SCRIPT CONTENT

It's often a little hard to limit yourself to the proper content of a script, but with a little work, you can do it. You will find that script content is actually quite simple if you follow the form, and honing your skill at saying less will make the script go very fast when you are writing. When writing a script:

• Note where the shot takes place (an office, a street, the main character's car, the female lead's bathroom).
• Note the content of the shot (a phone rings, a car goes by; he sniffs up the drugs; she turns on the water and begins to talk into the celtel).
• State what is happening to the characters on the inside (Bob is angry) without saying how it happens (Bob frowns or Bob turns red).
• Portray room contents in the most general way.
• Look through your script for any kind of shot (closeup, pan, American shot, medium shot) and delete it. Writing in the shots is direction, and that comes at a later stage when you begin to work with the artist.
• Write short biographies (fewer than 250 words) of the major characters and the supporting characters. Let us read these and decide what it means when you say "He gets angry" or "filled with frustration."

Remember, it is up to the artist to be the director (decide which shot best portrays the intended content; what expressions portray the characters best) and the cinematographer (portray in the best possible way what has been directed).

1. LOCATION
   The Location style "establishes the shot"—it states only where the action is taking place: dawn on a far planet; the inside of a tank during a battle; a Kryptonian city in a jar in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. The Location style has three components
• interior or exterior, abbreviated INT and EXT
• time of day
• the name of the location.
and takes the form IOX—TOD—NOL ("interior or exterior"—"time of day"—"name of location"). Here are some examples:

your mother's house in the morning
INT—MORNING—MOM'S HOUSE

a front lawn at dusk on a far planet
EXT—DUSK—A FAR PLANET

the inside of a tank during a battle
INT—A TANK

a Kryptonian city in a jar in the Fortress of Solitude
INT—KRYPTOPOLIS

dawn at a French farmouse in WWII
EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE

Note that the time of day can be omitted in places where the time of day isn't important or can't be determined, like a tank; a spaceship; or a city-in-a-bottle in a windowless room. Be sure the TOD really isn't important before you omit it.

Here's our script so far:

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EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE

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2. description/action
   Once the shot is established with the Location style, the description/direction style gives the details of the location and notes general action. For example, we have established the shot as EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE. That's a general picture to start from. In the description/action style, you might say:

   The farmhouse is slightly burned. The windows are broken out. The house stands at a slight angle as if recoiling from the explosion that made the crater in the front yard. The roof is made of dried straw and hangs low by the front door.

   Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM.The third soldier, a PRIVATE, pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The first soldier, a SARGEANT, sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

   Here are some things to note about the description section:
   • Character's names are in caps (capitalized) the first time they appear. This should happen generally ("Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse") and when they are specifically identified ("The third soldier, a PRIVATE, pauses… ").
   • Sounds and other things that should be explicit should be in caps. These are things you might put on a sound track in a film or expect the artist to denote somehow in the frames. Above, the sound of the artillery shell is noted ("there is a DISTANT BOOM"), and in one of our examples below, an important background sign is noted ("… and a SIGN that says 'This Entire Building is a Smoke-Free Environment'.") These notes should be as general as possible. For example, if one superhero strikes another, write "STRIKES another" and let the artist decide if it should be Cludd!, Thump!, Boff! or Smack!

   This may seem like a limiting form, but look at the difference between these two versions of the same scene.

   Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM.The third soldier, a PRIVATE, pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The first soldier, a SARGEANT, sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

   Three soldiers exit the farmhouse, a SARGEANT and two PRIVATES. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM. PRIVATE #2, pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The SARGEANT sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

   In the first version, we might be taking a longer look at them from a distance—they are just "three soldiers," and we don't distinguish them or their rank until one of them takes a distinguishing action (smoking a cigarette). In the second version, we focus on them individually much earlier—we see their rank as they exit the farmhouse rather than at the point of smoking. While this doesn't seem like much difference, you be the director: if you were making this as a film, how would you shoot these two moments of the story? How would they be different? How the same? The script form can be subtle and powerful.

   Here's our script so far:

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   EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE

   The farmhouse is slightly burned. The windows are broken out. The house stands at a slight angle as if recoiling from the explosion that made the crater in the front yard. The roof is made of dried straw and hangs low by the front door.

   Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM.The third soldier, a PRIVATE pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The first soldier, a SARGEANT, sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

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3. ACTOR
   This is simply the name of the character speaking.

   SARGEANT

   If it's a recording or something similar, use (character name)'S VOICE. For example, if one of the privates is reading a letter from his mother and hearing it in her voice, write:

   MOTHER'S VOICE

   Here's our script so far:

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   EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE

   The farmhouse is slightly burned. The windows are broken out. The house stands at a slight angle as if recoiling from the explosion that made the crater in the front yard. The roof is made of dried straw and hangs low by the front door.

   Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM.The third soldier, a PRIVATE pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The first soldier, a SARGEANT, sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

   SARGEANT

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4. lines
   This is what the characters say, and it is only what they say. Any action or direction that is very specific or close to this character is saved for the "direction" style.

   SARGEANT You must be just about the dumbest private in this whole war. If sargeants had a "dumb private" contest, I would take you, 'cause I'd be sure to win. But I wouldn't show you to anybody before the contest or else I couldn't make any money from bets—any sargeant there would take one look at you and say, "He's got a winner there. A dumb private. The dumbest." And they just wouldn't bet.

   PRIVATE #2 What'd I do, Sarge? What'd I do?

   Here's our script so far:

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   EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE

   The farmhouse is slightly burned. The windows are broken out. The house stands at a slight angle as if recoiling from the explosion that made the crater in the front yard. The roof is made of dried straw and hangs low by the front door.

   Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM.The third soldier, a PRIVATE pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The first soldier, a SARGEANT, sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

   SARGEANT You must be just about the dumbest private in this whole war. If sargeants had a "dumb private" contest, I would take you, 'cause I'd be sure to win. But I wouldn't show you to anybody before the contest or else I couldn't make any money from bets—any sargeant there would take one look at you and say, "He's got a winner there. A dumb private. The dumbest." And they just wouldn't bet.

   PRIVATE #2 What'd I do, Sarge? What'd I do?

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5. direction
   This is the action or direction that is very specific or close to this character. This should be saved for small things that happen during the dialog.

   SARGEANT

   mimicking him "What'd I do, Sarge? What'd I do?" now he's angry You just about burnt down the whole French countryside with your damn cigarette! apparently calmer Lookit that straw right there. If it was to fall off the roof and onto your burning cigarette, the whole roof, this whole farm, and everything around here might have caught fire. It's two weeks since it rained, it's too damn dry, exploding and you're too damn dumb to put out your cigarette!

   PRIVATE #2 trying to temper the situation Maybe you should be a little more constructive, Sarge.

   SARGEANT Constructive? You're as dumb as he is! I ain't trying to be "constructive," I'm trying to survive this damn war. I ain't gonna survive if he burns me to death! takes his helmet off and slaps it against his thigh That's it. From now on, indicating them in turn, Private #1 first you're Dummy One, and you're Dummy Two.

   PRIVATE #1 like a kid who's been given a bad nickname Aww, Sarge…

   SARGEANT Aww, shut up. he puts his helmet on and is all business Dummy One, Dummy Two—fall in and move out.

   Here's our script so far:

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   EXT—DAWN—A FRENCH FARMHOUSE

   The farmhouse is slightly burned. The windows are broken out. The house stands at a slight angle as if recoiling from the explosion that made the crater in the front yard. The roof is made of dried straw and hangs low by the front door.

   Three SOLDIERS exit the farmhouse. An ARTILLERY SHELL goes by overhead and there is a DISTANT BOOM.The third soldier, a PRIVATE pauses, takes a last long drag from a cigarette and throws it aside. He does not stamp it out. The first soldier, a SARGEANT, sees this, turns back, and stamps it out.

   SARGEANT You must be just about the dumbest private in this whole war. If sargeants had a "dumb private" contest, I would take you, 'cause I'd be sure to win. But I wouldn't show you to anybody before the contest or else I couldn't make any money from bets—any sargeant there would take one look at you and say, "He's got a winner there. A dumb private. The dumbest." And they just wouldn't bet.

   PRIVATE #2 What'd I do, Sarge? What'd I do?

   SARGEANT mimicking him "What'd I do, Sarge? What'd I do?" now he's angryYou just about burnt down the whole French countryside with your damn cigarette! apparently calmerLookit that straw right there. If it was to fall off the roof and onto your burning cigarette, the whole roof, this whole farm, and everything around here might have caught fire. It's two weeks since it rained, it's too damn dry, exploding and you're too damn dumb to put out your cigarette!

   PRIVATE #2 trying to temper the situationMaybe you should be a little more constructive, Sarge.

   SARGEANT Constructive? You're as dumb as he is! I ain't trying to be "constructive," I'm trying to survive this damn war. I ain't gonna survive if he burns me to death! takes his helmet off and slaps it against his thighThat's it. From now on, indicating them in turn, Private #1 firstyou're Dummy One, and you're Dummy Two.

   PRIVATE #1 like a kid who's been given a bad nicknameAww, Sarge…

   SARGEANT Aww, shut up. he puts his helmet on and is all businessDummy One, Dummy Two—fall in and move out.

   He takes the lead and heads away from the farmhouse into the nearby woods. They fall in behind him and follow him single file.

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You may feel the our script form and content are too limiting, but look at the samples below before deciding.