![]() ![]() That's background noise, the indistinct chatter of others in public places. Likewise, if there's a TV, and a reporter is talking, and your character is engaged with it, you need to provide all the dialogue. DON'T EXPECT ACTORS TO INVENT THEIR OWN DIALOGUE, NEWSCASTS, COMMERCIALS, OR SONGS If a character is 'on the phone' in a scene, the reader needs to know what that character is saying. Just say 'She leaves' and then - if it's important - show us where she's going through the judicious use of a new slug line.Īs a general rule: if a viewer can't see it, it doesn't belong in action. Likewise, if the slug line says we're in the living room, and a character leaves said living room, don't tell us in the action that she's heading for the bathroom. Action is not the place to tell us that 'Alan quit law school to go to work for the phone company' or that 'Gina is a lovely girl but sort of a slut.' You will need to reveal this through dialogue, setting, character, etc. DON'T USE ACTION TO GIVE US BACKSTORY ON CHARACTER Seriously. DON'T SNEAK IN HUGE SET PIECES WITH NO INTRODUCTION If we're in a desert, don't all of a sudden say, 'They arrive at the house' without alerting the reader about 'a house in the distance' (usually with a helpful new POV or ANGLE ON). Intros don't have to be elaborate they just have to exist before the character speaks. IF YOU DON'T INTRO A CHARACTER IN ACTION FIRST, HE/SHE DOESN'T EXIST Just as you can't all of a sudden have a character dive into a swimming pool in the middle of a living room without establishing it first (you knew that, right?), you can't all of a sudden give a character a name and dialogue without introducing her in the action. If you tend to be spare with descriptions, and it's a time cut, you can say "Bob and Nancy, as before." But you don't just start in with dialogue. It doesn't matter if your only characters in the script are Bob and Nancy. ACTION ALWAYS SEPARATES THE TWO Action tells the director and other interested parties (i.e., the entire crew) which characters inhabit this brand-new scene. That's why it's an art form.) DIALOGUE NEVER FOLLOWS A SLUG LINE. YOU have to make the conversation sound believable while still giving us the information/conflict that we need. In other words, they did not simply freeze in place for our benefit between one slug line and the other. ![]() When we meet up with them again (an INT to EXT, say, or between floors), we have to assume that - just as in real life - their conversation has continued even if we weren't there to witness it. (If action and dialogue are concurrent and not consecutive, then you put Taking off his shoes and coat: with Fred's line following.) CHARACTERS DON'T DIE AND THEN RESUSCITATE BETWEEN SLUG LINES Let's say two characters are in the middle of a conversation and get into an elevator, or walk out a door. Action, in other words, creates pauses between words. So if Maggie asks Fred, 'How are you?' and Fred takes off his coat and shoes before saying 'Fine,' Maggie might be justifiably annoyed. If a character says a line, and a second character responds, realize that any action between that first line and the response also counts as real time. ![]() That means characters cannot take showers, put on makeup, floss, wait 'a few moments' for another character, listen to an entire record, watch an entire TV show, eat an entire meal, or 'at times' trip, hop, skip, or sing - unless we are also there watching the whole time, like an old Yoko Ono experimental film. ONCE YOU ARE BETWEEN SLUG LINES, YOU'RE IN REAL TIME That means if it takes your character two pages to do something, that's approximately two minutes of real time. EXT is not 'outside' in the hall, 'outside' another office, 'outside' sister's room, etc. Don't piss off the cinematographer by confusing an indoor scene with an outdoor scene. AN "EXT"IS AN ACTUAL OUTSIDE The point of EXT/INT in the slug line is to tell the cinematographer what to light. In other words, the overall vibe of the place goes in action, not slug line. ![]() Supers, also called Titles, give details such as '1959' or 'Howard's First Day at Camp.' Give them their own line below the slug line.Īction can bear the weight of more complicated scenarios: the fact that a town is 'gritty' or 'bucolic,' or what have you. DON'T PUT YEARS, DETAILED LOCATIONS, ETC., IN THE SLUG LINE. ![]()
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