How to write and format screenplays like a pro! Script writing tips and tricks
Summary
TLDRThis video script offers an insightful guide on crafting a professional screenplay, emphasizing its foundational role in filmmaking. It delves into the historical standardization by Hollywood studios and provides practical advice on software selection, such as Writer Duet and Microsoft Word. The tutorial meticulously explains screenplay formatting, including slug lines, action descriptions, character introductions, dialogue formatting, and scene transitions. It also touches on the use of direction for actors and the importance of not including music details, leaving that to composers and directors. The host encourages aspiring filmmakers to utilize lockdown time to practice screenplay writing, suggesting Writer Duet as a free tool to kickstart their filmmaking journey.
Takeaways
- 🎬 The screenplay is crucial as it's the first step in filmmaking, preceding storyboarding, casting, and other processes.
- 📝 Screenplay formatting standardization emerged in the 1930s and 1940s due to Hollywood studio system practices.
- 💻 Various software options exist for writing screenplays, including free versions and those that require premium subscriptions.
- ✏️ Screenplays are formatted with Courier size 12 font, with one page typically equating to one minute of screen time.
- 📑 A slug line begins a scene, indicating if it's an interior or exterior shot, the location, and the time of day.
- 🏞️ Action descriptions in a screenplay are written in the present tense and detail what happens in the scene.
- 🗣️ Dialogue is centered on the page, with character names in capital letters, and can include direction on delivery in brackets.
- 🔄 Transitions between scenes are noted on the right margin, using terms like 'Cut To' or 'Back To'.
- 🎵 Music and sound are typically not detailed in the screenplay, as this is the responsibility of the composer and director.
- 📚 The tutorial encourages aspiring filmmakers to practice screenplay writing using free tools like Writer Duet.
Q & A
Why is the screenplay considered the first step in the filmmaking process?
-The screenplay is considered the first step in the filmmaking process because it lays out the story, characters, and dialogue that will be used in the film. It precedes storyboarding, casting, costume design, and other aspects of production, providing a blueprint for the entire film.
What is the significance of standardized screenplay formatting?
-Standardized screenplay formatting is significant because it originated from the Hollywood system in the 1930s and 1940s, where big studios like Paramount and MGM streamlined and standardized filmmaking processes. This consistency allows for easier collaboration and understanding across different studios and professionals in the industry.
What software or tools are recommended for writing a screenplay?
-The recommended tools for writing a screenplay include Studio Binder, Write a Duet, and even Microsoft Word or Google Docs. These tools offer varying levels of functionality, with some providing free accounts and others requiring more manual formatting.
What is the purpose of a slug line in a screenplay?
-A slug line in a screenplay indicates the start of a new scene and provides essential information about the setting, such as whether it's an interior or exterior location, the specific location, and the time of day. It is written in capital letters and helps to clearly delineate scene changes.
How does the font and size in a screenplay affect the perception of its professionalism?
-The font and size in a screenplay are crucial for maintaining the industry standard, which is typically Courier size 12. This not only ensures that the screenplay looks professional but also adheres to the convention that one page of a screenplay equates to approximately one minute of screen time.
Why is action description more prevalent than dialogue in a screenplay?
-Action description is more prevalent than dialogue in a screenplay because it sets the scene and describes what is happening visually. It provides direction for the actors, the director, and the crew on how to interpret and execute the scenes, which is essential for the filmmaking process.
How should characters be introduced in a screenplay?
-Characters should be introduced in a screenplay by writing their names in capital letters the first time they appear in a scene. This draws attention to their introduction and is a standard practice in screenplay formatting.
What is the convention for writing dialogue in a screenplay?
-In a screenplay, dialogue is centered on the page, with the character's name written in capital letters. The spoken line is slightly indented towards the margin. If there are specific directions on how a line should be delivered, these can be added in brackets.
How are scene transitions represented in a screenplay?
-Scene transitions in a screenplay are represented on the right-hand margin and are typically written as 'CUT TO' or other film terminology like 'FADE TO' or 'DISSOLVE TO'. This indicates a change to a new scene and is a clear way to denote scene changes for the reader.
Why is music and sound rarely described in a screenplay?
-Music and sound are rarely described in a screenplay because these elements are typically the responsibility of the composer and director. The screenplay focuses on the visual and narrative aspects, leaving the auditory details to be developed during post-production.
What advice does the speaker give for someone looking to start writing a screenplay?
-The speaker advises that the best thing to do when in lockdown or with free time is to start writing a screenplay. They recommend using a free service like Write to G wet to help with the process and suggest that once a screenplay is completed, the next logical step is to learn about storyboarding.
