By Elaine Radford
You've plotted your story, developed your characters, and
written a scene-by-scene outline of your story. Now you're ready to write it in
professional screenplay format.
Keep in mind that a screenplay is visual and your
characters' actions move the story forward from scene to scene. Actions show
the audience what it needs to know. Your characters' dialogue supports the
actions. Seeing a character do something is far more powerful than having him
or her talk about it.
Think of a scene as a unit of action. In each scene, define
who (character or characters), what (situation), when (time of day), where
(place of action), and why (purpose of the action).
Scene Headings: Each time your characters move to a
different setting, a new scene heading is required.
Scene headings are typed on one line with some words
abbreviated and all words capitalized.
Authors Hillis R. Cole, Jr. and Judith H. Haag say in their
book, "The Complete Guide To Standard Script Formats," that "the
various elements of a scene heading must be arranged in a specific order."
Specifically, the location of a scene is listed before the
time of day when the scene takes place.
Example: A scene set inside a hospital emergency room at
night would have the following heading:
INT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT
Interior is always abbreviated INT. and exterior is
abbreviated EXT. A small dash (hyphen on your keyboard) separates the location
of the scene from the time of day. Leave
a two-line space following the scene heading before writing your scene
description.
Scene descriptions are typed across the page from left
margin to right margin.
Names of characters are displayed in all capital letters the
first time they are used in a description, and these names always use all
capital letters in a dialogue heading.
Example:
CATHY sits at the end of the first row of plastic chairs.
Her head is bent over, and she stares intently at the floor.
The names of characters who have no dialogue are not
capitalized when mentioned in scene descriptions.
Example:
A man moans softly as he presses a bloody gauze pad against
his forehead. A woman cradles a listless infant in her arms.
Sounds the audience will hear are capitalized (eg, ROAR or
WHISTLE). In "The Complete Guide To Standard Script Formats," authors
Cole and Haag state: "Sounds made by characters are not considered sound
cues and do not require capitalization."
Dialogue is centered on the page under the character's name,
which is always in all capital letters when used as a dialogue heading.
Example:
DOCTOR
I'm
sorry…
If you describe the way a character looks or speaks before
the dialogue begins or as it begins, this is typed below the character's name
in parentheses.
Example:
DOCTOR
(apologetically)
We
did everything possible.
Here is an example of a complete scene in the screenplay
format:
INT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT
A crowded hospital emergency waiting room. Clean but
cheerless.
Sick and injured people sit in plastic chairs lined up in
rows. A TV mounted near the ceiling
BLARES a sitcom. No one is watching.
A man moans softly as he presses a bloody gauze pad against
his forehead. A woman cradles a listless infant in
her arms.
CATHY sits at the end of the first row of plastic chairs.
Her head is bent over, and she stares intently at the floor.
She raises her head slowly, brushes her long, silky hair
away from her face.
We see fear in her eyes as they focus on a clock that hangs
above the front desk. She twists a tissue between her fingers and is unaware
that bits of it are falling on the floor.
The door to the emergency treatment room opens, and a
middle-aged DOCTOR dressed in hospital
green walks through the door toward Cathy, who bolts out of the chair and
hurries toward him.
DOCTOR
(apologetically)
We
did everything possible.
CATHY
(gasps)
What are you saying?
DOCTOR
I'm
sorry…
CATHY
(screaming)
No!
All eyes in the waiting room are riveted on Cathy and the
Doctor. Cathy lunges at the Doctor, beating her fists against his chest.
CATHY (CONT'D)
(shouting)
You
killed him!
Our scene ends here with Cathy's last words, but it could
continue with more dialogue and action. Note that (CONT'D), the abbreviation
for continued, is added in parentheses next to Cathy's name above. CONT'D is
added here because Cathy has just spoken and is continuing to speak. Her
dialogue was interrupted by a description of other actions, not by another
character's dialogue.
To make sure you use the correct tab settings, it's
advisable to use one of the excellent screenplay formatting programs available
for your home PC. Such programs include Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 and Final
Draft, both of which make the job of formatting your screenplay much easier.
Even if you use screenwriting software, it's important to
have a working knowledge of screenplay formatting so that your presentation
copy looks thoroughly professional.
We recommend that you read professional screenplays and
familiarize yourself with formatting. However, many published screenplays are
shooting scripts and contain camera directions.
As a screenwriter, you are not required to indicate camera
shots. In fact, it's not advisable to do this because it's the job of the film
director, not the screenwriter.
Formatting Exercise: Format the situation described below
into a screenplay scene. Use correct scene heading, action descriptions,
dialogue, and parenthetical descriptions for characters' dialogue.
Situation: Bob and Marianne walk into a dark movie theater.
The movie has already started, and nearly every seat is occupied. Bob, a tall,
stocky young man, carries a super-sized box of popcorn and a super-sized drink.
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, scouting for
seats while Bob struggles to see her in the dark. He stumbles over his own big
sneakers, and popcorn spills from the container onto several patrons seated
near the aisle. Bob apologizes, and other patrons tell him to "shut
up." Marianne waves to Bob from the front of the theater. She's found two
seats up front. She calls out to Bob and waves frantically. A variety of
comments are heard from other patrons.
Bob catches up to Marianne, and they move across the row to their seats.
Bob steps on a woman's toes, and she shrieks. He apologizes. Bob and Marianne
finally settle into their seats. He munches his popcorn happily and slurps his
big drink. A woman seated behind Marianne squirms to see the screen above
Marianne's big hair. Marianne turns toward Bob and kisses him noisily on his
cheek. He smiles and squeezes her thigh. A man seated behind Bob says something
unkind. Bob turns around, smiles, and tells the man he must be jealous. It's
quiet for a few moments.
Marianne begins opening her bag of potato chips. A man
seated in front of her turns around and looks at her viciously. Marianne offers
him a chip, but he declines. Marianne
munches contentedly on her chips and sips from her big drink as she watches the
screen. The audience is no longer watching the screen. Their angry eyes have settled on Bob and
Marianne.
