Episode 2: Formatting

I’d like to preface everything that I write in this episode by noting that there are no ‘universal’ rules in screenwriting, but these are general guidelines that will give your script a professional look.  Whether what you’ve written qualifies as “professional” is a completely different conversation.

Your font should Courier, 12-point font, 10 pitch.  No exceptions.  This is about as close as you’ll get to a universal rule in the realm of screenwriting.

All pages should be single spaced, with an extra line break between items. By ‘item’ I of course mean any change in the function of what is being written, e.g. switching from a scene header to action or from dialog to a transition.  As with most rules, there are of course exceptions.  The most notable of which is anything involving dialog.  You wouldn’t put an extra line break between a character’s name and their line of dialog, nor would you between a parenthetical and the dialog it describes.  It’s best to think of ‘dialog’ as a single item composed of the character’s name, what they’re saying, and any parenthetical describing it.  Everything else generally requires an extra line break before changing the function of the text.  This is what I imagine your script currently looks like:

JEFF

&#160 This is the kind of stupidshit that happens when you useMicrosoft word to format your script.Isn’t it annoying?

Jeff smashes his laptop to pieces in frustration.

JEFF

                                                 Oh, thank God.  This feels

                                                 so much better.

The margins are pretty rigid for your standard screenplay: left, 1.5 inches; right, 1.0 inches.; top, 1.0 inches to the body, 0.5 inches to the page number; bottom, 0.5 to 1.5 inches, depending on where the page break comes.  Just like in seventh grade language arts, it’s considered cheating to mess with the margins and you don’t want to get caught.

You’ll notice that the bottom margin can vary page to page, and this is mostly so that items that wrap from one page to another can be kept intact whenever possible.  For example: a long line of dialog or description might be cut from the bottom of one page and put at the top of the subsequent page.

Your script should ALWAYS include page numbers in the top right corner.  While the exact margins aren’t standardized, it’s best to have the page number be right justified, about half an inch of the top of the page and an inch of the right edge.

Scene headings always appear in all caps.  Sometimes they’ll appear in bold or underlined, but this is usually a stylistic choice made by the writer.  You’ll frequently see it used in television by showrunners who have differing opinions about how the script should be laid out.  Usually, your scene headings will look like this:

EXT.  THUNDERDOME - NIGHT

All scene headings contain the same information: Interior verses Exterior, abbreviated as INT. or EXT., which indicates whether the scene is located inside or outside; location; a hyphen to separate location from time of day; and finally Day or Night to indicate at approximately what time of day the scene is occurring.  Some writers use more specific terms like Dusk, Dawn, or Noon to indicate time, but this isn’t necessarily the standard.

It used to be necessary to include transitions to indicate a scene change is coming, but this is no longer considered essential.  However, transitions can be useful when changing scenes rapidly, and are still essential at the beginning and end.

Descriptions, are the narrative account of the action of the script.  They help establish the context of the scene and describe the action that unfolds.  Occasionally, description is used to get inside a character’s thought patterns, a la the novel, but this is usually unsuccessful because conveying interiority is extremely difficult in film.  Description generally the final line of dialog.  However, scenes can, and frequently do, end with a line of dialog, transition, or other item.

While absolutely vital to the success of a script, description can also be its greatest weakness.  It’s important to be vivid and concise, or you risk losing the interest of your reader.  Some writers have turned to using choppy, incomplete sentences as a way of keeping their script brief, but allowing for rapid fire action.  In general, this is a risky venture, because without the use of full sentences the script can also lose it’s intended effect.  It’s good advice to stick to complete sentences and careful word choice for the ideal combination of clarity and brevity.

Frequently, writers use camera direction as a form of description.  While common in produced scripts, it’s best for amateur writers to avoid using camera direction.  Usually, once a script has gone into production, the director(s), producer(s), and, potentially, writer(s) will make what is called a “production draft” that contains some camera direction and additional details which make physically shooting the script easier.  It is not the job of the writer to include camera direction from the very first draft, so it’s best to avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary.  You might think it is, but I’d be willing to bet your script will work better with out it.  And I’d be fucking right.

Character introductions are the first instances where a character appears in a script.  His or her name should appear in all caps (some writers put it in bold, but this is a matter of style) and should be followed by a brief description of him or her. Almost all writers include the character’s approximate age and a brief physical description.  This is also a useful area to begin establishing how the character portrays themselves to others.  Frequently, writers will use this initial description to establish unique traits that make the character(s) stand out from one another.  This is an excellent way to develop strong characters with distinct voices, tones, mannerisms, et cetera.

Important items and sound effects should appear in all caps or bold (another stylistic choice) to indicate that reader should be aware.  While this is kind of hokey and seems like weak writing, it can be useful for building a visual image in the mind of the reader or indicating important events that the reader should focus on.  It should look something like this:

As he searches through the scattered remains of the trashcan for lunch, Jeff spots a SHINY QUARTER and immediately pockets it.

