Below is an informative piece on writing scripts which I found on the internet (http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworktopics/a/play.htm). I found this very helpful as it clearly outlines the main structures of every type of script.
Plot refers to the skeleton of the story: the chain of events that shows causality. What does that mean?
A famous writer named E. M. Forester once clarified a plot and its relationship to causality by explaining:
“'The king died and then the queen died' is a story. 'The king died and then the queen died of grief' is a plot. The time-sequence is preserved, but their sense of causality overshadows it."
Plot
The action and emotional ups and downs of a plot determine the plot type.
Plots have been classified in many ways, starting with the basic concept of comedies and tragedies used in ancient Greece. You can make up any type of plot, but a few examples might help you get started.
- Episodic: Episodic plots involve episodes: several events are linked together with each event or “episode” containing a possible climax.
- Rising Action: This plot contains a conflict, tension, and climax to resolve the conflict.
- Quest: This type involves an adventurer who sets off on a journey and reaches a goal.
- Transformation: In this variety of plot, a person changes character because of an experience.
- Revenge or Justice: In a revenge story, a bad thing happens, but eventually everything works out evenly.
Exposition
The exposition is the part of the play (normally in the beginning) in which the writer “exposes” the background information that the audience needs to understand the story. It is an introduction to the setting and characters.
Dialogue
The dialogue of a play is the part that allows you to show your creativity. A play is carried along through conversations, called dialogue. Writing dialogue is a challenging task, but it is your chance to flaunt your artistic side.
Things to consider when writing dialogue are:
- Habits or accents that provide insight to the character
- Actions or behavior the character displays while talking
Conflict
Many plots involve a struggle to make things interesting. This struggle or conflict can be anything from a concept in one person’s head to a battle between characters. Struggle can exist between good and evil, between one character and another, or between a dog and a cat.
Complications
If your story is going to have a conflict, it should also have complications that make the conflict even more interesting.
For instance, a struggle between a dog and a cat can be complicated by the fact that the dog falls in love with the cat. Or the fact that the cat lives in the house and the dog lives outside.
Climax
The climax happens when the conflict is resolved in some way. It is the most exciting part of a play, but the journey toward a climax can be choppy. A play can have a mini-climax, a setback, and then a bigger, final climax.
This is the base of any script, next there are certain additions to the script which make it suited for television and/ film, and theatre.
Scripts for soaps often include a brief outline of what has happened in the episodes previous so that the actors are aware of the context in which they are acting. Theatre scripts, however, would not have this as they begin an end in one sitting and usually within 2 hours.
Theatre scripts also contain stage directions a lot of the time but only very simple ones as the director would make most of the staging decisions during the rehearsal process. Soap scripts may contain some stage directions but would also be minimal.
A
screenplay or
script is a
written work by
screenwriters for a
film,
video game, or
television program. These screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated. A play for television is also known as a
teleplay.
The format is structured in a way that one page usually equates to one minute of screen time. In a "
shooting script", each scene is numbered, and technical direction may be given. In a "
spec" or a "draft" in various stages of development, the scenes are
not numbered, and technical direction is at a minimum. The standard font for a screenplay is 12 point, 10 pitch
Courier Typeface.
[1]
The major components are
action and
dialogue. The "action" is written in the
present tense. The "dialogue" are the lines the characters speak. Unique to the screenplay (as opposed to a stage play) is the use of
slug lines.
The format consists of three aspects:
- The interplay between typeface/font, line spacing and type area, from which the concept of one page of text per one minute of screen time is derived, but is in practice only used as a ball park estimation, and often bears little resemblance to the running time of the final movie. In the United States letter size and paper and courier 12 point are mandatory; Europe uniformly uses A4 as the standard paper size format using 12 point 10 pitch Courier as per the US.
- The tab settings of the scene elements (dialogue, scenes headings, transitions, parentheticals, etc.), which constitute the screenplay's layout.
- The dialogue must be centered and the names must be capitalized. A script usually begins with "FADE IN:", followed by the first scene description. It might get more specific, e.g. "FADE IN ON AN ECU of Ricky as he explains the divorce to Bob." A script will usually end with "FADE TO BLACK", though there are variables, like "CUT TO BLACK" for abrupt endings.
The style consists of a grammar that is specific to screenplays. This grammar also consists of two aspects:
- A prose that is manifestation-oriented, i.e. focuses largely on what is audible and what is visible on screen. This prose may only supply interpretations and explanation (deviate from the manifestation-oriented prose) if clarity would otherwise be adversely affected.
- Codified notation of certain technical or dramatic elements, such as scene transitions, changes in narrative perspective, sound effects, emphasis of dramatically relevant objects and characters speaking from outside a scene.
