How to read a screenplay

(Because this seems like a good post before I begin serializing one.)

The title makes this sound either more complicated or more pretentious (why not both!) than it truly is. It’s not difficult to read a screenplay; it’s just that there are quirks and conventions of the format it’s worth knowing.

Screenplays sit in an odd corner: they have to show what goes on the movie screen, but they can’t be dry blueprints—they have to be good reads. It’s not the screenplay’s job to give specific camera directions or notes to actors—a screenplay full of “ZOOM IN ON” and “CUT TO” will never get produced unless the first page contains the phrase “by David Mamet.” Yet everything that goes on the screen has to be on the page. You have to write visually, suggesting closeups and wide shots, giving set directors (or animators) enough to work with for your backgrounds—not describing every little thing, but giving the overall tone. Reading a script isn’t watching a movie, but you should be able to see the movie in your head.

So in no particular order, here’s some pointers about screenplay conventions:

Screenplays are always in present tense. You’re watching the action as it happens. Also, they’re nearly always in Courier, because Hollywood loves typewriters or something.

Stories have chapters; screenplays have scenes. Scenes almost always begin with a scene header in all caps that indicates where it is, whether it’s an external or internal location (i.e., outside or inside), and usually the time of day:

EXT. UNDERWOOD ESTATE - NIGHT

The time of day is often just DAY or NIGHT; sometimes you’ll see DUSK, DAWN, EVENING, MORNING, AFTERNOON, etc., if it’s relevant. If the time is irrelevant or obvious from context, it’s often left out.

When characters are first introduced, their names are in ALL CAPS in text. This usually happens in scene/action description, which is, well, exactly what it sounds like: setting the scene and then describing individual actions.

The laughing woman is MIRASOL DRAKE, a beautiful coyote in her mid–20s. Shoulder-length red hair, golden eyes, the only one in the group dressed casually by the era’s standards: button-down blouse, slacks rather than a skirt. By her side stands HARRY JENKINS, a slim, rakish fox a few years older than her. DARBY UNDERWOOD (the first speaker) stands across the fire from her; the fox is in his 50s, but he’s big, fit, severe. GABRIELLE UNDERWOOD stands near but apart from her husband, the perfect vixen hostess: stunning black cocktail dress, emerald eyes framed by long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She’s half a foot shorter and at least fifteen years younger than Darby.

Dialog is indicated with the character name centered on a line (a “character cue”), and the dialog directly under it. Sometimes dialog contains parentheticals describing the way it’s delivered or short actions.

I can’t center text in Patreon’s editor, but it’s roughly like this:

        MIRASOL
   (smiling slightly)
You’re more like Harry, aren’t you?
   (looking toward the house)
I should have gone with him. Whether or not he likes it.

Sometimes you’ll see transitions in scripts, which theoretically tell the editors how to change between shots or scenes. A cut is the most common transition, just moving from one scene to the next. There are also fade ins and fade outs, dissolves (one scene fading out at the same time the new scene is fading in), and more esoteric ones like wipes, jump cuts, smash cuts, match cuts…um, cold cuts? In practice, “CUT TO:” is implied between scenes, and it’s usually left out of the actual screenplay unless including it adds to the reading experience. As for the other kinds of transitions, scripts usually leave this up to the director and the film editor unless it’s integral to the visual. (If you’ve ever seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, the opening has what may be the most famous match cut in film history: after realizing that a bone can be a tool and a weapon, an ape joyfully throws the bone in the air, and as it spins, the film cuts to an image of a vaguely bone-shaped orbital satellite. If you’ve never seen 2001 then drop what you’re doing and go watch it. I’ll wait.)

Anyway: now that you have the basics of scenes, dialogue, parentheticals, and transitions, you’ve pretty much got it figured out!