Five pasge of an original feature-length screenplay - Essay Example

For a Few Days More FADE IN: INT. DRISKILL HOTEL SEMINAR ROOM - DAY JOE and APRIL burst through the doors into a clean, well-lit seminar room. JOE Are we in time? APRIL How could they start without us? We’re the main attraction. Joe catches his breath as he leans against the podium at the front of the room. JOE (looking about the room) We are? APRIL Don’t be an idiot. You know we’ve been invited to Austin to discuss script format. JOE But why is the room empty? April and Joe look out across the room - rows of empty chairs and nary a person in sight. APRIL Okay, okay. Don’t panic. She takes three deep breaths. Then April looks at her watch and smiles. APRIL (CONT’D) We’re an hour early. . . . We should rehearse. JOE Okay, you start. Margins? APRIL Left, 1.5 inches. Right, 1.0 inches. Top, 1.0 inches to the body, 0.5 inches to the number. Bottom, 0.5 to 1.5 inches, depending upon where the page break comes. JOE Page break? APRIL Right above you. There are rules for breaking a page. Scene headers remain attached to description. A single line of dialogue is pushed to the following page. A long dialogue passage would be split - but I’ll get to that later. JOE Ah . . . we’re talking about industry standards. Suddenly, Joe bolts from behind the podium and runs out into: INT. DRISKILL HOTEL HALLWAY - DAY Joe glances up and down the hallway, then reaches back to open the door. JOE (calling) April - come on! There’s no one here. APRIL (walking through the door) A scene heading. Or a slug line, as I was taught in film school. Always CAPPED. Usually begins with INT. or EXT. What happens if we -- EXT. TEXAS CAPITOL BUILDING - DAY Joe looks startled as he stands with April before the seat of Texas politics. JOE How’d you do that? APRIL There was a cut - from the hallway to the capitol. What’d you want to do - ride in a cab? JOE Dialogue margins. APRIL Left, 2.5 inches. Right, 2.5 inches. Of course, you can cheat those a tad. JOE So, you have about 3.5 inches for each line of dialogue? APRIL You’ve got it. And you can sneak out another character or two to the right and no one will hold it against you. Joe jots down notes on a 3 x 5 card, studies the card for a moment, then scribbles another note. JOE (looking up) And the position of the character’s name? APRIL ALL CAPS, and tabbed to about 4.0 to 4.2 inches, depending upon the look you like. Some writers center all characters’ names in dialogue. Personally, I don’t think it matters too much. (MORE) APRIL (CONTD) The appearance of the script pages is slightly different in each case, but all are within the norm. JOE Hey! What happened? APRIL A page break appeared in the middle of my dialogue. You use (MORE) at the bottom of the page to show that the character’s dialogue continues onto the next page. Then add (CONT’D) after the character’s name to show that the lines have roots in the previous page. JOE But not everyone uses MOREs and CONT’Ds, do they? EXT. MISSISSIPPI RIVERBOAT - NIGHT A gambling boat is docked along the riverfront. April and Joe wander about its upper deck. JOE I have to ask. What happened to CUT TO:s between scenes. APRIL Some writers still use transitions such as CUT TO: and DISSOLVE TO: between scenes. JOE Those would introduce a new scene header? APRIL And typically a different place and/or time. But many writers have dispensed with such transitions, feeling that a new scene header clearly signifies a cut without the need of any additional indicator. Joe gazes out at the river. JOE How did we reach the Mississippi and when did the sun set? APRIL If you’d rather . . . EXT. AIRPLANE - SUNSET A jet liner cruises across Texas towards the setting sun. INT. AIRPLANE A customized interior, outfitted with leather chairs and sofas. April and Joe sip salt-encrusted margaritas. TITLE OVER: JOE Is this a flashback? APRIL Or it could be tomorrow or next month? October 25, 2014 APRIL (CONT’D) You see, a whole year has passed. JOE Okay, I didn’t notice. But I thought only DAY and NIGHT were allowed in scene headers. APRIL Production managers might prefer it that way, but many writers use headers as a means of depicting a particular time of day. For instance, SUNRISE, DAWN, LATE AFTERNOON and SUNSET. JOE That’s allowed? APRIL On a writer’s draft, without a doubt. JOE A writer’s draft? APRIL Essentially, any draft that hasn’t been paid for. A draft to be submitted to agents, managers, producers, development execs. Or even to a screenplay competition. Those are writer’s drafts. And they should all be FIRST DRAFTs, no matter how many versions the writer has actually written. JOE You really think so? APRIL That’s my recommendation. INT. BLUE CAMARO - DAY April drives along Austin’s Congress