Dialogue consists of three parts: 1) the name of the character who is speaking; 2) the words that are spoken; and 3) any parenthetical direction related to how the line is spoken or what the character is doing during the speech.
1LOUISE
3(rifling her purse)
2Where did I put that check?
Where is it?!
The first and simplest rule here is that a character’s name over dialogue should remain consistent throughout a script. With large numbers of speaking characters in a cast, this isn’t always easy to achieve. The name of a character introduced as CAPTAIN MILFORD BROOKS shouldn’t appear over dialogue first as CAPTAIN, later as CAPT. BROOKS, and later still as BROOKS. Choose one name for each character and use it consistently over dialogue.
Sometimes, a character’s name over dialogue must change. When that happens, it is done in a clear and orderly way. Say a character has been introduced as FEMALE SURGEON and that name appears over her dialogue:
A FEMALE SURGEON strides into the operating room.
FEMALE SURGEON
I’m going to need coffee, black,
stat! That plate of egg rolls
from the lounge! And a breath mint
for the anesthesiologist!
Later, we learn the surgeon’s name and decide to switch to using that name over dialogue. We do it like this:
SURGICAL NURSE
(rolling his eyes)
Good morning, Dr. Crump.
CRUMP (FEMALE SURGEON
’Morning, sunshine.
Crump picks up a scalpel and goes to work.
CRUMP
Keep those breath mints coming.
The first time a character’s new name appears over dialogue, the old name appears beside it in parentheses. From then on, the new name is used alone over dialogue. The change has been made in a way that confuses no one.
A group of minor characters, say guards or doctors, may be introduced and have only a small number of lines. These characters sometimes never receive individual names like Sal or Throckmorton. They’re simply Guard One, Guard Two and Guard Three. Or First Doctor, Second Doctor and Third Doctor. Or Assassin #1, Assassin #2 and Assassin #3. Any of these numbering schemes is acceptable. Simply be consistent:
ASSASSIN #1
Where are the bullets?
ASSASSIN #2
I thought you had the bullets!
ASSASSIN #3
We have no bullets?!
Sometimes a group of characters speak together, all saying the same thing, and a plural or group name over dialogue is used:
The MARINES respond in unison.
MARINES
Semper fi!
It is also possible to use a plural name over dialogue for a group of characters who speak simultaneous but distinct lines:
REPORTERS swarm around the mayor.
REPORTERS
Mr. Mayor!/How do you respond to
the charges?/Will you have to
drop out of the campaign?/Do you
deny the allegations?
This is the simplest way to handle short bursts of simultaneous dialogue. A more involved method is described later, under the heading Double, triple or quadruple dialogue.
Just like with shot headings, when names like McDonald’s and DeVries appear over dialogue, capitalize like this:
MCDONALD’S MANAGER
C’mon, c’mon. Who’s on registers?
DEVRIES
Ciao now, brown cow.
Often dialogue is spoken by characters who aren’t visible onscreen at the time their voices are heard. When this happens, the abbreviation V.O. or O.S. appears beside the character name over dialogue. Where and when each designation applies has been a source of great confusion among writers. The rule is this: When a character is physically present in a scene but is simply outside the view of the camera while speaking, he is offscreen and the abbreviation O.S. applies. The abbreviation V.O. applies in every other case: voices heard over telephones, answering machines, tape recorders, TVs, loudspeakers and radios, the voices of narrators, voices that overlap from preceding or following scenes and voices originating in memory, imagination or hallucination. The abbreviations V.O. and O.S. appear beside the character name, capitalized, with periods, enclosed in parentheses.
Melissa pushes play on her ANSWERING MACHINE. There’s a BEEP, then:
MRS. TEAGUE (V.O.)
Melissa? Melissa, it’s Mom. If
you’re there, pick up. Sweetheart,
it’s an emergency. Your daddy cut
up all my plastic again.
The sun rises over Walton’s Mountain.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
That was the last time John Boy
ever saw his uncle. But he never
forgot the man. Or the lesson he
had taught.
NEWS ANCHOR (V.O.)
… Authorities say that the
storm is expected to strike about
midnight tonight.
Nick snaps up the RINGING PHONE.
NICK
This is Nick.
MARY (V.O.)
(on phone)
It’s me. I’m still waiting.
Jake tumbles through space, the helmet of his space suit shattered, his face a mask of terror, as the space ship drifts away from him.
MOM (V.O.)
