THE SCREENWRITING DOJO - PART I

Welcome back Grasshopper...make yourself comfortable.

I have a question for you.

What would the film and television industry be if there were no screenwriters?

(I don’t know...Sensei)

This is a no-brainer! Haven’t you followed the industry news? Or have you been at the International Space Station for the past few years with no access to the trade papers?

(I...I...)

Silence! The answer is - The film and television industry would be in limbo...idle...inactive...at a virtual standstill...in cryogenic stasis!

In all honesty...when it comes to the feature-film business totem-pole...screenwriters are on the very bottom.

(Really, that doesn’t make sense...Sensei.)

Yes, Grasshopper...It doesn’t make sense to me either.

Without writers there would be no Five Fingers of Death -
no Fists of Fury - no Deadly China Doll – there would be
no movies!

But I digress...today’s lesson is screenplay format. And proper format is a key element in jumpstarting your scriptwriting career.

To be sure...there is a strict protocol in screenwriting. And you must adhere to that protocol as if your writing life depended on it...because it does!

One more thing – this lesson may be kind of boring.
But this is a screenwriting dojo! Not a Dancing With
The Stars dojo! If you want excitement – then you are
in the wrong dojo!

(Understood...Sensei)

So Grasshopper...let’s start with the basics.

PAPER for your printer: Paper should be 8.5” x 11”. Buy one of those 3-hole punching gizmos - they’re not expensive and you are going to need it. And please - if you don’t already own one - get a Laser-printer! The best draft-quality for written work is generated by Laser. The average toner cartridge should do somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000 printouts before you need to change cartridges. If you have an Ink-jet or Bubble-jet printer - then I suggest you buy stock in the company that manufactures your machine. You are going to spend a lot of cash on replacement cartridges...so at the very least when the dividend checks come in – you can reclaim some of your money.

(Ha, ha, ha!)

You laugh Grasshopper – but I am not joking.

(Oh...I thought you were)

MARGINS: Set margins at 1.5” LEFT and 1” RIGHT. There is a direct correlation between the left-margin and the 3-holes you will punch into each page. When you complete the final draft of your script and print it out...at some point you may have to bind it. Use 2-hole prong paper fasteners.

(Sensei...why should I use 2-hole fasteners if I’m punching 3-holes into the paper?).

Good question Grasshopper - I really don’t know - but for NIKE sakes...Just Do It! These are the Industry Standards, and you must follow them like sunrise follows sunset. What I do know is the 1.5” Left margin will allow enough space - so that when you bind the script - and open it - the text on the left side of the paper is readable and not covered by the fastener.

FONT STYLE: Should be COURIER!
Not Times New Roman - not Desdemona - not Helvetica or any of the Sans Serifs! If you use any font - no matter how cute it is - other than Courier - you will be admitting to prod-co execs [production company executives] that you are nothing more than an amateur - and your work is not worth their valuable time to read. So...COURIER ONLY! Do not Justify the text – do not use Bold – and instead of using Italics - use the Underline feature.


FONT SIZE: Should be 12 Point. It’s as simple as that...Courier 12 point is your font style and size.

(Why...Sensei?)

I’ll tell you why Grasshopper.

1) A screenplay needs to look like you used one of those old Olivetti machines that your mother learned to type on in high school.

2) The average feature-length movie is two-hours long. Every page of your screenplay represents One-Minute of screen-time. That is why your screenplay is 120-Pages long.

1-minute per page x 120 pages = 2 hours.

Furthermore...Courier is a proportional font...that is to say that each letter takes up the same amount of space on the page...just like your mother’s Olivetti.

Lower-case or Upper-case - it doesn’t matter – same amount of space.

(I get it!)

Good. And don’t forget to call me Sensei.

(Sorry...Sensei)

TITLE PAGE front cover: Title and author name - pen name if you have one - should be centered about fifteen spaces down from the top of the page.

Somewhere close to the bottom right-hand corner of the page - use a no-line text box for your given name, address, city/state/zip code, phone number and email address.

Never add copyright data, a date or what draft it is to your title page.

This next part may be a bit confusing Grasshopper – so I will explain.

PAGE ONE: Although the Title page is the first physical page of your script – it considered a cover. The second physical page of your script is actually Page One.

(Understood...Sensei)

Top of page-one begins with the words FADE IN all capital letters.

I will explain “FADE IN” in the section that covers “Script Terminology”.

SLUG LINE: Tells where and when the action is taking place.

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT: Tells what action occurs at the location mentioned in the slug line. Descriptive text should run about 6” wide.

CHARACTERS: Are the people in your story. It’s a good idea to start introducing the main characters as early as possible in your descriptive text. Character names are CAPITALIZED for initial introduction [with one exception to be explained later].

(So start with fade-in at the top of the page. Slug lines are followed by descriptive text. And character names are all caps when first introduced...is that correct Sensei?)

Yes...Grasshopper

(So the beginning of my screenplay should look like this)

FADE IN Page 1

EXT. NYC – BROADWAY AT WEST 54TH STREET – DAY

The Future. We see a street-level view of the wildly cheering crowd (fenced-in by metal police barriers) in front of renovated Ed Sullivan Theater. A black Lincoln Continental limousine slowly rolls into view. Blue number 2 embossed on the white license plate. Magnetized video-placards, on the passenger compartment doors, stream Republican National Committee public relations commercials. Barely visible behind the bullet-proofed tinted windows are New York City’s celebrity Mayor DEREK JETER, Deputy-mayor ANNETTE BENEDETTI, and ZOLANGÉ DEPASSE, the mayor’s chief of staff. The smiling ex-Yankee, hall-of-fame, jock-
turned politician shows a thumbs up to the camera.

Very impressive Grasshopper...you are on your way to an
Academy Award for Best Screenplay!



Come back next time for...

THE SCREENWRITING DOJO - PART II

Write On!

A. SUPREME


Author Of

THE TIMECODE RAILROAD

“The American Civil War – Like It’s Never Been Told Before”


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