The Wordplayer site has a good anecdote about why it’s important for screenwriters to stay active throughout production:
I’m on the set less than a minute and I see Miss Improvise, in costume, her makeup being touched up, all ready for the first master shot.
She’s supposed to be dead. Dead for at least twenty pages.
Definitely worth a read. Check it out here.
![[question mark graphic]](https://dev.johnaugust.com/img/questionmarks/40.jpg)
I’m struggling with how to format (another way to say procrastinating
on telling the story) a rather large location. It’s a massive complex
that has all kinds of sub-locations. Some scenes take place inside a
PENTHOUSE APARTMENT inside the complex, some in a BOARDROOM, some in a
FACTORY, etc.
Would it be better to say:
etc?
I’m sure either is fine, but the first doesn’t feel right. And the
second feels like I have a single giant scene, when it’s really a
bunch of smaller scenes. Any insights would be great.
— Trey
Dallas, TX
Unless there’s a reason you could expect the reader to get confused, try to keep the location scene headers short. You could probably omit the “COMPANY COMPLEX” in all of these examples, or at least find a simpler way to distinguish it. For example, if the company in question was named SuperCorp, you could simply label it “INT. SUPERCORP BOARDROOM – DAY” and leave it at that.
(But if the movie never goes to any other corporation, just leave it at “boardroom”.)
In cases where you’re going to be intercutting between two environments which have similar-sounding rooms, then yes, it is a good idea to be specific. The classic case is when you have dueling ships, each with their own bridge, engine room, etc. Then, INT. NAUTILUS – GALLEY – DAY makes a lot of sense.
Ok, I have a question. Opening scene, no characters introduced yet and I’m
starting close on a pair of hands with a short dialogue over. We then widen
to the characters that are speaking.
Since all we see are hands, would you designate any of the dialogue as
(O.S.) or is that just too much of a “duh” situation? If yes, would you
designate both of the characters or just the one we see no part of?
Example…
INT. HOUSE – DAY
A PAIR OF ROUGH HANDS open a fresh pack of cigarettes.
CAIRO (O.S.)
Can I get one of those?
JULES (O.S.)
Do I look like I like to share?
JULES, 64 and confined to his bed, removes his oxygen tube and puts the unlit cigarette to his mouth. Blah, blah, blah, grabs a lighter, blah.
Share your wisdom, oh great one.
— Doug
New Orleans
The way you’re doing it is fine. I might be a bit more specific in the last line:
As the hands lift a cigarette to the man’s lips, we REVEAL:
JULES, 64 and confined to his bed. He pulls off his oxygen tube. Flicks open a lighter.
So far, I’ve worked on one movie in which the Earth is destroyed. In Titan A.E., a mysterious alien race called the Drej show up one day and blow up the Earth because…
…well, I don’t actually remember the motive. Plot wasn’t the strongest aspect of that movie.
What’s important is this: aliens did it. So if scientifically-minded viewers questioned the physics of how exactly the Earth was obliterated, I could simply point to the semi-transparent Drej and say, “With their superior technology, far beyond anything we can imagine!”
It’s a lucky thing that Titan A.E. had villainous aliens, because it turns out that destroying the Earth is extraordinarily difficult. With this site, Sam Hughes examines 18 possible methods for “geocide” — a terrific word that you just don’t get to use very often. His conclusion? Aspiring supervillains need to be patient, or very lucky, because mere mega-wealth won’t guarantee you the chance to smash the Earth to smithereens.
Keep in mind that Sam focuses strictly on physically destroying the planet. Merely making it uninhabitable is several orders of magnitude easier — and we’re already well on our way!
(Via Cruel.)