This document discusses various aspects of scriptwriting, including titles, formatting, and the writing process. It provides examples of different types of titles and explains script formatting guidelines. Key points covered include choosing an engaging title, following industry-standard formatting for spec scripts, and the importance of rewriting and feedback in crafting the final script. The document concludes by outlining questions critics may ask when evaluating a script.

1. Episode 6:
Write it on Paper
Kriztine Rosales-Viray

2. Vision Revision
!
• How important is the title in a movie?
!
• When should we write the title? Before the script or
after the script?

3. Concept Catcher
• TITLES can either make or break a narrative
• Title is the very first thing that will make your
audience interested in watching your movie.
• Title gives a name to your work of art!
• Your title must not be too obvious neither too out of
context!

4. Types of Titles
• Question Titles

5. • Character/Name Titles

6. • Number Titles

7. • Month Titles

8. • Day titles

9. • Occasion Titles

10. • Season Titles

11. • Place titles

12. • Theme Song Inspired Titles

13. • And other types of titles such as:
• Color titles - “The Color Purple”
• One-word titles - “Mermaids”, “Insidious”, “Himala”
• Long titles- “I Killed my Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook
and Now I have a Three-Picture deal with Disney” (Ben Affleck,
1993)
• Metaphorical Titles— “Gone with the Wind” “Nagalit ang Buwan sa
Haba ng gabi”
• Rhyme/alliteration titles— “Blast from the Past” “Deuce Bigalow,
male Gigolo”
• Connotative titles— “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
“Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang”
• Adaptations - “Twilight saga”, “Fifty Shades of Grey”
• Fad term/lingo-based titles — “Zombadings”, “Ligo na U, Lapit na
Me”

14. !
!
• What to Notice: The writer spends more time
thinking/planning what and how to write than the
actual writing.
• Writing is 70% inspiration and 30% perspiration!
!
• The Script that you are going to write is known as the
SPEC SCRIPT (specimen script) or SELLING
SCRIPT.

15. Script Formats
Screenplay Format
• Spec Script -- uses scene headings, narrative
descriptions and dialogue blocks
!
• Shooting scripts -- are scripts used during production to
shoot the movie. They are written with much more
detailed than spec scripts and may include, among other
things, scene numbers, editing transitions, and camera
angles.
!
• Scene Heading – also known as SLUG LINE.
Composed of three parts: interior/exterior; location;
time of day.

16. • Special Scene Headings
• There are several special scene headings to help
clarify issues of time and space. They include:
• "Month Year"
• Use this heading when the script alternates between
several different time periods. It can be written in a
variety of ways, including "season year." This
heading is from the The Godfather:
• SPRING 1946

17. • "Back To"
• Use this heading when returning to a previous location or
time after a short scene change:
• BACK TO THE DON'S LIVING ROOM or
• BACK TO SPRING 1946 or
• BACK TO THE PRESENT
• "Later"
• Use this to indicate a minor shift in time at the same
location:
• LATER or
• LATER THAT DAY

18. • "Flashback"
• Use this to indicate an earlier time:
• FLASHBACK:
• "Montage"
• This indicates that a series of short related scenes follows
(note that a montage can also be implied in the writing):
• MONTAGE:
• "Intercut"
• This indicates that the scene takes place in more than one
location. It is often used with telephone calls:
• INTERCUT:

19. • Dialogue Blocks
• Dialogue blocks, also called "speeches," are
composed of three parts: character name, wryly, and
dialogue, as illustrated below:
!
• Character Name: HAGEN
Wryly: (quietly)
Dialogue: I did not tell Mama anything.

20. • Character names are written in upper case, wrylies
are written in lower case inside parenthesis, and
dialogue is written in normal sentence case.
!
• A wryly indicates how a line should be said. It was
named after all the novice screenwriters whose
characters say things in a "wry" way. Wrylies should
only be used if the subtext of the dialogue is not
clear. Keep them to a bare minimum. Action can be
written as a wrly if it is a few words and helps the
flow of action.

21. • When a character speaks in narration it is indicated
with (VOICE OVER) after the character's name.
When a character speaks from off screen, it is
indicated with (OFF SCREEN) after the character's
name. These instructions can be initialed, though it
makes the script a bit more cumbersome to read for
non-industry types:
Narration: HAGEN (Voice Over) or HAGEN (V.O.)
Off Screen Dialogue: HAGEN (Off Screen) or HAGEN (O.S.)

