The article provided an example of a properly formatted
screenplay scene and gave a writing exercise containing unformatted
descriptions and dialogue.
Now, in How to Format a Screenplay: Part II, we provide
an answer key for the exercise. The answer key shows you how the descriptions
and dialogue can be displayed when using the rules of screenplay formatting.
Compare your formatting to ours, but keep in mind that
your dialogue and descriptions will differ somewhat. Your scene heading should
be the same as ours, except for the time of day, which could be DAY instead of
NIGHT.
Screenplay Formatting Answer Key:
INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT
A crowded movie theater. Dark except for neon exit signs
over the doors and a large screen showing a feature film. The audience watches
the actors move across the screen, and we HEAR tense background MUSIC.
MARIANNE and BOB enter the theater through the back
door.
Marianne, dressed in a revealing tight sweater and jeans,
carries a bag of potato chips and a large drink. She moves down the aisle
quickly, looking right and left as she scouts for seats.
Bob, a tall, stocky young man, carries a super-sized box
of popcorn and a super-sized drink.
He squints in the dim light as he moves his large feet
gingerly down the aisle. He takes a few more hesitant steps and then stumbles
over his own big sneakers.
Popcorn spills from the box he's holding onto several
people seated near the aisle and onto the floor. We hear grumbling as the
people brush popcorn off their clothing.
BOB
(loud)
Sorry! I'm really sorry!
MAN #1
(to Bob)
You
wanna lower your voice!
BOB
Sorry.
MAN #2
(to Bob)
Shut
up!
MAN #3
(shouting)
Keep
it down, will ya!
Marianne waves frantically to Bob from the front of the
theater.
MARIANNE
(calling out loud)
Bob!
Over here, honey! Two seats
up
here!
MAN #4
(to Marianne; loud)
For
Chris sakes, lady!
MAN #5
(to Marianne)
Are
you stupid or something?
Bob catches up to Marianne, who waits near the middle of
the third row, where she has found seats.
MARIANNE
(to woman in the aisle seat)
Excuse me.
People seated in the third row stand to let Bob and
Marianne pass.
We hear groans from people seated behind them whose view
of the screen is now blocked.
Bob and Marianne move across the aisle.
Popcorn spills from Bob's container onto people he passes
on his way to the vacant seats. He steps on a woman's toes accidentally, and
she shrieks.
BOB
(apologetically)
Geez, I'm sorry.
Bob and Marianne settle into their seats. It's quiet for
a few moments as they watch the movie.
Bob reaches into his popcorn container and stuffs popcorn
in his mouth. He munches happily, then slurps soda through a straw.
MAN #6
(to Bob; shouting)
Hey,
shove that where the
sun
don't shine!
A woman seated behind Marianne squirms from side to side,
trying to see the screen over Marianne's big hair.
Marianne turns to Bob and kisses him noisily on his
cheek. Bob smiles at her and squeezes her thigh.
People seated around them mutter angrily. A MAN seated
directly behind Bob and Marianne leans over and shouts.
MAN
#7
(to Bob and Marianne)
Save
it, will ya!
Bob turns to Man #7 and smiles.
BOB
(to Man #7)
You're just jealous.
It's quiet for a few moments. Then we hear the crackling
of cellophane as Marianne opens her bag of potato chips.
People around her squirm and grumble.
Marianne munches on the chips, making crunching sounds.
An OLD MAN seated in front of Marianne turns and looks at
her viciously. Marianne offers him some chips.
MARIANNE
(holding out the bag of chips)
Have
a chip.
OLD MAN
(to Marianne)
Are
you ever going to shut up?
Marianne and Bob look offended.
It's quiet for a few moments. Marianne and Bob are
engrossed in watching a car chase on the movie screen.
Bob munches popcorn and slurps from his drink. Marianne
crunches potato chips contentedly and takes noisy sips from her drink.
We see the audience. They are no longer watching the
screen. Their angry eyes are riveted on Bob and Marianne.
