Montage Format – Part 1

Montage Format – Part 1

Question Jim Sarantinos asks: Can you tell me how to format montage sequences? Montage Definition “A montage is a collection of very short scenes, sometimes only a single shot each, designed to show a series of actions over time.” – John August Order...
Discontinue CONT’D

Discontinue CONT’D

The Continuing Use of CONT’D I’m still seeing a ton of people using “(CONT’D)” unnecessarily in their scripts, so it’s time for a quick rant post. In years past, it was common to use “(CONT’D)” whenever a...
Percentage of good scripts

Percentage of good scripts

The Bitter Script Reader answers my question about his experience with competent scripts. I like his zen approach to accepting poor formatting, then moving on. With what percentage of scripts is the quality of formatting and screenwriting craft sufficient enough that...

10 Rules For Using Parentheticals

First, what are they? Parentheticals, or actor/character directions, or “wrylies,” are those little descriptions that sometimes appear after a character’s name, in dialogue blocks, to spell out tone, intent or action. In the poorly written example...