANCIENT WOMAN is throwing a pot on a potter's wheel. The liquid red clay covers her hands, hands that are gnarled and age-spotted, but still surprisingly strong and subtle … The old woman's name is ROSE CALVERT. Her face is a wrinkled mass, her body shapeless under a one-piece African-print dress. But her eyes are just as bright and alive as those of a young girl.


Sound/ Music and Special Effects are indicated in uppercase. Here's a scene from Frank Darabont's The Shawshank redemption.


Andy shoots a look at the bathroom … and smiles. Go for broke. He lunges to his feet and barricades the front door, then the bathroom. He returns to the desk and positions the P.A. microphone. He works up his courage, then flicks all the toggles "on". A SQUEAL OF FEEDBACK echoes briefly …


MONTAGE OR A SERIES OF SHOTS
When you want to show your characters doing various things in a series of shots, to highlight a dramatic event. When there is a lot of action happening in a sequence of events. Find below an example from Frank Darabon't screenplay for The Shawshank Redemption


Cons all over the prison stop whatever they're doing, freezing in mid-step to listen, gazing up at the speakers.

The stamping machines in the plate shop are shut down … the laundry lines goes silent, grinding to a halt … the wood shop machines are turned off, buzzing to a stop … the motor spool … the kitchen … the loading dock … the exercise yard … the numbing routine of prison life itself … all grinds to a stuttering halt. Everybody just stands in place, listening to the MUSIC, hypnotized.


INSERT DATE AND TIME
When you want to indicate the year and date of an event.

EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT
Cape Town harbour is drowned in pouring rain.

TITLE: Cape Town, March 18, 1654


INSERS OBJECTS
When you want to focus the attention of the reader on a specific object in the scene, such as the opening of a letter.

Joe opens his mail.

INSERT: A LETTER. A huge red heart is drawn on an otherwise blank sheet of paper. Below it we see the words "I love you".


SCENE NUMBERS
Only in production drafts/ shooting scripts.

OPTICAL EFFECTS AND TRANSITIONS
If you choose to indicate the end of a scene and you need a transition, you may write

DISSOLVE TO:

Always 16cm from left margin.

DIALOGUE
Uppercase, and begins 10cm from the left hand margin (or five tabs). The dialogue - spoken words - starts at 6cm from the left hand margin (or three tabs) , and ends at about 12cm. It is written in a block. Do not justify the right margin, or centre the dialogue.

PARENTHETICAL BUSINESS
The way something is said or done, always 9cm (or four tabs) from the left margin in brackets.

                                 JOE
                              (laughing)
                     Why are you looking at me like that?


NARRATIVE VOICE OVER (V.O)
If a narrator is telling the story.

                                 JOE (V.O.)
                     They call it the City of Angels. The
                     Chamber of Commerce will tell you
                     how the sun is always shining and
                     you can pick fruit off the trees right
                     in your own backyard.


CHARACTER'S OFF CAMERA
If Joe in the dining room is on camera, talking to Mary in the kitchen.

                                JOE
                     Honey, would you bring in the wine?

                                MARY (O.S)
                     Red or white?

OVERLAPPING DIALOGUE
When two people are talking simultaneously.

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

                                FRANK
                            (overlapping)
                     I don't have to take this.

TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS:

INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION: JOE'S BEDROOM/MARY'S BEDROOM
                               
                                 JOE
                       Did I wake you?

                                  MARY
                       No. I was reading.


THE ONLY WAY TO GRASP FORMATTING FOR THE SCREEN AND THE ART OF VISUAL NARRATIVE IS TO READ AS MANY SCREENPLAYS AS POSSIBLE. READ THE CLASSICS AND CONTEMPORARY SCREENPLAYS. To read scripts

Back to format

Back to resources



Copyright © 2009 - 2012 The Writing Studio