Format Tells All, as well as in other content on his author page at The Writers Store.For those new to screenwriting, Final Draft is a word processor designed to format screenplays for movies and television. Best wishes and keep writing.ĭave Trottier has more formatting tips in his book, Dr.
FINAL DRAFT VS MOVIE MAGIC SCREENWRITER HOW TO
As long as you understand the purpose of a formatting or writing device and what it really is, then you can more easily figure out how to use it in a variety of situations, and avoid being slugged by it. In any case, use terms that work best for you.
FINAL DRAFT VS MOVIE MAGIC SCREENWRITER SERIES
It’s a special heading and is used for montages, flashbacks, intercuts, series of shots, and so on. (I should mention that there is a third type of scene heading. A happy reader can make you a happy writer. And save the reader a lot of pain and make him or her a happy reader. Save the description for the description (action) sections of your script. That should actually be written as follows:Ī pale moon shines through trees buffeted by a stiff wind. A WINDY NIGHT WITH A PALE MOON SHINING THROUGH TREES IN THE WOODS If I may, I’ll mention one other common formatting fumble-including description in the scene heading.
The above is correct, but it could have just as easily been written like this, which is also correct: Where he dives on top of his bed and sobs. John slams the front door and races down the I’ll illustrate all of these points below.įirst, we’ll begin with the master scene heading that includes a secondary location and then move to other secondary locations. In addition, it’s okay to add a secondary location to a master (primary) location in a master scene heading. Other locations (such as BEDROOM or HALLWAY) that are part of the master location are called secondary locations the resulting heading is called a secondary scene heading. As you know, you begin a scene with a master scene heading, which names the master (or primary) location for example, EXT. Master scenes and secondary scenes revisited You want the story to flow smoothly through the reader’s mind. Thus, we have this master scene heading:ĭo you see the potential confusion? It’s not good for you to have a reader stop and try to figure something like this out.
Just identify a broad master location in your master scene heading for example, the streets of San Francisco. This understanding of the difference between master and secondary scenes really comes in handy when you want to describe an action sequence such as a car chase. Some screenwriters refer to a secondary scene heading as a mini-slug. You could call it a secondary scene or a mini-scene if you wish. We’re still in the master (or primary) scene, but at a specific location (the lobby) within the broader master (or primary) location (the hotel). For example, here is a secondary scene heading: Thus, you can use a secondary scene heading to identify that secondary location. Any location within the interior of the hotel would be a secondary location. The above is called a master scene heading because it identifies the master or primary location of the scene.
A scene heading, thus, identifies something about the content of a scene: primarily, the camera placement (interior or exterior), the location, and the time (usually DAY or NIGHT).