Avenue as Joe rides shotgun. JOE You speak any foreign languages? APRIL (in French) Of course, I do. Why do you ask? JOE What about action sequences? SUDDENLY, A BLACK MUSTANG Whips around a corner, racing quickly towards them. APRIL Punches the accelerator and -- THE BLUE CAMARO Leaps forward, laying a trail of rubber. The Camaro takes a screeching left, then a quick right to accelerate into -- AN ALLEY BURIED IN DEEP SHADOWS Where the Camaro all too quickly runs into a dead end, just as -- THE BLACK MUSTANG Roars into the alley, sealing it shut. APRIL Looks to Joe, fear filling his eyes. EXT. DRISKILL HOTEL PORTICO - DAY April guides a dazed and confused Joe from the Camaro towards the front doors held open by a smiling VALET. APRIL That’s one way to write an action scene. It’s a variation on the Bill Goldman style used by many pros. JOE (coming to) But other writers just use standard scene headers and description for action scenes, don’t they? APRIL Many do. INT. DRISKILL HOTEL LOBBY - DAY A confused Joe speaks into a house phone. JOE I thought we were walking together. APRIL (O.S.) (filtered) Well, we were, but I realized a phone call was needed. JOE You’re filtered? INTERCUT WITH: EXT. STATE CAPITOL - DAY With the capitol dome looming large behind her, April speaks on her mobile phone. APRIL Only when you hear my voice over the phone. Radio voices and phone calls can be filtered, though it’s a convention that isn’t used as much these days. JOE Let’s try something easy. What about page numbers? APRIL Number each and every page, though you can start with page two. The numbers should appear in the upper right-hand corner, about 0.5 inches down and 0.75 inches from the right page edge. Those dimensions are not set in stone, but the page numbers should always be placed in the upper right-hand corner. INT. DRISKILL HOTEL HALLWAY - DAY Joe strolls slowly towards the seminar room. JOE You know, that pronouncement almost seemed godlike. APRIL (V.O.) If it were, I probably would have spoken in a voice-over and not on the phone. Joe searches the hallway, trying to decide just where this disembodied voice is emanating from. JOE What’s a V.O. used for? APRIL (V.O.) Often for narration, for a narrator’s voice. In film noir, the protagonists often filled the audience in on their thoughts or story details. Scorsese films are often filled with voice-over, as are many documentaries. INT. DRISKILL HOTEL SEMINAR ROOM - DAY Joe races past April to reach the podium first. April walks casually past the still-empty chairs. At the podium Joe gestures with his hands as if he were delivering a major political speech. April sneaks up behind him and mimics his gestures - until he notices. Joe spins to confront her. JOE Why I ought’a . . . APRIL I was simply demonstrating the way many writers break descriptions into shorter paragraphs. As opposed to allowing description to fill dense blocks running on for lines. JOE That makes for tougher reading, doesn’t it? APRIL I know studio readers who claim they skip long description passages and only read dialogue. JOE But there are pros who write scripts with extended description. APRIL They do - but that doesn’t mean you should too. When you’re paid to write a screenplay, you just have to satisfy the people writing your checks. Joe balances on one leg atop the podium. JOE But when you’re like me, you should stick to format. Is that what you’re trying to say? APRIL You just want to make your script as easy a read as possible. Joe jumps down from the podium and hustles out the door just as conference ATTENDEES begin to enter. APRIL (CONT’D) By the way, the first time you introduce a character in description, you CAP his name. And when you break a dialogue passage with description, the standard is to place (CONT’D) next to the speaking character’s name. April watches as a number of people find chairs in front of her. APRIL (CONT’D) Of course, many writers have dropped (CONT’D) from their repertoire. I mean, it’s obvious that I’m still speaking, isn’t it? And that I never stopped speaking. JOE (O.S.) (shouting from beyond the door) Hey, April! C’mon! There’s a barbeque at the Governor’s Mansion and a shuttle leaving in two minutes. APRIL (shouting) We haven’t mentioned master scenes. A sheepish Joe slides back into the seminar room, slowly walking to the podium. JOE That one I know. No CLOSE UPs, no WIDE SHOTs, mostly no shots of any kind. Just scene headers, description and dialogue. And no scene numbers. Those only belong on shooting scripts. APRIL It’s okay to sneak in a shot here and there when it’s necessary to highlight a moment or move the action along. JOE Okay. I can get behind that. APRIL And don’t worry. I would never let you miss a meal. FADE OUT. THE END Read More