Character names that immediately proceed a line of dialog should be centered (or roughly 4.2 inches in from the left margin) in all caps.  This is a universal rule, except when two or more characters are speaking simultaneously, in which case the indentation from the left margin will be changed slightly to allow for two lines of dialog to fit.  This is a fairly rare occurrence though, and most modern screenwriting programs have some sort of quick formatting which helps with simultaneous dialog.

JEFF

                                                 This is where the line of

                                                 dialog would normally be.

Dialog should always be centered, immediately beneath the character(s)’s name(s), generally not more than three lines (Unless it’s important!), and should have roughly three inch margins on each side.  This means that the line of dialog is wider than both the character names and any parenthetical which might be describing it.  Generally, dialog looks something like this:

JEFF

                                                             I am speaking.  Listen, dammit!

Two interesting variants of dialog are Voice-overs and Off-screen dialog.  A voice over is a form of narration where a character speaks over an image , and is indicated by writing the letters V.O. in parenthesis next to the character’s name.  It should look something like this:

JEFF (V.O.)

                                                 Voice-overs suck.

Off-screen dialog generally occurs when a character within the physical scene is speaking, but the camera does not yet see him or her, and is indicated by writing the letters O.S. in parenthesis next to the character’s name.  It should look something like this:

JEFF (O.S.)

                                                 You can’t see me.

Dialog which wraps from one page to another is usually broken up by a page break.   Generally, this is formatted as normal, but dialog on the first page ends with (MORE) centered, immediately below the line of dialog.  At the beginning of the subsequent page, the line of dialog continues with the character’s name immediately followed by (CONT’D) in parenthesis.

JEFF

                                                 It’s almost as if I stopped

(MORE)

2

JEFF (CONT’D)

                                                 talking in mid-sentence, and

                                                 then resumed suddenly.

Parentheticals are items that can be inserted into a line of dialog to help expand the reader’s understanding of that particular line.  They should appear entered, in parenthesis, immediately below the character’s name and above the dialog, about 3.7 inches in.  Parentheticals are useful for conveying emotion, brief bits of action, if a line is spoken in a foreign language, et cetera.  While some amateur writers embrace parentheticals with a vigor, it’s usually better to be sparing with them as to not box the director and actor into a corner.

The averages script is 90 to 120 pages in length.  It’s usually best to keep within these limits for your first few screenplays.  You might argue that someone like Ridley Scott gets away with writing a MUCH longer script, and that would be precisely the kind of argument that justifies why Ridley Scott makes millions of dollars every year and you’re currently unemployed.

Why You Should Never Become Famous

I have a confession to make:  I’m cruel.  Not all the time, not intentionally, but occasionally.  Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy what happened here:

A few months ago, I was asked to rewrite a treatment (A six or so page summary of the film’s plot) for a war movie.  It was done on the down-low, because as an intern I’m not supposed to be doing anything remotely challenging.

The original treatment was about a semi-racist colonel who leads an all-Japanese battalion in battle.  It’s actually heartwarming and makes you believe in the American dream; except that the main character is a racist, drunk, burn-out, and stays a racist, drunk, burn-out until the last twenty pages.  Generally, people like to see the hero become something more than what he starts as.  Generally, people don’t like racists either.

It was handed to me with the simple note to “make this more American.”  Feedback is overrated.  I dropped everything and hammered out a revised draft in a few hours.  Tweaking the action here, some racism there.  Boom, done.  Hand it in, good work, great job, no paycheck.

I took a bit of personal pride in it, and pretty much forgot about it until a few weeks ago when it showed up on IMDB.  Naturally, I edited the IMDB page so that I would get a “Story By” credit.  Most people would call this unprofessional.  They would be right.

Again, I didn’t think about it until two days ago, when I got the following Facebook message:

Dear Jeff,

Below is a short clip of me acting in a spec feature about the 442nd titled "Little Iron Men". My youtube channel has more clips from the project and a short acting demo too. I'm the actor on the left.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq0pt-P906g

It has always been my professional dream to act in a film about the 442nd/100th. And I was wondering... if you'd be open to pointing me in the right direction... How can I get the opportunity to act in your film?

That said... I really appreciate your reading this message from a complete stranger, and promise not to bother you inappropriately with inane messages. Thank you so very much for your time.

 This is the point in time when you condemn me for being a bad person.  I didn’t respond to this guy’s request, and, frankly, I don’t know how.  Worst of all, all I could do when I got his message was laugh at how absurd this was

So, ladies and gentlemen, what did we learn today?  Being famous gets you way more attention than you’re probably comfortable with, and definitely more than I deserve.  I didn’t even write the actual screenplay and this guy managed to find me.  Off of an IMDB page that has literally two people (including myself) and a title attached to it.  It’s currently ranking around 100,000 in popularity this week on IMDB.

Kind of makes me want to delete my Facebook account in anticipation of success.  That would probably be jumping the gun though.

