FADE IN:

Table of Contents
 

newest addition: Glossary

measurements

• typeface
• margins and tabs
• page numbers

scenes

• master scene headings
• secondary scene headings
• montage, series of shots
• flashbacks, flashback sequences, quick flashes
• dreams, daydreams, imaginings, visions, animations and sequences thereof
• establishing shots
• spacing between scenes
• spacing between lines
• scene transitions, MATCH CUT

characters

• character introductions
• character names
• character cues

narrative and action

• character introductions
• SUPER, SCROLL, words on TV
• INSERT
• sounds, MOS
• special effects (FX, SPFX, SFX)
• POV, CLOSE UP, PULL BACK
• slow motion
• music, music lyrics
• movie clips
• unseen characters, phantom POV
• action stacking
• A beat.
• then we see ...
• author’s intrusions

dialog

• actor’s instructions (a.k.a. wrylies)
• (O.S.) and (V.O.)
• MORE and CONT’D / CONTINUED
• telephone conversations
• INTERCUT
• overlapping dialog
• computer conversations
• foreign languages
• telepathic dialog
• mute dialog
• (beat)
• --
• ...
• subtitles

miscellaneous

• the title page
• the first page
• credits and titles
• the last page
• author’s intrusions
• notes
• FADE IN: / FADE OUT.

If you don’t believe me then take this from a pro:

“Readers in Hollywood do a great deal of inductive reasoning, which goes something like this: “I just read 99 screenplays, they were all horrible, and they were all written in improper format. Therefore, if screenplay number 100 is also in improper format, it must be horrible, too.”

Michael Hauge, Collins 2007, Writing Screenplays That Sell