Outlines
🎬 Importance of Screenplay in Filmmaking
The speaker introduces the importance of a screenplay in the filmmaking process, emphasizing that it is the foundational step before other aspects like storyboarding, casting, and costume design. They explain that understanding proper formatting is crucial for professionalism and consistency, noting that standardized screenplay formatting originated from Hollywood studios in the 1930s and 40s.
🖥️ Choosing the Right Software for Screenwriting
This section covers various software options for writing screenplays, such as Studio Binder, Writer Duet, and even Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The speaker explains the advantages and limitations of each, recommending free versions for beginners. They stress the importance of using a consistent format—specifically Courier font, size 12—to maintain industry standards, where one page typically equals one minute of screen time.
🎥 Starting with a Slug Line
The speaker explains the purpose of a slug line, which marks the beginning of a new scene and establishes key details like whether it's an interior or exterior shot, the location, and the time of day. They use an example of a scene in an interview room, formatted in all caps to demonstrate how it's done.
📝 Writing Action Descriptions in Present Tense
The focus shifts to describing action in screenplays, which should always be written in the present tense. The speaker explains that when a character is introduced for the first time, their name should be in capital letters. They provide an example of a scene where the Joker is laughing uncontrollably, demonstrating how to describe actions and introduce characters.
💬 Formatting Dialogue in Screenplays
The speaker outlines the conventions for writing dialogue in a screenplay. Dialogue is centered on the page, with the character’s name in capital letters above their lines. They also explain how to add direction to the dialogue by specifying how a line should be delivered, using the Joker's dialogue as an example, where he speaks quietly.
🎬 Indicating Scene Transitions
This section explains how to show transitions between scenes in a screenplay, such as using 'cut to' or 'dissolve to,' which are aligned on the right side of the page. The speaker uses an example of a scene transition from an interview room to an exterior alleyway, demonstrating the importance of slug lines to establish new scenes.
📹 Cross-Cutting Between Scenes and Voiceovers
The speaker introduces the concept of cross-cutting between scenes, explaining that frequent repetition of slug lines is not necessary. They also demonstrate how to indicate a voiceover, using the Joker’s continuous laughter as an example of a sound that carries over from one scene to another.
🎭 Final Scene and Emotional Shifts
This paragraph focuses on the final part of the clip, where the Joker’s mood shifts after being asked a serious question by the hospital worker. The speaker explains how action and dialogue can reflect emotional changes, showing the contrast between the Joker's laughter and his more vacant expression after the question is posed.
📜 Recap of Screenplay Formatting Rules
The speaker summarizes the key formatting rules discussed in the video: using slug lines, writing action in present tense, formatting dialogue in the center of the page, and indicating transitions on the right margin. They emphasize that music is typically not included in screenplays, as it falls under the responsibility of the composer and director.
🎥 Encouragement to Start Writing
The speaker concludes by encouraging viewers to start writing their own screenplays, recommending Writer Duet as a helpful free tool. They highlight that lockdown is a great time to practice screenwriting and suggest viewers check out the speaker’s video on storyboarding as the next step in the filmmaking process.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Screenplay
💡Format
💡Slug Line
💡Action
💡Dialogue
💡Transition
💡Software
💡Character Introduction
💡Voiceover
💡Camera Movement
💡Cross-cutting
Highlights
Screenplays are crucial as they are the first step in the filmmaking process, preceding storyboarding, casting, and costume design.
Standardization of screenplay format originated from Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s to streamline filmmaking processes.
To write a screenplay, choose software like StudioBinder or Writer Duet, or use Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Screenplay format conventions are essential for professional appearance and industry recognition.
A screenplay's font should be Courier size 12, correlating to one page per minute of screen time.
The process of turning a video clip into a screenplay is demonstrated step by step.
A slug line at the beginning of a scene indicates the location and time of day, written in capital letters.
Action descriptions in a screenplay are written in the present tense and detail character movements and scene settings.
Character names are capitalized when first introduced, and dialogue is centered on the page.
Direction for actors can be provided in brackets, detailing how a line should be delivered.
Transitions between scenes are indicated on the right margin, using terms like 'Cut To' or 'Back To'.
Scenes can contain no dialogue, relying instead on detailed action and setting descriptions.
Camera movements like 'track back' are occasionally mentioned in screenplays to guide the visual storytelling.
Voiceover indications are used to show ongoing sounds from previous scenes.
Music and sound are typically not detailed in a screenplay, leaving that to composers and directors.
The tutorial encourages aspiring filmmakers to practice screenplay writing using free tools like Writer Duet.
Screenplay writing is a fun and essential skill for anyone looking to advance in the filmmaking industry.
