Assignment_Description_and_Details1) Compose four loglines. (Loglines are one or two sentences that capture the premise of a story, including the main character and the primary conflict.) These should

THE BASICS
Almost 99% of your script will involve just four elements: Sluglines, Action, Character Names, and Dialogue. Learn how to format the Big Four and you're in the clear.

1) Sluglines, also known as Scene Headings. These appear at the beginning of a new scene and tell us the scene's setting. They look like this:

Sluglines are made up of these three elements:

1) INT. or EXT. Short for Interior and Exterior, this tells the production crew whether or not they'll be shooting on a sound stage or on location.

2) Location. Where the scene takes place. These should be short: LIBRARY CIRCULATION DESK or TRAILER PARK or AL'S BRAIN.

3) Time. Usually just DAY or NIGHT but can be as specific as 4:59 A.M. (if, say the bomb is set to go off at 5:00.)

Sluglines are always in ALL CAPS. There are usually two spaces between INT./EXT. and Location, and then space, hyphen, space between Location and Time.

2) Action. This describes what is happening on the screen, and which characters (if any) are involved. It looks like this:

With a few exceptions we'll talk about later, Action follows standard rules of capitalization. It's single-spaced and always in present tense.

Also, you always need some Action after a Slugline, even it's only a single line.

3) Character Name. This always appears above Dialogue and tells us which character is speaking. It looks like this:

Character names are always in ALL CAPS.

And sometimes you'll have minor characters that you won't want to name. It's okay to just call them CLERK or PEDESTRIAN or MONKEY WARRIOR. If there are several of the same type of character, add a number: COP #1 or BODY BUILDER #2.

4) Dialogue. The words the character speaks. It looks like this:

Dialogue is single-spaced and follows standard rules of capitalization. Unlike in novels, there are no quotes around Dialogue, unless the character is quoting someone.

MORE DETAILS

Parentheticals: These are used within dialogue to describe what a character is simultaneously doing, who she's talking to, or how he is speaking. They look like this:

Parentheticals also take up space, slow your pace, and annoy actors, who don't like being told how to say their lines; try to only use parentheticals where not using them would lead to confusion, as demonstrated in the following:

Capitalization within Action: The very first time a character's name appears in Action, it appears in ALL CAPS.