Episode One: Titles and Title Pages

Hello everyone, my name is Jeff and I’d like to welcome you to my new blog series: I Suck at Screenwriting.  I’d like to start off with a little bit about me, but I’m afraid that I’d bore you to death.

SMASH CUT:

INT. C.IA. MENSROOM– DAY

 

JEFF MCNAMERSON (20’s, awkward, semi-likeable) is urinating all over the fresh corpse of AGENT SULLIVAN (40's, buff, fugly), it’s truly horrific. 

JEFF

(To Sullivan’s Body)

Now who’s the pee-pee head?

I’m messing with you guys, I needed a catchy segue.  This is my first example of terrible screenwriting, and look it’s homebrewed!  Seriously though, we’re here to talk about fucking screenwriting.   Get pumped!

We’re going to start where every good script starts:  The title page.  It’s actually vitally important to your script because your title page is likely the first thing anyone will ever see.  If you blow it, they’re not even going to give you the customary ten pages worth of reading.

Before you ask, yes, I’m being serious.  Some executives (Or more likely, their assistants) will read ten pages or less before they decide to abandon your script.  That’s why first impressions are so important.

The title page generally divides into two separate sections:  The title/byline and the writer’s contact information.  Sometimes you’ll see the writer’s agent/manager, the production company, or the studio put their contact info on there too.  But let’s be honest: if you had an agent or a script in production, you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

The title and byline (Highlighted in yellow) should always be roughly in the center of the page vertically and should be centered horizontally.  The title appears in all caps, followed by a line break, the word ‘by’, another line break, and finally the author’s name.  It’s pretty straightforward, but if you have questions about it, you can certainly feel free to email me at: ISuckAtScreenwriting@gmail.com.

For adapted materials (Highlighted in green), the source material is generally listed centered, one page break below the byline.

The writer’s contact information (Highlighted in pink) generally goes in the bottom right corner, left-justified, indented about six inches off of the left margin.  You’ll need to put in your full name, address, and a phone number where you can be reached.  Some writers and executives prefer to have the writer put his/her email address and telephone number, or just email address, but putting your phone number is still pretty much the standard.  In Hollywood, people still use their phones, A LOT.  The ratio of phone calls made/emails sent to actual work done is horrendous.

I’d like to end with a little bit of a riff on titles, since it’s semi-applicable to the current subject of title pages.  A good title has become something of a lost art for most writers and filmmakers.  In this day and age, the title has come to function as a stand-in for the script’s logline (A once to two sentence description of the script in it’s entirety).  That is to say that the title is generally the writer’s/agent’s/studio’s/ad-executive’s first chance to sell his or her audience on this script or film.  I’ll say it again:  First impressions are important. 

However, just because the title now serves a pretty straightforward purpose does not necessarily mean that it’s an easy feat.  Quite the contrary, titles are extremely difficult.  That’s why I find the current trend in movie title’s to be a bit disturbing.  The title has been corrupted into the ultimate branding machine.  Titles are what executives use to sell audiences on movies they haven’t seen before.  Begging the question:  Then what the hell is the trailer for?

That’s why we see so many GENERIC ACTION THRILLER 2 and TRENDY HISTORICAL GROUP VS. TRENDY MONSTER CREATION movies out there right now.  When I first saw the trailer for COWBOYS & ALIENS:

(This is basically the original trailer, except they cut out the shots of Olivia Wilde and Daniel Craig during the credits)

I literally could not stop laughing when Harrison Ford says: “You’re gonna give him to me, or I’m gonna take him.”  It’s awful.  Somewhere along the line, someone saw this trailer and said: “We’ve made a huge mistake.”  Now that they’ve fixed the trailer up a little bit, I’m actually considering seeing it.

But I digress, I’ve strayed too far from my original comment about titles.  I recently read an quote by Mitchell Hurwitz (Creator of ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Running Wilde’), that I think perfectly captures my thoughts about titles: 

“…if you were to call the show "Welcome Matt", an audience could immediately understand the concept: this must be a character named Matt and he must either be a welcoming person or stepped on. If you call a show "Arrested Development" it's confusing and sufficiently disorientating to guarantee that a wide audience never discovers the fruits of your labour.”

This is word for word what I might’ve said, only written with far more grace than I am capable of (Also, I love that you can tell he’s British just by how he spells ‘labor’).

To me, the title is very much the first selling point of your script.  It’s vitally important to get it right.  That’s why so many projects here in Hollywood start off with such inventive titles as UNTITLED ALIEN PROJECT before inevitably becoming something more impressive like ALI3N, MARS NEEDS MOMS, or COWBOYS & ALIENS.  You get my point.

Just take a little while to think of a clever title for your script.  There’s no need to rush it.  Hell, you can wait until the posters are being printed if you want to.  The point is simply to make a title that stirs up a modicum of brain activity in the average dumb American.

Or, I guess there’s always financing for CELESTIAL SPACE BATTLE PROJ3CT if that’s what you’re into.