Jake. Wake up, Jake. You’re going
to miss the school bus.
INT. JAKE’S BEDROOM — MORNING
His eyes snap open and he looks up at his longsuffering Mom. Gives her a gueasy smile.
All of the above examples are designated V.O. because the voice comes from somewhere outside the physical location of the scene. In the next example, the voice originates nearby, but outside the view of the camera, and is therefore designated O.S.:
Queeg turns at the sound of Ned calling from outside the locked door.
NED (O.S.)
I’ll break down this door, you
don’t open it. Don’t think I
won’t.
An older, less common but still legitimate method of handling offscreen voices and voice overs is to use the word “voice” beside the unseen speaker’s name:
MARY’S VOICE
(on phone)
It’s me. I’m still waiting.
NED’S VOICE
I’ll break down this door,
you don’t open it. Don’t think
that I won’t.
When this method is used, offscreen voices and voice overs are handled identically. Whichever method you decide to use, use it consistently throughout the script.
The actual words that characters speak comprise the vital heart of dialogue. Several guidelines apply. First, for the sake of the actors who will say them, spell out every spoken word. Instead of “Lt.” type “Lieutenant.” Instead of “St.” type “Street.” Or perhaps “Saint”:
ZUZU
Lieutenant Gi lives on Saint
Street.
Characters speak in a manner consistent with who they are. Their grammar isn’t always correct. Their sentences aren’t always complete. They talk like real people talk. Consequently, incorrect grammar is common and acceptable in dialogue:
SNAKE
Ain’t nobody gonna stop me.
Nonstandard spellings may be used when they serve to describe a unique way a character pronounces a word:
AGENT GUTHRIE
I plan to shoot that fat Eye-talian
Al Capone.
Accents can be suggested by judiciously modifying the spellings of words.
TEX
We’re fixin’ to do some dumpster
divin’.
A strong word of caution here: When this sort of thing is overdone, it’s murder to read. An accent can be suggested with word choices and syntax as well as spelling changes, and a little goes a very long way.
To give a word or group of words in dialogue special force or emphasis, underscore them:
MICAH
Not this one. That one.
SCHMIDT
Go ahead. Call your New York
lawyer. We will bury you.
As with underlining in direction, underscoring of multiple words is always continuous (not We will bury you). Notice also that the punctuation at the end of the sentence doesn’t get underscored.
If you want to give even greater force to a word or group of words in dialogue, combine capitalization with the underscoring:
SGT. LITTLE
Fire your weapons! FIRE!!!
Don’t use bold or italics. This rule dates to the era when scripts were typed on Underwoods and boldface and italic type weren’t practical. It continues to make sense today because when an original print of a script is photocopied, as it will be if it’s widely read, bold and italics can come to look more and more like regular type and the intended emphasis is lost.
Initials and acronyms occurring in dialogue should be typed in all capital letters. Initials are typed with periods to indicate to the actor that the letters are to be pronounced individually:
Acronyms are typed without periods to indicate that they are to be pronounced as words:
SMYTHE
He left FEMA to run an AIDS
clinic.
This can be an extremely helpful pronunciation aid when the terms are technical and relatively unfamiliar:
DR. BECKETT
Push the V-ZIG I.M. before the
G.C.S.F., which is given sub-Q.
The above guidelines notwithstanding, some initials (e.g. TV and FBI) are so familiar that they present no risk of confusion even without periods and no harm is done if the periods are omitted.
Unless the word is already hyphenated (e.g. sister-in-law), don’t break words at the right margin of dialogue with a hyphen. Instead, move the entire word to the next line and keep it intact. Your actors will thank you. (A necessary exception occurs when a word is so long it can’t possibly fit within the margins of dialogue. Sadly, very few such words actually exist.)
Parenthetical character direction refers to words of direction contained in parentheses within a line of dialogue:
JONAH
(absolutely terrified)
Why shouldn’t you throw me
overboard?
(eyeing the angry
water)
I can’t swim. And I’ve a fear
of fish.
SHIPMATE
And we’ve a fear of drowning.
(looks at his fellow
sailors; smiles)
Five principle rules govern parenthetical character direction:
Include in parenthetical direction only a description of how a line is spoken or what the character is doing while the line is being spoken. Never include direction for anyone other than the character actually speaking. Never include technical direction such as sound effects or camera direction. All of the following are INCORRECT:
ALYSE
(Mike enters)
Hey, what’s up?
