A number of examples of scripts are given at the bottom of this post. (They are included based on their quality, film-wise and script-wise, not by whether they were commissioned or not.) There are also some references which the reader can use to pursue the topic further.
The brief examples from produced movie scripts given below are for educational use only.
Basic elements:
- Font: Courier 12 point is standard, but I think Times Roman 12 point is allowed. Bold and italics can use used, if needed, but if it can't be typed using an old-fashioned manual typewriter, don't use it.
- Slug lines -
The slug line is in all caps. These are abbreviated location and lighting instructions for the crew to shoot the scene. They generally begin with either INT. or EXT. (short for interior, resp., exterior). Occasionally, in a car ride or a shot in a doorway, you might see INT./EXT., which means the camera can be inside or outside (or both).
Example 1: From John August's Frankenweenie:
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
This tells us that it is an interior shot, set in a classroom, during the day.
Example 2: From that same script:
EXT. BACK YARD - DAY
This tells us that it is an exterior shot, set in a back yard (Victor and Sparky's back yard, as we learn later in the scene), during the day. It is also correct to say
EXT. VICTOR'S HOUSE - BACK YARD - DAY
There are lots of variations on slug line formats, as well. For instance, maybe you want the camera outside the classroom looking in, or inside the house looking out into the back yard. There are also "secondary slug lines", used, for example, when a number of scenes take place inside the same house. However, to keep things basic, we only list the simplest cases.
- Action lines -
They give a concisely worded scene description of (a) what the audience sees in the location provided by the slug line, (b) who is present (or at least, seen by the camera) in the location, and (c) any motion we see. Action lines can occur anywhere but the action lines immediately after the slug line gives the audience the kinds of details you would want a set designer to know.
Example 3: From John August's Frankenweenie:
INT. CLASSROOM - DAY
MR. RZYKRUSKI stands at the blackboard, where he's written his name. He has a thick, impossible-to-place accent, somewhere between a Russian spy and Dracula.
The character cue for Mr. Rzykruski is in all caps because this is the first time we have seen this character. For the remainder of the action lines of the script he will be simply Mr. Rzykruski.
Example 4: From Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig's Bridesmaids:
INT. CLEAN, UPSCALE MODERN BATHROOM - MORNING
Annie stands in front of a mirror in nice lingerie. She puts on lotion, make-up, brushes her hair, mascara, etc. She's getting ready to ...
Creep back into the bed, where Ted is still sleeping. She gets in and begins to position herself to show her good parts. Coughs and nudges Ted to wake him up. Annie quickly pretends she’s still asleep. He taps her.
Descriptive, concise writing. While the authors don't grammatically need 2 paragraphs, the paragraph break helps communicate pacing.
- camera direction
The action lines can convey camera placement/motion directly, or indirectly.
Example 5: Excellent example of indirect camera placement from David Koepp's Panic Room:
EXT. WEST 83RD STREET - DAY
Race across a field of PEDESTRIANS to pick up three women hurrying down the sidewalk. LYDIA LYNCH, a real estate broker, vaults down the sidewalk, she's got a hell of a stride. MEG ALTMAN, thirtyish, struggles to keep up with her, she's tall, wafer-thin, pale as a ghost. SARAH, a nine year old girl, flat out runs to keep up, dribbling a basketball as she goes. The kid's athletic, much tougher than Meg, who she resembles.
See how the description suggests a camera starting from an establishing wide shot then zooming or pushing into a medium shot?
- text on screen
Example 6: From Tony Kushner's Lincoln:
TITLE:
JANUARY, 1865
TWO MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S RE-ELECTION THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR IS NOW IN ITS FOURTH YEAR
EXT. A SHIP AT SEA - NIGHT
A huge, dark, strange-looking steamship, part wood and part iron, turreted like a giant ironclad monitor, is plowing through the choppy black waters of an open sea. Lincoln is alone, in darkness, on the deck, which has no railing, open to the sea. The ship’s tearing through rough water, but there’s little pitching, wind or spray. The deck is dominated by the immense black gunnery turret.
In place of TITLE, you can also say SUPER for example.
- close ups
Example 7: From Robert Towne's Chinatown (page 11):
INT. GLOVE COMPARTMENT
consists of a small mountain of Ingersoll pocket watches. The cheap price tags are still on them. Gittes pulls out one. He absently winds it, checks the time with his own watch. It's 9:37 as he walks to Mulwray's car and places it behind the front wheel of Mulwray's car. He yawns again and heads back to his own car.
