Style of Writing

Write your screenplay in the present tense. No complicated future or past tenses. No literature in fact. Remember you don’t write a screenplay the same way you write a novel.

Everything takes place onscreen, here and now, in the present; even flashbacks will be seen in the present. (Visual special effects will make them identifiable)

A fiction screenplay contains only action descriptions. There is no place in a script for characters’ soul searching, for explanations or interpretation.

Simply describe what your characters say and do.

Avoid “he/she thinks, feels or imagines…” and explaining the meaning of the characters’ actions (he/she does this to convince him/herself…). Don’t explain. Only describe what happens in a visual manner, and write what the characters say.

Lastly, your screenplay mustn’t contain direction indications. The director will take care of this in good time. Concentrate on each character’s acts and dialog.

Include no descriptions of camera movements. No “close-up on…” or “ pan to…” This kind of indication distracts readers from your account and they may lose interest in the story.