Your characters each have their own particular way of speaking. Now, let’s talk about Dialogueĭialogue is the words you write that – at least you hope – actors will speak out loud. To find the culprits, search your document for “is” and “are” followed by a past participle, like ‘written.’ Then rewrite the sentence into active voice. In the case of screenplays, try to avoid passive voice throughout your script. Even Grammarly will flag your passive voice construction. If you write blogs, your SEO checker will highlight too many passive voice sentences in your post. This is a solid writing habit no matter what type of prose you’re producing, so it’s worth understanding and mastering. The passive voice version would be: The dishes are dried by Bob. Here’s another example: Bob (subject) dries (verb) the dishes (object). Action lines are best written in active voice – that’s an example of passive voice.Īn active voice sentence is structured as subject-verb-object, where the subject does something to the object. The other rule of “the black” is to always write in “active voice.” What’s that? Write your action lines in active voice – that’s an example of active voice. Take a look at my writing tips cheat sheet to help you. But, do try to use a more interesting verb than walks. Just run a search for “is” or “ing” and replace those verb phrases with simple present tense.Īlways write your screenplays only in simple present tense: Alice walks. If you’ve already tucked into your first (or second and third) screenplay, you can find and fix these errors simply. And never present tense continuous, as in “Alice is walking.” Never past tense (Alice walked) never future tense (Alice will walk) never past subjunctive (Alice would have walked). See my piece on showing, not telling if you’re not sure what that means.Īlso, the language you use to write action lines in a screenplay is simple present tense. Remember that action lines are camera shots. Definitely refrain from making max-length action blocks a habit. You better have a valid reason if your action lines run four or five lines long. You tell the reader who’s in the scene and what they’re doing.Īction lines are one, two, three, four, or five lines max. Next, Action LinesĪfter any scene heading, the action lines give a visual description of what’s going on in the place and time you’ve named in the slugline. So, that covers the first main element of a screenplay. Sluglines should never spill over onto a second line. ALICE’S COUNTRY HOUSE BEDROOM – NIGHT.īut be careful. Format, as Trottier is known, can give you all the details.įor me –and this is a personal choice– I like to take the opportunity to add a little more locational information in the slugline. Here I’m just going to outline the basics, but Dr. Get yourself a copy of Dave Trottier’s The Screenwriter’s Bible, which teaches you by multiple examples how to format properly. So, if you’re serious about learning how to write screenplays, don’t just read blog posts like this. There’s a right way to format sluglines and other screenplay elements. If you’ve read some of my blog pieces, you’ve heard me say that a script needs to look right. If you need to describe the time of day, do it in the action lines. It’s tempting for new screenwriters to jazz things up by, instead of DAY or NIGHT, writing EARLY EVENING or SUNSET. So the full slugline (scene heading) looks like this: – for exterior) 2.) A short phrase identifying where the scene physically takes place (ALICE’S BEDROOM) and 3.) Whether the scene takes place during the DAY or NIGHT. As long as you’re consistent, you can choose your personal preference.Ī slugline (scene heading) consists of three parts, which each tell everyone involved with production a lot of details with just a few words. Slug lines/sluglines must be written in all caps. Action lines are referred to as “the black” for example, and scene headings are called Slug Lines (or Sluglines). Of course, these also have nicknames in the business lingo. But all scripts consist of three main elements: Scene Headings, Action Lines, and Dialogue. written “on speculation” – not commissioned) requires a particular format. If you’re a brand-new screenwriter, you’ve probably seen a screenplay or a play in written form, but you might not yet know how it breaks down into parts.Ī spec screenplay (i.e. Sluglines/sluglines in a screenplay aren’t slimy.
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