(Mike ignores her)
Hell-o. Earth to Mike.
TREVOR
(PHONE RINGS)
Trevor Trotter speaking.
GRIFFIN
Stay right there.
(steps OUT OF FRAME,
returns)
I got you this book.
All of what appears in parentheses above should be pulled out and placed in regular direction:
Mike enters.
ALYSE
Hey, what’s up?
Mike ignores her.
ALYSE
Hell-o. Earth to Mike.
Never capitalize the first letter of parenthetical direction or add a period at the end. Punctuation consists primarily of commas and semicolons, never a dash, never an ellipsis, and never a final period.
Instead of this:
HAMLET
(Relishing the famous
line.)
To be or not to be.
Do this, lower-casing the first letter and omitting the final punctuation:
HAMLET
(relishing the famous
line)
To be or not to be.
Instead of this:
NIXON
(points to recorder …
signals Haldeman to keep
quiet — smiles)
I just had the new tape system
installed. Have to look out for my
place in history, you know.
Do this, replacing the ellipsis and dash with semicolons:
NIXON
(points to recorder;
signals Haldeman to keep
quiet; smiles)
I just had the new tape system
installed. Have to look out for my
place in history, you know.
As in the example above, multiple directions can be linked with semicolons:
SGT. SLICK
Hey, Jerry!
(waits a beat; throws
grenade; ducks)
Catch this.
A colon is also sometimes used:
CENSUS WORKER
(re: clipboard)
Sign here.
On rare occasions a question mark or exclamation point is used:
DEFENDANT
(gulp!)
I’d love to have dinner with
you, Your Honor.
SHEILA
(what, me worry?)
Bring it on.
Don’t start parenthetical direction with “he” or “she.” It’s understood.
Instead of this:
SHERIFF
(he draws his gun)
Stop right there.
Do this:
SHERIFF
(draws his gun)
Stop right there.
Don’t let parenthetical direction run to more than four lines.
Instead of this:
ROBBIE
Let me show you something.
(opens drawer, pulls
out three brightly
colored balls and
starts to juggle;
drops one and starts
again; a little
embarrassed)
I’m still learning.
Do this:
ROBBIE
Let me show you something.
He opens a drawer, pulls out three brightly colored balls and starts to juggle. He drops one and starts again.
ROBBIE
(a little embarrassed)
I’m still learning.
Don’t place parenthetical direction at the end of a speech.
Instead of this:
JOJO
(laughing)
Don’t you just wish.
(touches his arm)
Do this:
JOJO
(laughing)
Don’t you just wish.
She touches his arm.
An important exception to this rule, as writer John August has pointed out, occurs in scripts for animation, where speeches commonly end in parenthetical directions like “(sigh)” and “(nervous laugh).”
Three terms get heavy use in parenthetical direction: sotto voce, beat and re:.
Sotto voce is Italian for “soft voice” and is used in parenthetical direction to instruct an actor to deliver a line quietly or under his breath:
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
I can’t tell you how happy I am
to be in North Dakota today.
(fake smile; sotto voce)
Because I’m not.
Sotto voce is sometimes shortened to just “sotto”:
BURGLAR
(sotto)
Hand me that crowbar.
A beat is a script term meaning a short pause. It appears often in both direction and parenthetical character direction:
NICHOLS
Let’s walk.
(beat)
On second thought, let’s ride.
Beats come in several flavors:
SAMPSON
(short beat)
Why not?
DELILAH
(long beat; shakes
her head)
We’re dead.
RUNNING HORSE
Know what I think?
(two full beats;
grins)
Hell, I don’t even know what I
think.
Z
(half a beat too
slow)
Of course I love you.
The term “re:” appears often in parenthetical direction, meaning “with regard to”:
WHITE
(re: his haircut)
What d’ya think?
When dialogue is in a foreign language, it can be written in the desired language, like this:
LARS OLE
Hvor er du, Hans?
If you want the foreign dialogue to be subtitled, indicate that in parenthetical direction, in lower case letters, then type the dialogue in English, saving yourself years of foreign language study:
LARS OLE
(in Norwegian;
subtitled)
Where are you, Hans?
If an entire conversation is subtitled, that can be indicated in direction, in all caps, preceding the exchange:
The men speak in German with SUBTITLES:
HELMUT
Have you ever seen a U-boat?
WERNER
Never. But isn’t that the whole
idea?
