Elements of a Screenplay or Script
A Blueprint for a Production
In other forms of creative writing, where the writer communicates directly with their
readership or “audience”, the writer is in complete control and can employ
freedom of style in their approach to laying out their work.
Scriptwriting, however, involves a team of professionals. Each of these
professionals - the director, actors, designer, wardrobe and make-up, location
manager, production manager, and many more - regards the script as the
blueprint for the show or movie that they have been employed to make. The writer
is like an architect, laying out the plans for a building.
The strict rules about layout and format have evolved for a reason: to help make
the job of every member of the team easier. Getting the layout correct is essential,
not because of some quaint cinematic tradition, but because professionals need
the necessary information to appear in the correct place, in order to be able to
extract the information they need quickly and efficiently.
Think of the script layout like the code for a computer program, if something’s out
of place, the program won’t run properly.
Elements of a Script
The layout of a script is very important, but it is impossible to understand how to
lay out a script correctly unless the writer is acquainted with the glossary of terms
used to describe the elements of a script. The key elements are:
1. Sluglines or Scene Headings
2. Characters
3. Action
4. Dialogue
5. Parentheticals
6. Transitions
1. Sluglines or Scene Headings
Sluglines sometimes known by the more descriptive term, Scene Headings, come
at the beginning of each scene. A Slugline looks like this:
INT. JOE’S BAR - NIGHT
Sluglines contain the basic information required about the scene:
Interior or Exterior – INT and EXT help the production manager to work out
schedules and budgets. They also help differentiate between the interior
and exterior of two locations with a single name, such as “JOE’S BAR”,
where “EXT. JOE’S BAR” might be filmed in New York, while “INT. JOE’S
BAR”is in a studio set in Los Angeles.
Location – Every location must be given a name, and the exact name must be
used every time the story returns there.
Time of day – sometimes it’s sufficient in a story to say DAY or NIGHT. In other
situations, a more detailed description of the time might be important.
Sluglines are never numbered until a script is finally ready for production.
2. Characters
Characters are the people in a story. In the script, they are referred to and
described by their 'character names'. It’s important to be consistent, if one of the
people in a story is called JOHN BROWN, his character must not be called JOHN
in some scenes, and MR BROWN, or BROWN in others, the writer must choose
his character name and stick with it. This does apply to references to the character
which are contained within dialogue.
3. Action
Action refers to all the descriptions within a scene concerning the location, the
movements of the characters, or any other important plot points. Action is written
in prose, and in upper and lower case. When a character appears for the first time
in a script, the name of the character is capitalized.
4. Dialogue
Dialogue refers to the words spoken by the characters.
5. Parentheticals
Parentheticals are adverbs or adverbial phrases which describe the movements or
emotions of a character during a piece of dialogue. Parentheticals always appear
in brackets.
Ex: (Mary turns away from John, fighting back tears)
6. Transitions
Transitions mark the end of a scene, describing the transition from one scene to
the next, e.g. CUT TO: / JUMP TO: / DIRECT CONTINUITY WITH:
The most important point about all of the elements of a script, which a scriptwriter
must learn, is to be consistent.