CONTENTS

Foreword by Antwone Fisher

Introduction

Quick Start Guide

Avoiding a Dozen Deadly Formatting Mistakes

   FAQs about Ten Things and Deadly Mistakes

Spec Scripts vs. Production Drafts

Single-Camera Film Format

   The four building blocks of single-camera film format

   Margins and fonts for single-camera film format

          Standard single-camera film format margins

          Are script pages printed on one side of the page or two?

          Script page template

Shot Headings

   An important caveat

   The five parts of a shot heading

          Interior or exterior

          Location

          Type of shot

               Closeup

               Extreme closeup

               Insert shot

               Wide shot

               Medium shot

               Two and three shot

               Establishing shot

               Tracking and moving shot

               Aerial shot

               Underwater shot

               New angle

               Up angle and down angle

               High angle and low angle

               Reverse angle

               POV shot

               Handheld shot

          Subject of shot

          Time of day

   How to arrange the information in a shot heading

   How to decide what information to include in shot headings

   How to decide when to create a new shot heading

   What NOT to include in a shot heading

   Formatting specialized sequences

          Flashbacks and dream sequences

          Ending a flashback or dream sequence

          Montages and series of shots

          Intercut sequences

          Split screen sequences

   Capitalizing McDonald’s and DeVries in shot headings

   Breaking a page after a shot heading

   Spacing between shots and scenes

   A rogues’ gallery of nonstandard shot headings

   FAQs about shot headings

Direction

   Paragraphing in direction

   Breaking a page in the middle of direction

   Capitalization in direction

          Introducing a speaking character

               How to handle the reintroduction of a speaking character who appears at various ages

          Describing sound effects and offscreen sounds

          Describing camera direction

               The expressions “into frame,” “out of frame,” “into view” and “out of view”

               Freeze frame

          A handful of exceptions to prove the rule

               Superimpositions

               Ad libs

               Capitalized abbreviations

               Signs, banners and headlines

          Capitalizing the first letter of direction following a shot heading

          What NOT to capitalize: EVERYTHING ELSE

   Underscoring in direction

   Breaking words with a hyphen in direction

   Text messages and instant messages

   Caller ID

   Email

   FAQs about direction

Dialogue

   Character name over dialogue

          Changing a character’s name over dialogue

          Numbered names over dialogue

          Group names over dialogue

          Capitalizing McDonald’s and DeVries over dialogue

          V.O. and O.S.: When we don’t see the person talking

          Using “voice” instead of V.O. and O.S.

   The words that are spoken

          Grammar, accents and colloquial speech

          Emphasizing words in dialogue

          Initials and acronyms in dialogue

          Breaking words with a hyphen in dialogue

   Parenthetical character direction

          Five rules of parenthetical character direction

          Sotto voce, beat, re:

   Foreign language dialogue and subtitles

   Song lyrics in dialogue

   Breaking a page in the middle of dialogue

   Adding (cont’d), (CONT’D) or (continuing) when a speech is broken by direction

   Double, triple and quadruple dialogue

         Margins for simultaneous dialogue

              Two simultaneous speakers

              Three simultaneous speakers

              Four simultaneous speakers

   FAQs about dialogue

Transitions

   Fades

   Cuts

   Dissolves

   Wipes

   Breaking a page at a transition

Punctuation

   Period

   Ellipsis

   Dash

   Hyphen

   Quotation marks

   Underscoring

   Punctuation and capitalization in direct address

The Evolution of a Script from First Draft to Production Draft

   CONTINUEDs at the tops and bottoms of pages

   Scene numbers

         When scene numbers are locked

         Omitted scenes

         Numbering “A” scenes

   Colored paper

   Revision marks

   Full drafts vs. revised pages

         Revision slugs

         Deleting material from revised pages

         “A” pages

         Runs of revised pages

         Managing page numbers when a script is revised

         Title pages distributed with revisions

Special Pages

   Title pages

         Title

         Name(s) and credit of the writer(s)

               Name

               Credit

         Contact information

         Draft and date

         Copyright notice

         When a script is based on other material or on a true story

   Cast pages

   Sets pages

   First pages

   Last pages

   Act breaks

Multi-Camera Film Format

   A million-dollar tip

   Standard multi-camera film format margins

   Shot headings

   Direction

         Underscoring character entrances and exits

         Underscoring camera direction

   Dialogue

         Using (CONT’D) when dialogue continues after an interruption

   Parenthetical character direction

   Transitions

   Sound cues

   Character listings

   Scene numbers or letters

         First page of a scene

         Subsequent pages

   First pages of acts

         Page one

         First pages of subsequent acts

         Last page of each act

   Breaking pages

         No CONTINUEDs

         Breaking dialogue

         Breaking direction

         Breaking near a sound cue

         Breaking near a shot heading

         Breaking before a scene transition

Unleashing the Power of Script Typing Software

   Back in the day

   Flash forward to the wireless future

   What computers can’t do

   Choosing the right software

         Do-it-yourself software solutions

         Commercial script software

   Don’t let the autopilot fly you into the ground

   Mac vs. PC

   Printers

   Backup

         While you’re writing

         When you quit for the day

         At least once a week

         File-naming protocol

         When to change the file version number

Search and Destroy: The Scourge of Typos and the Power of Proofreading

A Final Word

Appendix A: Single-camera film format sample script pages

Appendix B: Multi-camera film format sample script pages

Appendix C: Title, cast and sets sample pages

Index

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