In general and if used judiciously, yes.

If including something like emotion gives your screenplay flavor and helps paint a better picture of your character or scene, include it. But keep in mind that while it may help the reader, the viewer can’t see “happy;” you have to express that through the actions and dialogue as well.

Accordingly, places like character or setting introductions, the purposes of which are to establish tone or underlying description, are prime for such detail.

ARTHUR GETMAN, 14, sits 15-inches from a 60-inch plasma TV, weeks worth of meals stuck in his braces. His glasses are five years out of style and very bent out of shape, most likely because he doesn’t take them off when he watches TV in bed at night. The two years he’s spent at the bottom of the middle school social hierarchy have weighed heavy on his soul, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him; when he’s playing PS3, he may as well be a God.

Источник: You can include emotion in character description. | Screenwriting.io.

Sweepstakes pitching (also know as a “bake-off”) is when a studio or producer brings in many different screenwriters to pitch on the same project before deciding which one to hire (“the winner”).

In most cases, sweepstakes pitching occurs when the studio owns a licensed property — such as a character or board game — for which there is no obvious narrative. Thus, screenwriters pitching their take are really coming up with a vision for the movie as a whole, unlike the more straightforward adaptation of a novel or foreign film.

In bake-offs, the studio is often asking, “Is there even a movie here?”

Sweepstakes pitching is controversial in the screenwriting community. Screenwriters will often spend days or weeks of preparation on a project for which their odds of landing the job is slim. (And in some cases, the studio may opt to hire no writers at all.) In this way, some screenwriters feel they are being exploited as unpaid research-and-development.

Another concern is idea contamination — or theft. Because studios or producers end up hearing multiple takes from multiple writers, they may end up using elements from a pitch without hiring the writer who created them.

Источник: Sweepstakes pitching is a quantity-based approach. | Screenwriting.io.

A scene is a unit of story that takes place at a specific location and time. If one of these changes, you have a new scene.

This is two scenes:

INT. PETE’S ROOM – NIGHT

He turns off the lamp and quietly nestles himself under the covers…

INT. PETE’S ROOM – DAY

A SCREECHING alarm wakes him abruptly.

This is also two scenes:

EXT. BACKYARD – NIGHT

Masks pulled down, they insert the pick into the lock. They turn the torque wrench and enter…

INT. LAUNDRY ROOM – CONTINUOUS

They creep quietly, cat-like.

The specific, minutiae of the definition of a scene can vary slightly from person to person, so make sure you get clarification if necessary (if an executive is giving you notes on an example like the above, for instance, and says “Lose this scene, but not the one after it.”).

Источник: What constitutes a scene? | Screenwriting.io.

As with all formatting advice, the idea is to clearly express your vision without interrupting the flow of the screenplay.

One easy way to show one character interrupting another is to use double-dashes or an elipsis to indicate the first character’s dialogue is being interrupted.

SETH

How about —

ERIN

No.

Both doble-dashes and ellipses indicate an unfinished thought, but double-dashes are usually the safer bet for interruption, as they indicate an abrupt cutoff, while an elipsis implies the idea trailed off.

Another option is to include the parenthetical “interrupting” if clarification is necessary.

SETH

Looking through our other options…

ERIN

(interrupting)

No. Still no. None of those.

Источник: In dialogue, how do you express that one character is interrupting another? | Screenwriting.io.

When you have a group of characters that are together throughout a majority of a movie, or even just a bunch of consecutive scenes, it’s fine to refer to them collectively: “The four of them walk to the building.”

If intervening scenes don’t feature the group, it’s a good idea to mention the characters each by name remind readers who is part of the group.

When dealing with a large and well-defined group — such as a football team or a show choir — it’s fine to refer to them as a group. Readers will assume the whole group is present unless you specifically exclude someone.

Источник: How do I deal with a group of characters? | Screenwriting.io.

Television seasons are written by writing staffs, not a single writer. Individual episodes will have a credited writer — the person who actually penned that particular script — but the plot of that episode and the season as a whole are constructed by a room full of a staff of writers (known as the “writers room”), under the direction of the showrunner.

This room does not only write, but also produces: they cast, hire key crew members, have input into set design and the show’s overall feel — everything a producer would do, both for individual episodes and the series as a whole.

While the writer for any episode will be credited with a typical writing credit, the entire writing staff will be credited as producers for every episode of the season. These different producer credits correspond to what level writer they are — where they fall on the pecking order.

Executive Producer (the showrunner)

Executive Producer (any other non-showrunner EPs)

Co-Executive Producer

Supervising Producer

Producer

Co-Producer

Story Editor

Staff Writer

It should be noted that not all credited producers are necessarily members of the writing staff. For example, the line producer is usually given a producer credit, and other important executives or past writers (a show creator who has since departed, for instance) could be given credits as well, as could any other number of people.

It should also be noted that not all episodes are written by members of the staff. The WGA requires that every episodic show commission a certain number of scripts by freelance writers each season. The specifics can be found in the WGA’s guide to writing for episodic TV.

Источник: What is the television writer/producer pecking order? | Screenwriting.io.

If you want the viewer (and therefore the reader) to know that a scene is a (or is part of a) flashback or dream sequence, add the tag in brackets after the header.

INT. TOM’S BEDROOM – DAY [FLASHBACK]

If you don’t want the viewer to be immediately aware, omit the tag.

This advice also applies to any other alternate world that could crop up in a screenplay. If your story is about a writer, for instance, and we occasionally enter the world of the novel she is writing, append those scene headers with [NOVEL] or something to that effect.

With all formatting advice, your goal is to be as clear as possible without interrupting the flow of the screenplay, keeping in mind that your reader is acting as your viewer. If you are unsure, try to remove yourself from the process, read what you’ve written as though you are a third party, and see if it makes sense.

Источник: To indicate a flashback or dream, append the scene header. | Screenwriting.io.

A premise pilot, as its name suggests, is a TV pilot that establishes the premise of a show. In the Lost pilot, for example, the plane crashes on the island, and the passengers are lost.

A non-premise pilot is one that feels like any other episode of the show. South Park’s pilot is about Cartman getting probed by aliens. This episode could have been episode eight, and episode eight (or any other episode) may as well have been the pilot.

There are also soft premise pilots, in which the series is kick-started by an event in the episode, but the episode is just like any other in every other way. An example of this is the Friends pilot, in which Rachel arrives at Central Perk in a wedding dress, having just run away from the alter. She reunites with Monica and joins the group. It’s a premise plot, but the way it unfolds is indicative of how episodes play out routinely.

Источник: What is a premise pilot? | Screenwriting.io.

Breaking story basically means figuring out the screenplay’s blueprint — mapping out a story and coming up with a logically and dramatically consistant beginning, middle, and end, and the major checkpoints therein.

ROBIN

I broke story on that period family-horror-comedy idea I’ve been wrestling with today.

BRAD

Nice!

It’s cause for a small celebration.

Источник: What does it mean to “break story” on a screenplay? | Screenwriting.io.

All title pages should include the title, the writer’s name, and based on (if any). Most title pages will also include the date, and spec scripts’ title pages should include contact info for the writer or her representation. Title pages will often be done in standard Courier 12-point font, but not always.

Some writers who have registered their scripts with the WGA will include the registration number. This is not necessary, but is fine to include if you choose to.

TV title pages will usually use the show’s official artwork as the title, and in addition to the above will include the episode name and number, the director’s name, the draft, and sometimes the shoot date and air date.

Sample title pages can be found on the scripts in the johnaugust.com library.

Источник: Title pages include the title, writer’s name, and based on. | Screenwriting.io.