SCRIPT AND SCREENPLAY

A screenplay is the literary expression of the story, characters, actions, locations, and
tone of your film written in a specialized dramatic script format. Whether you write the
script yourself or work with someone else’s material, it’s important to remember that the
screenplay is not the final product. It is an intermediate step in the production of a film and
serves many functions in all stages of the project’s development. It is often said that the
screenplay is the blueprint for the entire process of making a film, in the same way that a
rendering of a house serves as the blueprint for the construction of a house. In many
ways this is true; however, unlike an architectural blueprint, a screenplay should remain a
rather more flexible document throughout the process. It’s important to keep in mind that
screenplays evolve. They should be revised and rewritten, at every stage of a film’s pro-
gression, as new ideas or circumstances emerge.

■ STAGES OF SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT

There are a number of stages in the evolution of a screenplay, and each stage usually
requires various drafts. Each stage has a specific purpose as you proceed, step-by-step,
from a general outline of your story to a script that contains the full dimensions of your
film, including locations, actions, dialogue, sounds, movements, etc. This process of
working and reworking your film’s story material, adding, cutting, or refining details along
the way, is called script development.

Concept
As mentioned in the previous chapter, the concept is a very brief outline of the basic ele-
ments involved in your story. It describes the dramatic engine that will drive the story in
no more than a few sentences. Who is in this film (protagonist)? What do they want, what
gets in the way, and what do they do (goal + conflict = actions)? And where does it all
take place (location)? Once you have determined the basic, but specific, elements of your
story, and understand how they work together, you are ready to write a treatment.

Treatment
The treatment is a prose description of the plot, written in present tense, as the film will
unfold for the audience, scene by scene (Figure 2-1). A treatment is a story draft where
the writer can hammer out the basic actions and plot structure of the story before going
into the complexities of realizing fully developed scenes with dialogue, precise actions,
and setting descriptions. The treatment is the equivalent of a painter’s sketch that can be
worked and reworked before committing to the actual painting. It’s much easier to cut,
add, and rearrange scenes in this form, than in a fully detailed screenplay. Generally, a
treatment involves writing one paragraph for each major dramatic event, also called a nar-
rative beat. A narrative beat is a dramatic event in which the action, decisions, or revela-
tions of that moment move the plot forward either by intensifying it or by sending it in a
new direction. In other words, a treatment sketches in the essential events. For a short
film, a treatment might be one to three pages long. For very simple short films, you can
simply write one sentence describing each scene or each narrative beat. This shorter ver-
sion is called a step outline or a beat sheet.
 THE MIRACLE
Treatment by George Racz

Kate and her parents enter a toy store. The store is huge
and filled with every toy imaginable. Kate stands in front
of a big stuffed teddy bear and starts to dance with it.
As Kate explores other treasures in the store she notices
something going on outside. Pressing her nose against the
store window, she sees an old homeless woman digging through
a garbage can. Kate is soon distracted by a small crowd
gathering inside the store; she approaches the crowd to take
a closer look. A magician, with a long white beard and a
sparkly blue gown is putting on a magic show for the
children around him. The magician moves his hands about in
preparation for a new trick. Kate mimics his every move. He
notices
her following his gestures and promptly extends a closed
hand in front of her. When he opens his hand she finds it
full of gummy bears; she takes one. The magician bends down
and whispers magic words in Kate’s ear as he hands her his
magic wand. Kate repeats the words as waves the magic wand
three times. Big magic happens.

Later on, Kate and her parents are waiting for the subway.
She is holding the big teddy bear. The subway arrives and
they get on. Inside, a homeless man, using crutches, is
panhandling. Kate’s father gives him a dollar. Kate watches
the man struggle with his crutches. The subway arrives at
the next station and the homeless man gets off. Kate uses
her finger as a magic wand and draws three circles in the
air while looking at the homeless man count his change on
the platform. She closes her eyes and whispers the magic
words the magician told her at the store. When she reopens
her eyes, she sees the homeless man suddenly walk normally,
dragging his crutches behind him. Kate smiles and hugs her
teddy bear as the subway pulls away from the station.