The video concludes with a recommendation to also watch a tutorial on storyboarding for further filmmaking insights.
Transcripts
hi everyone we're still in lockdown so
we're in my home and it seems like a
really good chance to talk to you about
how to write a screenplay
now the screenplay is so incredibly
important because it's basically the
first step that you can take in the
filmmaking process it precedes
storyboarding casting costume design you
can't really do any of these things
until you have the screenplay so in this
video I'm going to show you how to
actually format one and maybe give you a
few tips on how to actually write one
yourself so here's a quick bit of trivia
for you
if you've ever wondered why screenplays
always look the same in terms of their
formatting is because of the development
of the Hollywood system in the 30s and
the 40s big studios of the time like
paramount and MGM we're streamlining and
standardizing many of the filmmaking
processes including screenplays so that
it became standardized as talent was
shared between various studios so now we
have the screenplay that we will
recognize and that we need to follow the
format of if we want our work to look
professional now the first thing you
need to do is pick a piece of software
to write with and there's a whole ton of
pieces of software or even websites out
there to help you with this in the past
I've used studio binder which offers a
free account but limits you to one
project on a go at a time and write a
duet which I'm going to be using today
which also offers a premium version but
provides you with more than enough
functionality to start writing with the
free version then again you could just
use good old Microsoft Word or Google
Docs which is obviously free but it
require a bit more formatting on your
part so the way we're going to do this
is exactly the same as what we did in my
storyboarding video which is to do the
whole process in Reverse we're going to
take a clip and try and turn it into a
screenplay here's the clip that I've
selected
[Laughter]
what's so funny
[Music]
[Music]
[Laughter]
[Music]
you want to tell it to me okay so we've
got a clip or our vision if we were
writing an original screenplay and the
very very first thing you've got to do
if you want to format this properly is
set the font to the correct size and
style now what you need to do if you're
using Word or Google Docs is to set it
to courier size 12 if you're using
something like writer duet then that'll
be taken care of for you
but the reason this is important is one
like I say it's an established
convention it's how it should look but
to the rule of thumb with the screenplay
is that every page will equate to one
minute of actual on screen time so you
know give or take a 120 page script will
be something like a two hour movie okay
so let's get started the very first
thing you're gonna put on your
screenplay is a slug line a slug line
tells you that a new scene has started
and it basically establishes in a
nutshell what the scene is where it's
taking place so I'm going to go ahead
and put in my stud line now this is all
written in capital letters and it starts
off always by saying whether its
exterior or interior now mine is
actually interior so we know that this
takes place inside now we can actually
say where it is and in our case this is
an interview room and the last thing we
have to put in is the time of day
whether it's day night afternoon morning
and from what I can see from the windows
this one appears to be day so there we
go that is our slug line it tells us
there's a new scene and where it takes
place now when we think of screenplay is
probably the thing that we think of most
frequently is dialogue but actually the
majority of the screenplay is more
likely going to be action this is where
you describe what literally happens in
the scene so let's take a look back at
our clip and see what happens
[Laughter]
now action is always written in the
present tense and in it we're going to
describe what happens who does specific
actions and there's a certain way that
we're going to write it now I'm going to
introduce the scene slightly first we
are in a cold soulless interview room of
a hospital barred windows and a two-way
mirror are the only decoration
so obviously the slugline didn't really
provide us with a broad description of
what the actual room looks like this is
our chance to do that now I'm about to
introduce some character actions now and
the first time you mentioned a character
in a scene you write their names in
capitals just so really draws your
attention to them so I'm going to write
Joker is laughing uncontrollably he is
smoking a cigarette but his hysteria is
so uncontrollable that he ignores it
he sounds in pain sat opposite is
hospital worker she patiently waits for
him to stop laughing and clearly doesn't
share the joke okay so the two things to
take from this action is when we first
introduce characters we write them in
capitals and we write everything in the
present tense let's go on and see what
happens next in the clip what's so funny
okay we're gonna write our first piece
of dialogue now and again there's a
certain convention how we do this it's
always centralized on the page and again
whoever's speaking the line their names
written capitals so our first line comes
from hospital worker and the word that
they say is slightly indented towards
the margin and she says what's so funny
I could go back to action now if it was
a case of there's another action between
lines but actually we go straight into
the Joker's next line so gonna go into
another character line this time it's
Joker who replies and what I'm going to
do this time which is slightly different
is I'm going to be specific about how he
says the line and I'm gonna put these in
brackets so I've got Joker in terms of
who actually says it and I'm gonna say
very quietly under breath and then we
can just carry on with the normal line
and he says I was just thinking I was
just thinking of a joke that's one