GITTES
arrives whistling, opens the door with "J.J. GITTES AND ASSOCIATES - DISCREET INVESTIGATION" on it.
This passage does a lot. First, the action lines following the first slug line indirectly indicates a number of close-ups, e.g., the time of 9:37. The secondary slug line is a character cue, so that indicates that the camera is to track that character (Gittes, the protagonist of the story).
- camera direction
- Dialogue
In a play, almost all the information comprising the story is conveyed via dialogue. In film, that is generally not true, as visuals play such a vital role. None-the-less, dialogue is how we learn the personality of each character, what kind of person they are.
Example 8: From Theodore Melfi's St. Vincent (pages 3-4):
Vin’s sitting across from a mortgage counselor, TERRY. He’s reviewing paperwork.
VINCENT That one there. Says the line’s been frozen.
(pointing)
Terry shuffles.
TERRY Uh-huh. Got it. Yes. Let’s see...so...with these reverse mortgages you can only borrow a percentage of the equity you have in the house. That’s called the loan-to-value.
VINCENT Don’t need a financial seminar. I own the damn thing outright. 40 years.
We get a clear sense of what a crotchity old dude Vincent (the protagonist) is, as well as what his "external" need is (money). In the remainder, we see what his "internal" need is (love and a sense of family).
- email/SMS
There is a lot of email in Spike Jonze's Her, however the script has it all vocalized using a "text voice".
Example 9: From Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl:
TANNER Go talk to Tommy. I’ll draw up the contracts.
NICK’s phone text buzzes. He looks at it: holds up the screen: TOMMY O’HARA with a phone number. Tanner grins.
TANNER (CONT’D) Told you you came to the right guy.
- singing
Example 10: An example of singing a song is given in John August's Frankenweenie:
Burgemeister walks away from Elsa leaving her alone at the microphone.
Nervous, she looks out over the crowd.
Elsa starts to sing.
ELSA Praise be New Holland,
(singing)
Streets so wide and sidewalks clean,
Modest homes at modest prices,
Everyone’s urban dream,
Praise be New Holland,
Happy children free from tears,
Free from all the worlds dangers,
Free from crime and free from strangers,
The crowd is so rapt that no one notices the big THUNDERSTORM brewing overhead.
Note the italics in the lyrics. I didn't add them. They are in the original script.
- parentheticals
These go underneath the character cue (which is always in all caps). They are also called "wrylies" because (at least for older scripts) their most common use was to tell the actor that the tone of the line is wry humor (wryly). In general, parentheticals are used in case a line of dialogue has an ambiguous meaning, but can also be used for action, if it is only a word or two.
Example 11: From Peter Berg's The Losers:
EXT. HUMVEE (MOVING) -- DAY
RIPPING ACROSS THE DESERT. Pooch drives, Clay shotgun, others in the back. Passing a COMPUTER TABLET to Jensen:
CLAY Authenticate and backtrace.
POOCH Send us out to the middle of nowhere to "wait for instructions"...
(grumbling)
JENSEN We're good, this baby came out of the Kandahar Spook Station, controller's codename is Max.
(finishes checking)
The first parenthetical indicates that the line is to be spoken in an annoyed voice. The second parenthetical actually indicates action, that Jensen finishes checking something on the laptop.
- email/SMS
If this post interests you, here are some books that might help you go further:
- Charles Deemer's Screenwright is available free online, as well available as a (cheap, used) paperback. While a fine introduction to screenplay narrative structure, there is little on formatting there.
- David Trottier’s The Screenwriter’s Bible, now in its 6th edition, is summarized on johnaugust.com. I've seen older editions (which are also good) sell on amazon.com for as low as one penny. This introduces both script structure and also script formatting.
- Christopher Riley's The Hollywood Standard has a lot of detail on script format questions as does David Trottier’s Dr Format Tells All.
- Ellen Sandler's The TV Writer's Workbook, if you are interested in sit-com writing. While a fine introduction to sit-com screenplay structure, there is little on TV script formatting there. However, her website does have an example script from an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond she wrote.
- Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig's "Bridesmaids" (2011),
- David Koepp, "Panic Room" (2000),
- Theodore Melfi "St. Vincent" (2014)
- John August's "Go" (1997) or "Frankenweenie" (2012),
- Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" (2013) - this script is a final production draft, which is a modified version of the original script which includes scene numbers in the margins used by the production crew. Just ignore them.
- Tony Kushner, "Lincoln" (2011) available at amazon.com (and online)
- Peter Berg's "The Losers" (2010)
- Robert Towne's "Chinatown" (1973)
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