Author’s Draft
The author’s draft is the first complete version of the narrative in proper screenplay for-
mat. The emphasis of the author’s draft is on the story, the development of characters,
and the conflict, actions, settings, and dialogue. The author’s draft goes through a number
of rewrites and revisions on its way to becoming a final draft, which is the last version of
the author’s draft before being turned into a shooting script. The aim of an author’s draft is
to remain streamlined, flexible, and “readable.” Therefore, technical information (such as
detailed camera angles, performance cues, blocking, or detailed set description) is kept to
an absolute minimum. It is important not to attempt to direct the entire film, shot-for-shot,
in the author’s draft. The detailed visualization and interpretation of the screenplay occurs
during later preproduction and production stages. We will look closely at some essential
principles for script language and for formatting the author’s draft in this chapter.

Shooting Script
Once you have completed your rewrites and arrived at a final draft, you will be ready to
take that script into production by transforming it into a shooting script. The shooting
script is the version of the screenplay you take into production, meaning the script from
which your creative team (cinematographer, production designer, etc.) will work and from
which the film will be shot. A shooting script communicates, in specific terms, the direc-
tor’s visual approach to the film. All the scenes are numbered on a shooting script to fa-
cilitate breaking down the script and organizing the production of the film. This version
also includes specific technical information about the visualization of the movie, like cam-
era angles, shot sizes, camera moves, etc. Chapter 5 deals with the process of creating
the shooting script.

■ FORMATTING THE AUTHOR’S DRAFT SCREENPLAY

The screenplay is a multipurpose document. It is both a literary manuscript, conveying the
dramatic story for a reader, and a technical document that anticipates the logistics of the
production process and allows everyone involved in your project to see what they need to
do. The technical functions of a screenplay are realized in the format of the script, which
are standardized to facilitate common film production processes. This is why a screenplay
looks unlike any other literary manuscript.

Beyond the technical formatting of a script, the language of the author’s draft screenplay,
its style and detail, communicates the spirit of the visual approach, tone, rhythm, and
point of view of the final fi lm. Embedded in the author’s draft are your fi rst thoughts on
visualizing the story for the screen without the use of camera cues and technical jargon.
If written well, an author’s draft script should help everyone involved in your project “see”
what you are striving for, thematically and visually.

Elements of an Author’s Draft Script

There are six formatting elements used in the screenplay form: title, scene headings,
stage directions, dialogue, personal directions, and character cues. Let’s look at Kebacle
(2006), a simple screenwriting observation exercise written by my student Alana
Kakoyiannis, and label each element. Alana was assigned to observe the people,
activities, and interactions in the world around her for two weeks and then render one
particularly interesting moment as a scene from a screenplay (Figures 2-2 and 2-3).

General Screenwriting Principles

A screenplay is written as the film will unfold to an audience.

A screenplay is written in the present tense and must follow the progression of the film,
moment by moment, scene by scene, as you wish it to appear before an audience.
There is no literary commentary in a fi lm script and this necessitates two important
practices:
1. The words on the page present each scene, action, image, character, and series of
events to a reader as they would appear to the viewer of the film. Notice that Alana
does not anticipate what is going to happen later by introducing Aamir saying:

Aamir is an unlicensed vendor who shouldn’t be serving food to people on a

public sidewalk.

We will get to that detail only when it is revealed to the audience. The screenplay
builds its story one moment at a time in the same way the fi lm will and in the
beginning all we see is a food vendor serving people.
2. There should be nothing in the script that will not be seen or heard by the film’s audi-
ence. In general, nothing goes on the page that cannot be realized on the screen in
images and sounds. These are the fundamental tools of a filmmaker and therefore they
are the tools of the screenwriter as well. In prose fiction and poetry it is common for
an author to explain to the reader what people are feeling, what personal history might
be informing an action, what a character is secretly thinking, or even what subcon-
sciously motivates them. In film we must dramatize these internal states. To drama-
tize is to externalize and reveal the internal, through actions, dialogue, and visual
context. Notice that Alana does not describe what any character is feeling, their state
of mind, or their intentions. She does not write, for example,
 The New Yorker is impatient and anxious to get back to work so he calls out
his order out of turn.

