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Capitalization in Screenplays

C

Ccolebrook

Hello fellows, are there any steadfast rules about FULL WORD capitalization in screenplays? I know it's usual to introduce your characters with caps, and props or sounds that are imperative to the screenplay, but what else would need caps?
Is it better to capitalize characters the first time in every scene or just the first time in the script?
I've just been doing it by ear, and with a bunch of competitions coming up and my latest screenplay in polishing, I wanna make sure I'm doing something so elementary correctly.
 
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There is no hard and fast rule for all caps within the description. Slug lines need to be all caps, as well as character IDs over dialog. It's also common practice to capitalize the name of a character the first time he or she appears in the script. Other than that it's up to you. Some writers don't capitalize anything else; others capitalize all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons.

(Sorry this is redundant; Rik posted quicker than me. :) )
 
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Thats's not how I do it either...

2001 Productions said:
Hmm. Okay. Puts me in my place.

Guess I'll have to break the news to all the screenwriters (like myself) who don't do it that way.
Click to expand...

To say that you only CAP the character's intro and nothing else is a little too black and white... I sure don't write screenplays that way. Many "people" say that is supposedly the new spec format but I haven't seen any evidence of that and I read a lot of specs during the year.

Truth of the matter is that many of US still CAP the intro of the character. Cap an important prop or sound and will forever continue to do it that way because that's the way we learned and it is certainly acceptable.

There are all kinds of little nuances that one can add or subtract to screenplay format that won't hurt your screenplay from getting read as long as you know how to pitch it or query.

filmy
 
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2001 Productions said:
Hmm. Okay. Puts me in my place.

Guess I'll have to break the news to all the screenwriters (like myself) who don't do it that way.
Click to expand...

2001, my apologies. I like your posts.
Certainly wasn't trying to put you in your place.

It's just that for a spec from an unknown writer, I've been told the same thing that Rik mentioned.

Yes, there are older conventions. If you're established and write one way, that's one thing.
But for a new writer? That's like a teenager from today who decides to start talking like they grew up in the 90s.

I grew up in the 90's. I probably still talk that way. But why would they?
 
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This is why when people ask me for advice I tell them:
just write a damn good story.

No matter how much you know or think you know, there are different answers for almost every question.
Even when it comes down to a writer's style, one reader might love it, another might hate it.

So my mantra? Just write a story that is so good they don't have time to think about anything else.
 
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There are much, much worse mistakes you can make if you capitalize something other than a character intro. Typewriters didn't have italics back in the day, so capitalization was the primary means of emphasis.

JUST DON'T WRITE FREAKIN' EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS!! :)

Vogue in spec scripts is just character introduction, though.
 
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I am one of those “black and white” writers. One of those “people”
who prefers a screenplay without capitalization for emphases. I
always advise that nothing is put in all caps in a script except
the first introduction of a character.

Many times my fellow writers read into that that I am somehow
suggesting that to do it any other way means a script won’t be
read. If anyone takes that to be my meaning then I want to clear
it up. I don’t in any way suggest that using caps in a screenplay
will hurt your chances of getting read. It won’t.

I know many writers are told to capitalize props and sounds that
are imperative to the screenplay - as Ccolebrook said. I’ve always
thought that any prop or sound mentioned in a screenplay is
imperative - we don’t write them in if they aren’t really needed.
So by that logic then every prop and sound mentioned in a
screenplay would be in caps. I’ve never understood how a writer
would decide that (for example) the car keys dropped on the table
is imperative but the cell phone isn’t.

As a reader I find emphasizing props to be distracting. It stops
the flow of the read - even a really good script - and makes me
wonder why that specific prop is so important.

So for those of you who capitalize props for emphasis or because
you feel that specific prop is imparative; how you you decide
which props to cap?
 
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I feel exactly the same. I don't quite understand why a writer
would cap some sounds an not others. What make the bang
from a gun more important than the tinkle of ice in a glass.
what makes some footsteps worthy of capitalization, but not
other footsteps

And obviously of a writer caps every sound (and every prop)
it get annoying fast. So I don't capitalize any of them and my
advice is always to not capitalize any of them.

