As you all know, I am in school, chasing a Master’s in Creative Writing and English, but the focus of my degree (and my writing passion) is screenwriting.

I just finished my fourth screenwriting course (three were for the BA degree), and the latest professor of mine provided the class with what she called a “formatting cheat sheet.” Even though I use Final Draft to write my screenplays (because it does all the formatting for you), I still have trouble sometimes finding the right verbiage for the slug lines. Below, I am pasting the contents of the handout she provided, just in case any of you are like me, and still get stuck while honing your screenwriting skills.

There are a tone of websites that offer great formatting advice to novice screenwriters. Like the Nashville Film Institute, Studio Binder, Screen Craft and No Film School are among my favorites. They offer different posts for different needs. Below, is the compiled (ands sometimes paraphrased) advice from my SNHU professor, Jamie Adams:

“These notes are based on years of industry knowledge, course work, and hundreds of student submissions. Below I address the most common formatting and basic script writing errors that come up in first drafts:

GENERAL

1. GET SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE NOW. PLEASE. YOUR SANITY IS NOW ON THE LINE.
   Remember that Celtx and WriterDuet are both free and very user friendly. Be aware the Celtx will try to convince you to buy it – you don’t have to. They’re trying to trick you.

I’m attaching the links to both sites here and at the bottom of the announcement. There are also dozens of download-free alternatives, I’m just sticking with what I know 🙂

2. There are going to be a lot of examples of screenplays that you will read that do not follow these rules. The biggest difference between those screenwriters and you, is that they have sold a script and have an agent.

Additionally those are shooting scripts and have been altered and made use of by dozens (if not hundreds) of people in pre-production, production and post-production. Many of the differences you see are functional and not anything that the screenwriter is responsible for. Trust me, there are lots of rules here you can break, but you won’t know how or why until you know the rules first.

3. Have fun. This is the first draft. You are going to make mistakes and none of them will be written in stone. They won’t even be written in ink.

SHOT HEADINGS

Shot headings need to be used every time you either move from one location to another (even within the same space, as logic dictates) AND whenever the time changes.

Shot headings are always formatted like this: INT. LOCATION – TIME
Read this out loud because it makes it make more sense. Interior or exterior, period, space, Location, space, dash, space, time of day. Always in all caps.

Every shot heading must have these three elements: INT or EXT. LOCATION – TIME of day. In that order. EVERY SINGLE TIME without exception. Time of day is always a single word and it’s non-specific. DAY, NIGHT, EVENING, TWILIGHT, DAWN, etc. Never FIVE MINUTES LATER or FOUR FIFTEEN PM.

Two of the handiest times are LATER (or MOMENTS LATER) and CONTINUOUS.
Later and moments later are used to show time passing but not location or action driven change (like if they sit down to eat dinner and LATER they are done with dinner).

Continuous is the opposite. It shows that the specific time is the same, but the location or intent is changed. So if Jamie runs up her stairs (location 1) into her bedroom (location 2) back down the stairs (location 3) into her car (location 4), the time is continuous.

Locations should be kept simple and move from general to specific. For example:

INT. CARL’S ROOM – CLOSET – DAY

OR

EXT. NEW YORK CITY – ALLEY WAY – CARDBOARD BOX – AFTERNOON

Always open your script with FADE IN: slugged onto the page at the far left and end your script with FADE OUT. slugged hard to the right. It’s just industry standard. That’s just info for you in the future. This is a draft, so you don’t ‘need’ those yet.

PARENTHESIS

The only times you ever use parenthesis (also called parentheticals) in screenwriting are when you are introducing a main character for the first time in CAPS followed by their (age) in parenthesis and a brief physical description. AND to describe the way in which a character delivers a line if it’s not implicit in the scene. This is only ever one to two words, no capital letters, immediately beneath and centered under the speaking character’s name. Like this:

                                                        JAMIE
                                                      (sarcastic)
                                 I simply love it when you order for me.

Never use them for information that would result in action. That goes in the action block. Even a sigh or a ‘beat’. Never use parenthesis in action block. Never use parenthesis for anything other than the two things I listed here.

ACTION BLOCKS

You never want action blocks to be more than 3-4 long. 4 at the most! That doesn’t mean you need to delete or remove action. It means you need to break it up so that it moves the page along faster. We are after blank space. There should be a lot of blank space on the page

A tip; shorter action blocks indicate (and read like) faster paced action. Longer action blocks slow the pace.

DO NOT USE CAMERA DIRECTION.

Just don’t use it, for two reasons:

1. You’re a better writer than that. You don’t need to say CLOSE UP on Jamie’s face as she cries. You can say “A tear is suspended in Jamie’s eyelash before she blinks quickly. It slips down her face.” We HAVE to be close on her face to see it. Use the words to indicate what we are seeing.
2. If a director or agent or UPM or actor or literally anyone in the industry sees a spec script from an unknown writer populated with camera direction, they will throw it away. Or burn it while laughing maniacally. They might make you watch.
   It makes you look arrogant, and it makes you look like a nube. No one ever has asked a first time screenwriter how they think this story should be directed. They don’t want your opinion and it’s insulting for you to tell them how to direct a story they are considering buying or investing in. Just tell the story. That’s your job.