22. • Footers
• There are two types of footers that can be used in a
screenplay: (CONTINUED) and (MORE). The footer
that is used depends on whether the page break occurs in
the middle of narrative description or in the middle of
dialogue.
• When the page break occurs in the middle of description,
the footer (CONTINUED) is used to indicate that the
scene is continued on the next page. It is placed in the
lower right corner of the page:
!
• Don Corleone blinks. One feels that just for a
second he loses all physical strength; he clasps his
hands in front of him on the top of the desk and
(CONTINUED)

23. • When the page break occurs in the middle of
dialogue, the footer (MORE) is used to indicate that
there is more dialogue on the next page. It is centered
directly under the last line of dialogue :
HAGEN
(quietly)
I didn’t tell mama anything. I was about to
come up and wake you
(MORE)

24. • When writing a spec script don't use:
• scene numbers
• camera angles
• page footers
• caps for sound effects in narrative description
• caps for character names in narrative description (except
when first appearing)
• third person use of "we" (e.g. "We see John storm out...")

25. • Industry standard dictates that ONE PAGE of the
prescribed script format is roughly equivalent to ONE
MINUTE SCREEN TIME.
!
• Here is how you write your script:
• 1. Paper size 8 ½ X 11 inches (Letter size)
• 2. For the cover page, use a solid color index stock of
at least 65 pound but preferably 110 pound. Nothing
appears on the cover. It is just a blank page.

26. • 3. Typography: 12-point Courier. No fancy or
proportional fonts. Do not use Bold or Italics.
• 4. Margins and Tabulations: Your scripts are going
to be placed in a three-ring binder. Left margin must
be 1.5 inches or 15 spaces using 12-point Courier.
• Right margin – 0.5 inch
• Top Margin – 1 inch
• Bottom margin – 1 inch
• Dialogue – 2.5 inches (or 10 spaces from left margin)
• Oneline dialogue should not be wider than 3.5 inches
• Actor’s instructions: 3.1 inches (16 spaces from left
margin)
• Character’s name: 3.7 inches (22 spaces from left
margin)
• DO NOT JUSTIFY

27. • 5. Pagination: Page numbers must be located at the
upper-right-hand corner, flushed right. Set line
spacing to 2” and write your first line. The first page
is not paginated.
• 6. SLUG LINE: Every time there’s a change in
camera location, you need a slug line. It is written in
all caps and separated by a period.
• 7. Character’s first appearance: The name must
always be written in all caps for every character’s first
appearance only.
• 8. Sounds: Place important sounds in all caps.

28. Do’s and Don’ts
• 1. Use the present tense.
• 2. Do not cheat on the margins. Follow the format
strictly.
• 3. Do not date your scripts.
• 4. Do not label your scripts.
• 5. Do not put a suggested cast list or character list
with bios, Unless REQUESTED.
• 6. Do not attach a SYNOPSIS unless REQUESTED

29. • 7. SHOW. Do not tell. Visualize what you are
writing. Imagine for the audience.
• 8. Do not tell what you have already shown. Avoid
redundancy.
!
• * After you are done writing the “first draft”, it doe
not end there. You are to enter the last stage of
scriptwriting which is REWRITING or POST-Writing
• Here, you revised your script according to the
comments or reactions of your critics.

30. !
• Once done revising, your script is ready to be turned
into a SHOOTING SCRIPT.
• A script can only be considered final after the
narrative is finally produced and ready for viewing.
This is called the TRANSCRIBED SCRIPT.
• Other script format is the AV format or the two-column
format or the split-page format usually used
for audio-visual presentations or 15-60 seconder
commercials.

31. • Script 12 years as slave

32. Critic’s Circle
• 1. Is the title catchy enough? Is it connected to the
whole story? Does the title work?
• 2. Does the script communicate the message it wants
to impart?
• 3. Does the script meet its objectives?
• 4. What is the script’s strength? What improvements
could be made?
• 5. Does the script follow the prescribed format?

33. !
!
• 7. What is the most memorable scene in the story?
• 8. What is the scene that you like the least? How
can this be improved?
• 9. Does the narrative move you?
• 10. Do you learn anything new? What is it?

34. Next Meeting:
Episode 7
Crew, Man Your Positions!