MY GUIDE TO WRITING A FILM SCRIPT Font For any industrial film script, 12 pt COURIER must be used.

The reason for this is that COURIER is a monospaced font, meaning that the spacing between letters is the same size. This sizing means that a sense of timing can be kept, as ONE PAGE EQUALS ROUGHLY 60 SECONDS. Another reason why 12 pt COURIER is used is an evolution of the typeface used in typewriters, which were previously used to write scripts before computers. The Slug Line The slug-line is also referred to as a SCENE HEADING. These are written at the beginning of a new scene/location. They are made up of three elements: INT/EXT, Location, and Time. - INT/EXT tells us if the scene is shot indoors or outdoors. It tells the crew if they are shooting within a studio or out on location. - Location tells us where the scene is. For example; CAR PARK or CLASSROOM. However, a sub-location might be needed. - Time is usually comprised of DAY or NIGHT, but can be a specific time. A full slug line might look like this: EXT CAR PARKING LOT NIGHT

HOWEVER, a slug line with a sub-location might look like this: EXT AIRPORT NORTH TERMINAL DAY Action Action describes what is happening on screen. An example of this could be: EXT CAR PARKING LOT NIGHT

JAMES walks through the car park carefully, looking side to side before he reaches his car. He looks under his car, and stands back up.

Character Name The character name will always be written in capitals. The name is placed above speech, to show who is talking. For example: JOHNNY I dont even know what youre talking About. You just sound so ridiculous sometimes, You know that? Some scripts involve little characters that dont have a large part, so dont need to be named. For the sake of the script, they can be given names, such as BANK CLERK. If there is more than one character of the same type, a number can be added at the end to show there are more than one. For example: BANK CLERK *2 All of these four elements combined would look something like this. EXT CAR PARKING LOT NIGHT

JAMIE walks through the darkened car park, looking from side to side as he passes each individual car. He finally reaches his car, and leans down. JAMIE Come on damn it, come on Abbreviations There are a number of abbreviations that are used within the scriptwriting format. For example; b.g. Background b.g. is used in an action paragraph. For example; JAMES rolls over onto his stomach, playing on his phone. In the b.g., JULIE grabs JAMES keys and leaves. CGI Computer Generated Image CGI is used to tell there is CGI used in the scene For example; CGI: His face turns to wax, and slowly melts away.