Reader Questions and Answers on Screenplay Format and Style
Yesterday I answered a question about screenplay format — Is there a current screenplay formatting ‘norm’? — and as I always do, I checked the site’s Reader Question archive to see if I’d already covered it and was reminded as I scrolled down the list…
HOLY CRAP, I’VE ANSWERED A LOT OF QUESTIONS!!!
To wit, here are just some of the GITS posts I’ve done over the years responding to your questions about format and style:
Format and Style
Are there any script rules that really shouldn’t be broken?
Do I HAVE to use INT/EXT — LOCATION — DAY/NIGHT in scene headings?
How consistent should the tone in scene description be?
How do I know if it’s too much or too little scene description?
How do you handle one character with different names?
How much do I need to focus on “stylized writing”?
How to handle capitalization in scene description?
How to handle characters speaking in a foreign language?
How to handle dialogue happening under voice-over?
How to handle passage of time in a script?
How to handle scene in blackness?
How to handle songs in a screenplay?
How to misdirect a reader in scene description?
How to write “unwriteable moments of a film” in a screenplay?
Is an 80-page spec script too short?
Is it okay for there to be more action lines in an action script?
Is it okay / advisable to put a logline on the script’s title page?
Is it okay to include an image in a spec script?
Is it necessary to have scene description before dialogue in a scene?
Is there a danger of having an Act One that is too short?
Should I use “is” construction verbs or not?
Sluglines and character intros?
What about a credit sequence at the beginning of a spec script?
What about a credit sequence in a spec script?’
What about a flashback as a ‘flashpresent’?
What about a revelation flashback?
What about breaking screenwriting style / format rules?
What about capitalizing sounds in spec scripts?
What about “establishing shots” and “establishing scenes”?
What about screenplay page count?
What about showing a character’s emotions in action description?
What about submitting a 187-page script?
What about using (CONT’D) in separated dialogue?
What about using a flashback / flash-forward as a prologue?
What does a secondary slugline/shot look like?
What guidelines are there for using scene headings / primary slug lines?
What information should I include on my script title page?
What is the absolute limit on script page count?
What is the difference between a montage and a series of shots?
What to do with a 70 page screenplay?
What’s the best way to master writing a particular type of dialogue?
What’s the structural difference between a play, a screenplay, and a teleplay?
When writing do you paint a visual picture through your action lines?
Mind you, this is just questions about format and style. The archive covers a slew of subjects ranging from Character Development to the Business of Screenwriting, the Writing Life to the Writing Process, and much more.
To access the Reader Question archive, go here.