Page One: ‘Psycho’ (1960)

Screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on the novel by Robert Bloch

The movie version of the scene:

When I tweeted this yesterday, it created a bit of a ruckus.

This almost always happens when I post a script excerpt from the 1930s through 1960s, even into the 1970s: Thick blocks of scene description. Also specific or implied camera shots via the use of we see or we move.

Script format is important, of course, but as screenplay style is ever evolving, what’s more critical is the content.

Reading through the thread of tweets, I was inspired to try an experiment: Take the scene description as written by screenwriter Joseph Stefano and see if I could break it up into paragraphs with no more than three lines each.

Why three lines? There is no rule on the subject, but if you read contemporary screenplays, more often than not, scene description paragraphs are rarely longer than three lines. Let’s see how my little experiment turned out!

I had to make a few alterations to the content to squeeze some paragraphs down to three lines. An ellipsis and double dash here and there. But it’s very much the scene description Stefano crafted.

What do you think? Which is more readable?

As to the whole we see / we hear / we move subject, how there’s some supposed rule against using them, I wrote an article on it: So-Called Screenwriting Rule: Do not use ‘we see / we hear’.

Takeaway: Be mindful of current script reader and development executive sensibilities when it comes to screenplay format and style, but the primary focus should be on the content, particularly in evoking emotion.

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.

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