If you are true to the moment and to the voices of the characters, the intentions
behind each line should be apparent. We can already feel the impatience, verging on
pushiness, in the words and actions of the New Yorker, so there is no need to an-
nounce them. It would, in fact, completely ruin the scene if Alana were to write
something like

Aamir only pretends to close down by lowering his umbrella because he knows
that as soon as the police van drives away, he can get back to business.

While these internal feelings and intentions may be part of what is going on in the
scene, expressed this way, they are not cinematic. However, the fi lmable actions of
Aamir folding his umbrella and watching the police drive away, then immediately re-
opening his umbrella to resume business without missing a beat, all quite vividly
reveal

■ Figure 2-2
Screen- play formatting
elements. Scene Heading
KEBACLE Title

EXT. MIDTOWN MANHATTAN STREETCORNER – DAY

It’s lunchtime. A small clean food cart stands near the corner of a busy midtown intersection. Smoke from the grill enve

AAMIR, an Egyptian food vendor in his mid-thirties stands

Stage Directions

under the cart’s umbrella taking orders, turning kebabs on the grill and making change. It is organized chaos.

AAMIRDialogue
(handing over an order) Two beef, two soda. Who’s next?

A NEW YORKER speaks up from behind two TOURISTS.

Personal Directions
NEW YORKER
Can I get a-

TOURIST HUSBAND
Excuse me. We’ve been waiting here.

TOURIST WIFE
(to Aamir) We were here first.

AAMIR
Yes, I know, what can I get you?

TOURIST HUSBAND Character Cue

(slowly)
Let’s see, a soft pretzel, two waters and... how much is a kebab?

AAMIR
Four dollars.

The tourist hesitates.

TOURIST HUSBAND
What do you think, honey?

NEW YORKER
Give me a kebab. I don’t care how much it is...

TOURIST HUSBAND
Okay, we’ll take two, please.
 2

CUSTOMER (O.S.)
Shawarma here! No onions.

NEW YORKER Page #’s upper right

...and a Coke.

AAMIR
Coming right up my friends.

Aamir goes to work, filling three orders at the same time.

A SIREN blips and an NYPD van pulls up to the curb beside the food cart. A POLICE OFFICER rolls down his window.

AAMIR
Hello officer. What can I get you?

OFFICER
Your permit?

Aamir points to faded paper work taped to the side of his cart, while he hands the tourists their order. The officer s

As the officer writes out a ticket, Aamir tosses pita bread on the grill.

OFFICER
C’mon now, pack it up. Show’s over. (hands Aamir the ticket)
You know you’re not supposed to be here.

Aamir nods and lowers his umbrella. The police van slowly pulls into traffic and the customers shuffle in place.
Off-screen indication
Aamir watches as the van drives around the corner and out of sight. Then he opens the umbrella back up.

AAMIR
Alright, who had the Shawarma?

CUSTOMER (O.S.) Scene Ending

That’s me.

Aamir tosses lamb on the grill and wraps up the New Yorker’s order

AAMIR
Five dollars my friend. Who’s next?

FADE OUT.

what he was thinking and intending to do. Presented this way we also understand that
this interaction is routine for him. It is far better to simply show it as it happens and let
the audience discover his intentions for themselves—just as Alana did when she wit-
nessed the scene.

Now let’s look at each script element used in an author’s draft individually.

Scene Headings (or Slug Lines)

The scene heading is our first introduction to each and every scene and establishes the
fundamental time and location information in order to set the scene. What is a scene? A
scene is a dramatic moment that has unity of both time and location. If you make a jump
in time, say from day to night, you need to begin a new scene. Change location, and you
must begin a new scene—even if that change is only from the living room to the kitchen
of the same house. In addition, scene headings play a vital role in the disassembly and
reorganization of the script in preparation for creating production shot lists and shooting
schedules. (See Chapter 5.)