Physical format
American screenplays are printed single-sided on three-hole-punched paper using the standard American letter sized (8.5 x 11 inch). They are then held together with two brass brands in the top and bottom hole. The middle hole is left empty as it would otherwise make it harder to quickly read the script.
In the United Kingdom, double-hole-punched A4 paper is normally used, which is slightly taller and thinner than US Letter size. Some UK writers format the scripts for use in the US Letter size, especially when their scripts are to be read by American producers since the pages would otherwise be cropped when printed on US paper. Because each country's standard paper size is difficult to obtain in the other country, British writers often send an electronic copy to American producers, or crop the A4 size to US letter.
A British script may be bound by a single brad at the top left hand side of the page, making flicking through the paper easier during script meetings. Screenplays are usually bound with a light card stock cover and back page, often showing the logo of the production company or agency submitting the script, covers are there to protect the script during handling which can reduce the strength of the paper. This is especially important if the script is likely to pass through the hands of several people or through the post.
Increasingly,
reading copies of screenplays (that is, those distributed by producers and agencies in the hope of attracting finance or talent) are distributed printed on both sides of the paper (often professionally bound) to reduce paper waste. Occasionally they are reduced to half-size to make a small book which is convenient to read or put in a pocket; this is generally for use by the director or production crew during shooting.
Although most writing contracts continue to stipulate physical delivery of three or more copies of a finished script, it is common for scripts to be delivered electronically via email. Although most production companies can handle scripts in most formats, it is better practice to supply scripts as a
PDF file where possible. This is because it gives the writer final control over the layout of the script, which may otherwise vary depending on what fonts and/or paper size the recipient uses to print the script. The formatting software programs listed at the bottom of this article produce industry standard formatted screenplays in PDF.
Screenplays and teleplays use a set of standardizations, beginning with proper formatting. These rules are in part to serve the practical purpose of making scripts uniformly readable "blueprints" of movies, and also to serve as a way of distinguishing a professional from an amateur. It is very important that the correct format is used, as otherwise the script is likely to be disregarded very quickly. There are practical reasons for this. An incorrectly formatted script can be very difficult for actors to read from, when testing the script out. If you are unsure exactly what is required, then at least be consistent, and keep things as simple as possible.
Feature film
Screenplay for
The Godfather,
Turin, Italy
Motion picture screenplays intended for submission to mainstream studios, whether in the US or elsewhere in the world, are expected to conform to a standard typographical style known widely as
studio format which stipulates how elements of the screenplay such as scene headings, action, transitions, dialog, character names, shots and parenthetical matter should be presented on the page, as well as the font size and line spacing.
One reason for this is that, when rendered in studio format, most screenplays will transfer onto the screen at the rate of approximately one page per minute. This rule of thumb is widely contested — a page of dialog usually occupies less screen time than a page of action, for example, and it depends enormously on the literary style of the writer — and yet it continues to hold sway in modern Hollywood.
There is no single standard for studio format. Some studios have definitions of the required format written into the rubric of their writer's contract. The Nicholl Fellowship, a screenwriting competition run under the auspices of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has a guide to screenplay format.
[3] A more detailed reference is
The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats.
[4]
Screenplays are usually 90-120 pages long, Comedies and children's films usually shorter.
Screenplays are almost always written using a
monospaced font, often a variant of
Courier or
Courier New, both mostly used as 12 pt font. This is preferred due to its clarity.
Television
For American TV shows, the format rules for hour-long dramas, like
CSI, and single-camera sitcoms, like
Scrubs, are essentially the same as for motion pictures. The main difference is that TV scripts have act breaks. Multi-camera sitcoms like
I Love Lucy use a different, specialized format that derives from radio and the stage play. In this format, dialogue is double-spaced, action lines are capitalized, and scene headings, character entrances and exits, and sound effects are capitalized and underlined.
Drama series and sitcoms are no longer the only formats that require the skills of a writer. With reality-based programming crossing genres to create various hybrid programs, many of the so-called "reality" programs are in a large part scripted in format. That is, the overall skeleton of the show and its episodes are written to dictate the content and direction of the program. The Writers Guild of America has identified this as a legitimate writer's medium, so much so that they have lobbied to impose jurisdiction over writers and producers who "format" reality-based productions. Creating reality show formats involves storytelling structure similar to screenwriting, but much more condensed and boiled down to specific plot points or actions related to the overall concept and story.
Documentaries
The script format for documentaries and audio-visual presentations which consist largely of voice-over matched to still or moving pictures is different again and uses a two-column format which can be particularly difficult to achieve in standard word processors, at least when it comes to editing or rewriting. Many script-editing software programs include templates for documentary formats.