option in terms of your screenplay
writing is to actually give direction to
the actors now they're obviously going
to interpret their lines in their own
way but there might be certain cues that
you want to give them in terms of how a
line is delivered so the next thing that
happens in the clip is this
[Music]
[Laughter]
now this should give us an opportunity
to look at several new features of the
screenplay
first off we're cutting to a new scene
but also the sound from the previous
scene carries on so how do we actually
show that we're going to show a
transition now and this is always
aligned on the right hand side of the
page 99% of the time it's going to be
cut to you cut between scenes sometimes
it might be a dissolve it might be a dip
to black broadly speaking you only
really put this down between scenes the
edits within a scene that's the job of
the editor but in our case we are going
to write cut too and since this is
technically a new scene we're gonna go
back to a slug line so unlike last time
this time we are gonna go exterior
alleyway night so we've got another slug
line we've clearly changed to new into a
new scene and there's no dialogue in
this particular scene it's just action
now that's absolutely fine sometimes
there are scenes without any dialogue
famously it was done brilliantly for the
first 15 minutes of there will be blood
in which case you just need to rely more
on your description of the scene now to
describe this scene I'm going to
actually refer to a camera movement so
I'm gonna say we track back which I've
written in capital letters the show it's
a very specific action you very very
rarely refer to specific shot choices in
the screenplay
again that's the the job of the
storyboard artist the director the
cinematographer it's not really in the
remit unless absolutely necessary in the
screenplay
so I'm going to say we track back from a
grim scene in a dirty cluttered alleyway
where a young Bruce Wayne stands over
the recently murdered
bodies of his parents now the joke is
laughter actually does carry on
throughout this clip so we are going to
refer to it and again there's another
way of showing this so we're gonna write
down Joker as he's the person who's
speaking and then on brackets in the
next line we are going to say voiceover
laughter continues now I've obviously
put that in square brackets just to
separate it from actually saying the
words laughter continues his laughter is
continuing and we can hear it from the
previous scene now that's actually all
there is to this clip we cut away and we
see that shot while he carries on
laughing and very often in film you do
have scenes where there's quite a lot of
cross-cutting between scenes and can you
imagine it would get absolutely tiresome
to continually having to write that slug
line again and again and again once
you've done it once it's a lot used to
cut back so what we gonna do now is
gonna write another transition which
again goes on the right-hand side of the
page and this time rather write and cut
to we're going to write back to so this
establishes we are going back to the
previous scene before the one we just
had so we've got a slug line we are
going to say interior interview room and
it's still day and the next thing to
happen in the clip is you want to tell
it to me
[Music]
so we've got more action and we're gonna
write down Joker's laughter reaches new
heights in stark contrast to the grim
scene we just saw the hospital worker
patiently waits for him to calm down
then we cut to another one of her lines
where she says do you want to share it
now again we are immediately going to
answer with the Joker's line I'm
actually gonna go back to some action
now this question seems to sober him and
his expression becomes more vacant like
she has just killed the whole joke so
there we are we've kind of finished the
whole scene there and we've actually
covered all of the different things that
you need to format in a certain way now
that's pretty much the hardest thing
there is to it once you get your head
around the formatting it's simply a case
of writing down your ideas so let's just
recap quickly what we've done a scene
starts with a slug line where you
identify whether it's interior or
exterior where it is and the time of day
and it's always written in capital
letters next up you might have some
action which is written in present tense
and certain actions and characters are
written in capital letters next up if
you have any dialogue that's written in
the center of the page the character's
name is written in bold and if you want
to add any direction on how they say
their lines that can be added in
brackets you might want to transition to
different scenes in which case that's
written on the right-hand margin and
it's your usual kind of media
terminology cut to fade to dip to black
that sort of thing now something you
might have noticed that we've not really
done is we haven't put in any mention of
the music and this is intentional you
very very rarely find this on a
screenplay and that's just because that
is the job of the
composure if it's a soundtrack or a
score that's something the director will
have in mind and work on with the
composer so again it's not really in the
remit of of the screenplay except in
certain circumstances where it's it's
luck mode like where we have that line
that's life at the end so that's pretty
much everything guys I hope you found
that useful where we are in lockdown the
best thing I can advise you doing is to
just have a go start writing a
screenplay it's really fun check out
write to G wet it's a free service and
it will really really help you in your
filmmaking career as always thanks very
much for watching if you haven't already
make sure you like and subscribe and if
you're looking for where to go next
I'd recommend maybe check out my video
on how to storyboard if you've got a
completed screenplay it's a logical next
step in the filmmaking process see you
next time
[Music]
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