Unless the movie is a musical, type the song lyrics in upper and lower case letters, enclosed in quotation marks. Observe the lyrical line endings by wrapping the ends of long lines and indenting the wrapped text two spaces:
TEX
“Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging
word
And the skies are not cloudy all
day.”
If the movie is a musical, type song lyrics in all capital letters, without quotation marks or ending punctuation:
TEX
HOME, HOME ON THE RANGE
WHERE THE DEER AND THE ANTELOPE PLAY
WHERE SELDOM IS HEARD A DISCOURAGING
WORD
AND THE SKIES ARE NOT CLOUDY ALL
DAY
Never break a page in the middle of a sentence in dialogue. Always split the page between sentences, add (MORE) at the bottom of the page, and (CONT’D) beside the character name at the top of the following page:
FRANCONI
The treatment lasts just over
a year.
(MORE)
—-page break—-
FRANCONI (CONT’D)
It starts with fractionated
radiotherapy combined with a
chemotherapeutic agent.
Not:
FRANCONI
The treatment lasts just over
a year. It starts with
(MORE)
—-page break—-
FRANCONI (CONT’D)
fractionated radiotherapy
combined with a chemotherapeutic
agent.
Never break dialogue with parenthetical direction at the bottom of the page. Instead, carry the parenthetical direction to the top of the following page, like this:
Vincristine. It’s given outpatient.
Intravenously.
(MORE)
—-page break—-
FRANCONI (CONT’D)
(writing it down)
Vincristine. Look up the side
effects.
Not:
FRANCONI
Vincristine. It’s given outpatient.
Intravenously.
(writing it down)
(MORE)
—-page break—-
FRANCONI (CONT’D)
Vincristine. Look up the side
effects.
In years past, it was customary when a character’s speech resumed after being broken by direction to indicate that it was a continuing speech. This was accomplished by adding (cont’d) or (CONT’D) beside the character name or the word “continuing” in parenthetical direction beneath the character name. It was done like this:
JONESY
Come in. Sit down.
The PHONE RINGS.
JONESY (CONT’D)
I’ll get that.
Or:
JONESY
Come in. Sit down.
Or:
JONESY
Come in. Sit down.
The PHONE RINGS.
JONESY
(continuing)
Come in. Sit down.
In each case, the determining factor was that the same character was continuing to speak, direction notwithstanding, without an intervening speech by another character.
Marking continuing speeches ceased to be standard practice in Hollywood in the 1980s. The practice made a resurgence years later, with the advent of script software that, through a programming quirk, defaulted to include (cont’d) beside the character name.
Writers now have a choice. If your script software is set to add (cont’d) or (CONT’D) or (continuing) when a speech is broken by direction, you can leave it that way because readers are accustomed to seeing it. You can also feel free to turn it off. I prefer to omit (cont’d) beside the character name in order to save words and streamline my scripts.
(An important caveat: The one place the inclusion of (CONT’D) beside the character name remains mandatory is in multi-camera television format.)
As a more flexible alternative to group dialogue, as described earlier, when multiple characters speak at the same time their dialogue can be typed in side-by-side columns like this:
SLADKEY | BROWN |
I told him but he didn’t listen. He never listens. (not listening) What do you want me to do? |
I told you exactly what to say. I told you what to do if he didn’t listen. Why don’t you ever listen? |
Complete, separate conversations can run in parallel columns:
SLADKEY
Is Manny there?
MARIA (V.O.)
He’s at the mill.
SLADKEY
Really? I thought he was
working nights now.
MARIA (V.O.)
He’s filling in for
someone out sick.
SLADKEY
Tell him I called.
LISZT
I’m calling from Doctor
Brockman’s office.
JUNE (V.O.)
Are my results back?
LISZT
Not yet. There was a
mix-up at the lab. We
need you to come back
for another blood draw.
JUNE (V.O.)
Ah no. You’re kidding
me.
Two, three, four and even five characters can speak simultaneously:
SLADKEY
Kids, I’m home. Who wants
pizza?
RACHEL | HOPE | PETER |
Where’s it from? | I want sausage. | I’m not hungry. |
Sladkey opens the box on the counter.
SLADKEY
Just get in here. I got
pepperoni.
RACHEL | HOPE | PETER | EMILY |
From where? | Not sausage? | I’m not hungry! | Yeah!!! |
SLADKEY
Where’s Pam?
Pam enters from the bathroom.