Points to Remember:
Various parts of the descriptions and dialogue from the
unformatted writing exercise were changed slightly when being made into a
screenplay scene using proper screenplay formatting. These changes were used to
accommodate the extremely visual nature of the screenplay format.
Example:
Passage From
Unformatted Exercise:
Bob and Marianne walk into a dark movie theater. The
movie has already started, and nearly every seat is occupied.
Passage From
Formatted Version of Exercise:
INT. MOVIE THEATER - NIGHT
A crowded movie theater. Dark except for neon exit signs
over the doors and a large screen showing a feature film. The audience watches
the actors move across the screen, and we HEAR tense background MUSIC.
MARIANNE and BOB enter the theater through the back door.
Bob and Marianne are introduced in the first sentence of
the unformatted writing exercise. But, in the formatted version of the
exercise, it's necessary to describe the movie theater--the setting of the
scene--before introducing Bob and Marianne.
The reason is that the rules of screenplay formatting
require writers to use a scene heading at the beginning of each new scene. This
heading establishes the location of the scene and the time of day when the
scene takes place.
Therefore, we thought it only natural to describe the
location--the movie theater--before introducing Bob and Marianne, the main
characters.
One or two sentences about the location of a scene can
help establish a mood and make it possible to understand where people and things
are situated in that location.
Similarly, good use of dialogue can affect the pacing and
mood of a scene.
The unformatted version of the writing exercise only
hints at the dialogue that could be used, but the formatted version gives
specific lines of dialogue that are part of interactions between Bob and the
other movie theater patrons.
Example:
Passage From
Unformatted Exercise:
Bob apologizes, and other patrons tell him to "shut
up."
Passage From
Formatted Version of Exercise:
BOB
(loud)
Sorry! I'm really sorry!
MAN #1
(to Bob)
You
wanna lower your voice!
BOB
Sorry.
MAN #2
(to Bob)
Shut up!
MAN #3
(shouting)
Keep
it down, will ya!
A parenthetical description that appears below the name
of a character and precedes the character's dialogue may explain whom that
character is speaking to and describe the manner in which he speaks.
Example:
MAN #4
(to
Marianne; loud)
For
Chris sakes, lady!
SOUNDS the audience HEARS are written in all capital
letters.
Example:
The audience watches the actors move across the screen,
and we HEAR tense background MUSIC.
Sounds made by the characters themselves should not be
capitalized.
Example:
Marianne turns to Bob and kisses him noisily on his
cheek.
Authors Hillis R. Cole, Jr. and Judith H. Haag say in
their book, "The Complete Guide To Standard Script Formats," that
it's only necessary to capitalize "sounds which require some kind of
mechanical production."
Names of characters appear in all capital letters in a scene
description when those characters are first introduced.
Example:
MARIANNE and BOB enter the theater through the back door.
The next time Bob and Marianne are mentioned in a
description, their names are no longer written in all capital letters.
Example:
People seated in the third row stand to let Bob and
Marianne pass.
But characters' names are always written in all capital
letters for dialogue headings.
Example:
BOB
Sorry.
However, the names of characters who have no dialogue do
not appear in all capital letters.
Example:
A woman seated behind Marianne squirms from side to side,
trying to see the screen over Marianne's big hair.
The woman who is trying to see over Marianne's hair has
no dialogue, so her name isn't capitalized.
Dialogue is used sparingly in the formatted screenplay
scene about Bob and Marianne. The reason is that the actions of the couple show
everything we need to know about them.
These actions help give us a complete picture of their
personalities.
So, Bob and Marianne don't have to say very much. For
example, Marianne could turn to Bob and say, "I love you." Instead
she turns to him and kisses him noisily on his cheek.
This one action shows us how Marianne feels about Bob and
shows how oblivious Marianne and Bob are to the people around them.
Every scene in a screenplay is a unit of action and
should explain who, what, when , where, and why. Does your scene answer all of
these questions? If so, your writing is moving in the right direction.
Source : FilmmakerIQ.com
Source : FilmmakerIQ.com
