This document provides information and guidelines for writing a one-act play or screenplay. It explains that a one-act play is a short drama that is published in anthologies rather than as standalone works. It then outlines the typical elements of a screenplay, including scene headings with location and time, action blocks to describe what is seen and heard, character names in uppercase, parentheticals for context, dialogue centered on the page, and transition directions in uppercase.

2.  a short drama that consists of only one act; the
phrase is not used to describe a full-length play
that does not utilize act-divisions. Unlike other
plays which usually are published one play per
book, one-act plays are often published in
anthologies or collections.

4.  Scene Heading
 Action
 Character
Name
 Parentheticals
 Dialogue
 Transitions

6.  also known as a Slugline.
 Scene Headings mark any change in
location or time in your screenplay.
Every scene begins with one.
EXT. WAREHOUSE DISTRICT - DAY

7.  “EXT” stands for “Exterior.” while “INT”
stands for “Interior” To create a Scene Heading
in Slugline, just begin a new line with one of
the common Scene Heading prefixes:
INT.
EXT.
INT./EXT.
“INT/EXT” is often used for scenes in vehicles.

8.  the catchall element of
screenwriting. It’s where you tell the
reader what happens on the screen.
This should describe action that can
be seen or heard.

9.  in UPPERCASE and are followed
immediately by Dialogue.

10.  provide context or instruction for
the dialogue delivery. These should
be used sparingly so as not to reduce
the readability of the script.

11.  offset from everything else and
centered on the page. Parallel
dialogue (overlapping dialogue) is
written in side-by-side blocks.

12.  used to indicate special information
about how one scene transitions to
another.

13. CUT TO:
 Transitions are in UPPERCASE and
end in TO:. If you want a Transition
that doesn’t end in TO:, begin the
line with a greater-than symbol.
> FADE TO BLACK.