beginning of a script?

[abacoian]

What is the proper start on the very first page of a script?

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

The Crow originally began like this:

FADE IN:

EXT. CEMETERY - LATE AFTERNOON

BOOM! A crack of lightning illuminates the silhouette of a perched crow large in the f.g.

TIGHT ANGLE - FRESH GRAVE

As a spade smooths the walls of a new double-decker plot.

DIMITRI (O.S.)
We're losing the light; let's pack it in.​

ANGLE - DIMITRI AND ALEXI (TWO GRAVEDIGGERS)

Scoop digger parked f.g. towering gothic-style church b.g. Rolls of astro turf. They look up toward the sky.

ALEXI
Snow, maybe?

DIMITRI
What, you gonna ski on this?​

He indicates the mound of fresh dirt. Spits into the grave.

DIMITRI (CONT'D)
Come on, let's bag this. It's beer time.​

Alexi nods and unfurls the tarp over the dirt.

Of course, unless you're going to be the director, you wouldn't want to use the camera directions ("ANGLE-", "f.g.", "b.g.")


Freddy vs. Jason had this original opening:

FADE IN:

A ROARING FIRE crackles in a stone hearth. Soft music plays. The effect is very romantic.

PULL BACK to reveal the "fire" is actually on television.

We are...

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

JASON LUCAS, a good-looking 17-year-old wearing a high school football jersey, sits on the couch with his eyes closed and a ****-eating grin stretched across his face. Lit candles and incense set the mood.

Jason takes a swig of beer.

LIZZIE (O.S.)
Keep 'em closed. Are they closed? They better be closed.

JASON
(laughing)
They're closed!​

LIZZIE DANIELS enters, posing seductively in the door-way. She's wearing sexy lingerie and fur-covered stiletto heels. Not that she needs the help -- Lizzie is beautiful in a girl-next-door-who-sometimes-likes- to-dress-like-a-tramp kind of way.

LIZZIE
Ta-da!​

Jason opens his eyes. And he's glad he did.

Lizzie saunters over to him, holding a glass of bubbly.

She downs it in one gulp and sits on Jason's lap.

LIZZIE
I hope you like it!
(then, insecure)
But I left the tags on in case you don't.

JASON
Lizzie, I love it. You look -- wait, where are the tags?

LIZZIE
(wincing)
You don't want to know.​

Suddenly, the TV screen flickers. The fire and music are replaced by a loud wrestling match.

Lizzie pulls away from Jason and starts scrambling around the room.

From the way she stumbles, we can tell she's more than a little drunk.

Some notes here:

Using "we" ( as in "we see", "we can tell", "we are..." ) is no longer recommended. Many older scripts (and quite a few new ones) still use this style, but it's discouraged.

Props and sound effects ("ROARING FIRE") are no longer capitalized.

And, of course, the PULL BACK camera direction wouldn't normally be used in a spec script.

 

[abacoian]

what is (O.S.) ?

Thanks

 

[abacoian]

do all scenes begin with FADE IN?

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

Normally.

Most writers use FADE IN: as the first line in a script and FADE TO BLACK as the last (often followed by THE END ).

Many use FADE IN: as the first line in any act, and FADE OUT: as the last line, except for the last act, which ends with a FADE TO BLACK.

"Proper" formatting is constantly changing, and I'm not sure what the up-to-the-minute preferred method is. Suffice it to say that whichever way you do it, your script won't be rejected for it.

Of course, you may not want your scene to fade in or fade out. You may want to CUT TO BLACK, instead. Or you may want to FADE TO WHITE. It's your call.

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

(O.S.) means off-screen.

(V.O.) means voice-over.

When someone says something off-screen, it's assumed that they're still a part of the scene, they're just not on camera.

A voice-over is used when someone speaks who isn't in the scene at all.

For example:

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

JOHN and BETH watch TV. Beth goes to the kitchen to get a soda.

BETH (O.S.)

Hey, you want a Coke?​

Beth is still a part of the scene, she's just not on camera at the moment (because she's in the kitchen.) So an (O.S.) is required. This is often also used for telephone conversations.

This example:

EXT. FOOTBALL FIELD - NIGHT

A high school football game. Bright lights flood the field. The scoreboard is tied 21-21. Red jerseys and white jerseys battle for victory. The crowd buzzes, yells, cheers.

BILLY (V.O.)

That was 1985. The Baytown Brigands were minutes away from their historic upset of the Mansfield Marauders in the 1-A state championship.​

Here, the (V.O.) is used because the narrator isn't actually a part of the scene. He's simply recounting or remembering something that happened years ago.

 

[abacoian]

Thank you!

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

You're quite welcome.


Earlier, I said:

Of course, you may not want your scene to fade in or fade out. You may want to CUT TO BLACK, instead. Or you may want to FADE TO WHITE. It's your call.

And that's true enough. It should be remembered, however, that no matter which transition you use, the editing crew is going to utterly disregard it and do whatever the director wants to do. Usually, anyway....

 

[abacoian]

other than going to school how/what can I do to grasp the proper way to write a movie and be comfortable with it?

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

The only way to become comfortable with the formatting and structure is to read scripts. LOTS of scripts.

When you're reading, use your critical eye. Ask yourself why the author chose each particular method.

Most scenes are going to be pretty vanilla -- a slugline, some action, some dialogue. Practice writing short scenes from your own stories in that same format. Once you're comfortable doing that, you can practice writing short telephone conversations, montages, and voice overs.

It won't be long before you're thinking in the format.

 

[abacoian]

Another question, what makes a good character? Is it the actor? I know there has to be good writing but how much body action do you write into a character and how much do you leave to the actor? I mean say you want a character to be real goofy, do you describe his goofiness, tones, in the script or do you just write his dialouge and let the actor do the rest?

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

I normally give somewhat of a description when I first introduce a character, then toss in a couple of wrylies in their initial lies of dialogue. After that, I leave it to the actor.

A talented actor will take your character to places you never dreamed possible, and will breathe more life into it than you can imagine.

Consider this:

Marty cautiously approaches the passenger door.

MARTY
What do you call this?

PROF. BROWN
A car.​

They both get in the car.

Pretty dull stuff, eh?

Now picture the scene being played by Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Wow....

In general, establish the character, then let the actors act.

 

[abacoian]

hey have you seen the Andy Griffith show? Remember Barney Fife and his goofiness, mannerisms ect? How much of it do you think was the writing and how much the actor?

 

[Lindon Tinuviel]

Most of it was the actor making that part his own. I'm sure the writers and producers set his role up to be the "bumbling sidekick", then he took it and ran with it.