Formatting Question

[Kebab]

Recently I've read a book called "You Screenplay Sucks: 100 Ways to Make It Great" and there was a strong advice to get rid of as much "the" in a script as possible.

So, here's the question: is it acceptable to not use articles before character's names such as BARMAN, COP #1 and etc.

Thank you in advance.

 

[FantasySciFi]

Rayw's right on the money. I can only offer my "rule of thumb" which is not ironclad.

If it is a character that needs to be noticed by the camera because he/she/it is INTEGRAL to the story by action or presence (like a unique sound or visual effect in a scene), I'll cap the character. Usually, I will also set that on its own action line. If a character has a strong visual presence, they should have a brief description.

Conversely, if he/she/it gets description, they should be capitalized the first time. And, arguably, other places if there is a huge block of text in between their next appearance. Because helping as an AD, I know how frustrating it is to try to do scene breakouts and overlook characters that are incidental.

So if JANE has no lines but appears on p. 4 in a crowd as part of a shot, she gets caps. And JANE reappears on page 23 in a flashback. Then JANE reappears on page 66 in a dream. It helps in those cases to highlight JANE. Especially if JANE has no lines but is just a visual character central to the story. As the writer, I'm helping the associate director (AD). HOWEVER, if Jane re-appears multiple times throughout the script--speaking or not--just capitalize her the first time.

It is a gray area. And as a reader, I don't ding writers if they use caps effectively to draw attention to key elements. Just don't go hog wild. Just as all caps in emails suggest 'angry', all caps in scripts suggest 'amateur'. Use CAPS sparingly and only for single introductions.

p. 3
TOM walks with STU across the football field. 

                                     TOM
          Ya know, I jus' can't get over it.

                                     STU
          Hey, girls are like that.  One minute you're ...

Stu glances over into the stadium seats.  

Nestled among the crowd is the lone figure of JANE in her plain 
grey wool jacket.

Stu stops.  Tom looks at him then up to the stands at the crowd
but Jane is not among them.

                                     STU
            Did you see her?  Jane?

Tom casts a questioning glance, shakes his head and starts on.

p. 23

EXT.  BRIDGE - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Stu stumbles along the dark road and sees a figure ahead on the
edge of the bridge.  As he nears, he sees

JANE stands looks at him and falls forward off the edge.

etc.

As with all screewriting, just use a light touch.

[Side note: CeltX does not track non-speaking characters, so for breakouts you need to make a note about it or create a non-speaking line. But this is from the production side and doesn't relate to the screenwriting side.]

 

[FantasySciFi]

Still on topic, sort of. It was suggested not only to read books about screenplay writing, but to also read screenplays. Any suggestions on sites to get screenplays? I've looked on Amazon, and picked up 1. But most of what I see on Amazon, look more like transcripts of what eventually was the final cut of the movie. I'd like to see the original script, which has all scenes (those that made it into the final cut, and those that didn't).

Thanks for a point in the right direction,
Jeff

There are lots of different places around the Net. One place I like is Drew's Script-o-Rama (http://www.script-o-rama.com). Also you can find older scripts at http://leethompson.myzen.co.uk/ .
There's also the Horror Lair (http://horrorlair.com) which features horror and thriller scripts. Sometimes there are links off the IMDB and Wikipedia if you search the title.

If you have a specific movie, just use your favorite search engine, put in the title with the word "script", and you're bound to get a few hits, if it's available. The quality varies. Some are PDFs of the original or production script complete with markups. Others are transcripts. It can be hit or miss.

So much easier than in the old days. Have fun.

 

[rayw]

Excellent resources, FantasySciFi!

My fave is imsdb.com (It's similar to imdb.com, only it's Internet Movie SCREENPLAY Data Base . com)
http://www.imsdb.com/latest/

It really is useful to scrutinize the first few pages of how many different produced (ie semi-validated) screenplays are constructed - and - accepted by someone else.

First - you understand that within generally accepted screenplay formatting guidelines there's still a fair bit of leeway, (and a few outright violations of protocol!)

Second - you can reference back to see how someone else handled a story telling format issue, or how two different writers went about the same issue in different ways.

Third - you'll see how directors/producers/studios/budgets/locations/actors/editors/distributors/MPAA all bugger with the final product. In other words don't get all buggy over things that are bound to be changed anyway.
It's the CORE STORY people are looking for.
No one cares if the PIZZA AVENGER drives a red or blue car.
No one cares if he shoots flaming pepperoni disks from his left or right pizza blaster.
No one cares if it was a three or four story burning office building he rescued his district manager, with whom he's secretly in love with, from.

Red car. Blue car.
Left or right pizza blaster.
Three or four stories.
No one cares.

It's gonna get changed anyway.
And that's normal, therefor acceptable.

Now, if you have him shooting orange liquefied sharp cheddar cheese from his cheese cannon there's gonna be h3ll to pay b'cause everyone knows only white mozzarella cheese has any business on a proper pizza.
So, you still gotta pay attention to some things.



GL!