by Trevor Mayes | Jul 26, 2011 | Formatting, Pet Peeves, Rants
One of My Pet Peeves I don’t know why, but I’d say over 75% of the amateur scripts I read spell iPod in some bizarre way. Some examples: I-Pod I Pod IPOD ipod Ipod I-pod I’d be curious to hear from other readers about their experiences. But for me,...
by Trevor Mayes | May 5, 2011 | Formatting, Writing
Triple or Double-Spacing? I recently found myself in a bit of a quandary. After countless hours cutting and tweaking, my finished script weighed in at 111 pages. I had really wanted to come in under 110 pages (as spec script lengths are trending shorter and shorter...
by Trevor Mayes | Jan 10, 2011 | Formatting, Style
What the heck is Pre-lap? I had a good discussion with some of my screenwriting friends last week about using “PRE-LAP” in a script. Since many hadn’t heard the term before, I thought I’d cover it on my blog for those who may be unfamiliar with...
by Trevor Mayes | Apr 28, 2010 | Dialogue, Formatting, Quick Screenwriting Tips
If a parenthetical provides obvious information, it should be removed. Example of UNNECESSARY parenthetical usage — (angrily): JAKE (angrily) I’m going to kill ALL of you! We know Jake is angry because of what he says and how he says it. The parenthetical...
by Trevor Mayes | Apr 15, 2010 | Formatting, Quick Screenwriting Tips
Any time you have dialogue that spells out a word, acronym, or initials, there are a couple of rules to follow. 1) Make sure letters are capitalized. INCORRECT Usage: SLACKER Dude, you know what sucks? I have to get up tomorrow at nine a.m. CORRECT Usage: SLACKER...
![Montage Format – Part 2]()
by Trevor Mayes | Mar 3, 2010 | Formatting
Recap Jim Sarantinos had asked: “Can you tell me how to format montage sequences?” In Part 1 of this article, I started off my response by listing the order of operations I usually follow for exploring any type of script formatting issue: 1. Search...