I know where the capitalization came from and I feel it just
isn't needed in a spec script.
 
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In my own case it's a creative choice, for the most part, rather than a technical one. The capitalization is for dramatic emphasis - in the same vein as SHOUTING in e-mail - strictly for the reader, not for the properties master or sound effects editor. The gunshot is potentially more important than the ice tinkle, depending on the context, but the opposite could also be true. I certainly don't capitalize every gunshot. That would get old REAL fast!

Perhaps it's not to everyone's taste, which is certainly food for thought.
 
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VPTurner said:
There are much, much worse mistakes you can make if you capitalize something other than a character intro. Typewriters didn't have italics back in the day, so capitalization was the primary means of emphasis.

JUST DON'T WRITE FREAKIN' EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS!! :)

Vogue in spec scripts is just character introduction, though.
Click to expand...


Nevermind screen plays, I think a lot of people on the Net need to learn this(and also learn speling and grammor....I mean spelling and grammar:D).

I would think how the layout is would really apply in if you're planning on publishing or doing something that involves having an "appropriate" layout. If it's more for your own use or you aren't making a pitch to a studio, then I would think, as others stated, no real hard and fast rule.
 
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Thank god for this topic! I was reading a lot of screenplays online and found a lot of the words in the descriptions in CAPITALS, and I started highlighting certain words in capitals too. Then I read this thread...lol.
 
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I guess I'm a gray writer... LOL.

directorik said:
I am one of those “black and white” writers. One of those “people”
who prefers a screenplay without capitalization for emphases. I
always advise that nothing is put in all caps in a script except
the first introduction of a character.

Many times my fellow writers read into that that I am somehow
suggesting that to do it any other way means a script won’t be
read. If anyone takes that to be my meaning then I want to clear
it up. I don’t in any way suggest that using caps in a screenplay
will hurt your chances of getting read. It won’t.

I know many writers are told to capitalize props and sounds that
are imperative to the screenplay - as Ccolebrook said. I’ve always
thought that any prop or sound mentioned in a screenplay is
imperative - we don’t write them in if they aren’t really needed.
So by that logic then every prop and sound mentioned in a
screenplay would be in caps. I’ve never understood how a writer
would decide that (for example) the car keys dropped on the table
is imperative but the cell phone isn’t.

As a reader I find emphasizing props to be distracting. It stops
the flow of the read - even a really good script - and makes me
wonder why that specific prop is so important.

So for those of you who capitalize props for emphasis or because
you feel that specific prop is imparative; how you you decide
which props to cap?
Click to expand...

Well I could go on and on and on about this but I'll try to keep it simple... I only CAP sounds that I feel imperative to the story...

A character may be out for a walk at night and hear crickets. I probably wouldn't cap that because I've already said that the scene takes place at night and really only wrote the crickets in there to add a little tone. The director or sound guy may decide to use frogs croaking or an owl hooting. Not a huge deal to me so I don't cap it.

In another scene, I might want to place emphasis on a creaking door as in the door CREAKS. I might even write the actual SOUND before it -- but I would only CAP that sound because IT absolutely positively has to be part of the story and the way I red flag that is to CAPITALIZE it.

filmy
 
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Thanks filmy.

I’d love to see an example of a sound that is so essential to the
story that the story would change or not be understood if it
wasn’t used. In your example I can think of several different way
to emphasize an opening door other than a sound. So as a reader
(and director) I don’t see that a “CREAK” is absolutely positively
essential to the story.

But if it were, if the creaking of the door was so essential to
the story that anything else would hurt the story itself, it seems
to me that if the sound of the door creaking wasn’t in caps, every
one involved in the movie (from development through final audio
mix) would understand simply by the nature of your writing.

To me, as a reader, I am slightly insulted that the writer thinks
a sound needs to be red flagged. As if I won’t understand just how
important that sound is without the writer drawing my attention to
it.

So do you have an example from one of your scripts that will help
me understand your method better?
 
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