ALWAYS HAVE A TITLE PAGE
ATTACHED TO YOUR WORK
by
Your Full Name
FADE IN:
INT. LOCATION - DAY
This is your action line. Write what is happening that can be
seen on screen. Don’t waste words with what we can’t see.
Remind yourself this should be action, not description.
Start a new paragraph when you see fit. When a character
appears for the first time, his or her NAME must be
capitalized, followed by a 1 sentence description and age.
NAME
This is dialogue. Keep them short
and believable.
After the character’s introduction, their Name doesn’t have
to be in all caps anymore.
INT. LOCATION - DAY (SAME)
In your slugline (the line above), use either day or night.
Don’t be fancy unless it is absolutely critical where the sun
is.
Leave out camera direction. Forget the effects and edits as
well. They are secondary to what you are doing right now,
which is putting down what is happening. Make notes by pen
afterwards.
Keep in mind what the actors will be doing as well as what we
will see on screen. Think about how you will communicate the
critical actions and whether or not the shot will be
achievable.
Unless you are writing a play, dialogue shouldn’t dominate
the page.
If you want to give a quick direction for the actor (ex.
sadly, chuckles, skeptical...etc.), you can do the following.
CAPITALIZE
(short direction)
Dialogue should be written the way
you want to hear the words said.
EXT. LOCATION - NIGHT
You can leave out the transition at the end of a scene. A new
scene heading already signifies a “cut to.” You only need to
write down transitions such as the following.
FADE TO BLACK.
THE END