Stay away from referencing what ‘we see’ or similar. This is called using a narrative voice and should be totally avoided — even though it is present in most produced screenplays you’ll read, just like the camera direction, leave ‘we see’ only belongs in produced screenplays. Before then, it yanks the audience out of the narrative and reminds them they are reading a template, not a story. For the record, that is bad and you don’t want that.

Only ever tell us what we can see or what we can hear. Not what a character is feeling, or if they’ve been on three interviews this week, or if they still aren’t over their ex. For example, we can see that a guy is wearing an eye patch, but not that he lost his eye in combat and he’s a Viet Nam vet, etc.

If it’s important, it will be revealed. If it’s not, we don’t care. Anything you put in action that we can’t see or hear doesn’t affect the story, and it doesn’t inform the audience. And it’s a massive faux pas in the industry.

If you want to use superimposition in your script, it looks like this:

SUPER
Or
SUPERIMPOSITION: BROOKLYN 2045

All that means is that the text is superimposed over whatever visual you are showing us.

INTRODUCING CHARACTERS

Put them in all CAPS the first time we see them. Not the first time we hear about them or hear their voice (like on the phone). The first time they appear in the story physically.
You do not need to put non-speaking roles (unless they are major or important characters) in caps.
Always include their age and a brief physical description of them.
Don’t hide a character’s identity from us – example would be if AMANDA walks into a room, she’s just AMANDA. She was born Amanda, she isn’t a secret. You don’t need to call her WOMAN or GIRL or STRANGER until the characters officially meet her. She’s just AMANDA.

If you have a group of people speaking, you can’t just create a character name to suit that. A CONGREATATION saying ‘amen’ doesn’t work as a piece of dialogue – you would indicate it in action block.

When formatting a flashback, daydream, dream sequence, etc., it goes like this:

INT. JAMIE’S LIVING ROOM – DAY – FLASHBACK

The room spins and twists, all previous right angles are distorted. Her beloved mutt ROXIE looks up at her and grins.
ROXIE
Were you serious about the dog park?

Jamie blinks hard, trying to reestablish reality.
END FLASHBACK

Always remember to end a flashback, dream sequence, etc.

FORMATTING A MONTAGE

It’s snowing outside of her apartment. Bethany is focused on a book. She pauses to scribble notes into a yellow legal pad.

In the library, Bethany rubs her tired eyes and blinks. She’s midway through a massive tome of a book. Three more of the same size beside her.

Spring has sprung as she passes a group of girls, all giggling, gossiping. Bethany shoulders an overstuffed book bag and barely glances at them.

Sun streams in through a window by her desk as Bethany absently eats Chinese food from a carton. She has a quiz in front of her. Stops to think. Scribbles and answer.

You don’t need shot headings and you normally won’t have any dialogue. Montages are usually over music, but do yourself a favor and don’t choose the song. Odds are good it’ll double the budget.

When it comes to using action block, remember to give us the visuals on the space as well as what the characters are doing.

INT. JAMIE’S BEDROOM – MORNING

JAMIE (38), exhausted even for a single mom, struggles to get out of the tangle of sheets, kids, and dog to reach the alarm.

She slams it off with a vengeance and sighs. The dawn light bleeds in, blue grey. It’s definitely morning.

OR

INT. JAMIE’S BEDROOM – MORNING

JAMIE (38), incredibly vibrant for her age, rolls over and smiles into the bar of golden morning light. She glances at the clock and pulls her pillows and comforter into a deeper nest.

She sighs as she rolls over, leaving the morning at her back, and closes her eyes.

(both of these are true)

DIALOGUE:

If you need to show a text message conversation, you alter your character’s name in dialogue to say:

                                            JAMIE (TEXT) 
                                What are you guys doing?

Just be sure that whatever is happening in the scene is also visually interesting because in film and real life, it’s boring to watch someone text.

Always spell out numbers in dialogue. Two hundred and fifty dollars, not $250.

If a character is not in the room, or the immediate area, and we can hear them speaking (a person on the phone or yelling through the closed bathroom door) they are Off Screen. You put (O.S.) next to their name, similarly to the way I formatted the text message above.

                                            JAMIE (O.S.)
                    I sure could use two hundred and fifty dollars.

A tool, not a rule. As a first time screenwriter, avoid voiceover (V.O.) like the plague. It is not your friend. It’s a crutch and will almost always result in your telling us a story that would be much more interesting to watch. That’s just a tip, not a rule. If you do choose to use voiceover, it’s formatted just like Off Screen but a (V.O.) next to the speaking character’s name.

Regarding exposition;
Don’t tell the audience information that you think is important; it’s clunky and often results in dialogue that feels like exposition.
Also, the more you withhold information and indicate toward it rather than tell us, the more interesting the story is for us. It keep the audience curious and engaged. Implication is your friend.
FREE SCREENWRITING SOFTWARE
https://v4.writerduet.com/
https://www.celtx.com/index.html”

I hope this helps you all as much as it has helped me.