PAM | RACHEL | HOPE | PETER | EMILY |
Here I am! | Pam who? | Pam hates pizza. |
Pam owes me five dollars! |
Yeah, Pam!!! |
Bear in mind that simultaneous dialogue can be tedious to read and should be used sparingly.
Margins for simultaneous dialogue are as follows:
Dialogue
First speaker
Left margin is 1.9″
Right margin is 4.5″
Second speaker
Left margin is 4.0″
Right margin is 2.0″
Character name over dialogue
First speaker
Left margin is 2.7″
Second speaker
Left margin is 5.2″
Dialogue
First speaker
Left margin is 1.7″
Right margin is 5.3″
Second speaker
Left margin is 3.5″
Right margin is 3.5″
Third speaker
Left margin is 5.3″
Right margin is 1.7″
Character name over dialogue
First speaker
Left margin is 2.2″
Second speaker
Left margin is 4.0″
Third speaker
Left margin is 5.8″
Dialogue
First speaker
Left margin is 1.6″
Right margin is 5.8″
Second speaker
Left margin is 3.0″
Right margin is 4.4″
Third speaker
Left margin is 4.4″
Right margin is 3.0″
Fourth speaker
Left margin is 5.8″
Right margin is 1.6″
Character name over dialogue
First speaker
Left margin is 1.9″
Second speaker
Left margin is 3.3″
Third speaker
Left margin is 4.7″
Fourth speaker
Left margin is 6.1″
Don’t actors hate parenthetical character directions? Don’t they just sit down with their script and cross them all out?
Urn, no. But you’ll hear absolute pronouncements to that effect. The truth is that professional writers use parentheticals all the time. John Wells, former president of the Writers Guild of America West and the show runner behind the series China Beach, ER, Third Watch, and, in its later seasons, The West Wing, is a prolific user of parentheticals. But he doesn’t use them to give actors instructions about how to deliver their lines, obvious things like “(angrily)” or “(brooding).” Instead, he uses parentheticals like “(and)” and “(then)” for rhythm and pacing, to break up longer speeches into their discrete emotional movements. He uses them like a poet uses line length.
Consider the way parentheticals are used in the following passage:
EXT. MOUNTAIN FIRE ROAD — DAY
Jackie and Sylvia hike along a ridge above Malibu.
He wants to meet? Where?
JACKIE
A restaurant up in the Valley.
SYLVIA
Are you going to do it?
JACKIE
No!
(then)
I don’t know.
(then)
Should I?
SYLVIA
Well. Where do you want this
thing to go?
JACKIE
What do you mean?
SYLVIA
I mean, are you really that
unhappy with David?
Jackie stops walking. She drinks from a water bottle and looks out toward the Pacific.
JACKIE
I’m not going to leave him. I’ll
never do that to my kids.
SYLVIA
Till death do you part.
(beat)
So what are you looking for here?
JACKIE
Oh God, Sylvia, it feels so good
to be talking to a man at this
level again. I’ve been so alone
for so long and I didn’t even
know it.
(beat)
Couldn’t it be better for
everyone? If I could be happy
like that again?
SYLVIA
(takes a long drink)
Know what I think?
(wicked smile)
You should just run off with this
guy. And I’ll move into your
house and take over your life.
Legitimate uses of parenthetical character direction include:
to break up a long speech visually, or for the purposes of pacing
to clarify the feeling with which a line is spoken when it’s not apparent from the context, or when it’s the opposite of what would otherwise be expected
to describe an action a character takes in the midst of a speech
No actor is likely to cross out parenthetical direction of this kind.
Do you know anyone named Fred?
Yes.
I want the audience to hear the dialogue from a scene before we actually cut to the scene. I think it’s called a pre-lap voice over. How do I do that?
Like this:
EXT. SINCLAIR HOUSE — NIGHT
A strange, impossible view. The CAMERA FLOATS bizarrely ABOVE the Sinclair house, LOOKING DOWN as if from a dream. The quiet is broken by a CHILD’S CRY.
CHARLIE (V.O.)
I know it was a dream but —
INT. CHARLIE’S BEDROOM — NIGHT
A sleepy Zoe sits on the bed rubbing Charlie’s back. He looks at Jackie with eyes filled with fear.
Don’t you remember last summer
when I dreamed Whisper died —
then he got hit by a oar?
Was that you that day in Helsinki?
Possibly. Was that you?