Screenplay Formatting

At beginning of each scene, you need a slugline. A slugline will show the reader what the setting is and where the scene is taking place. You need to include if it is an interior or exterior location, the time of day, and where exactly the location is. The slugline is always in all caps. After the slugline, you write the action, description of what is going on in the scene. Always write the action in the present tense. When writing the action, you may capitalize characters in the scene, or important characteristics of what is going on. The action should give a good explanation of what is visible in the scene-no backstories or anything like that. There should always be at least one sentence of action in between dialogue and slugline. Dialogue consists of three things in a screenplay, the character, parentheticals, and the dialogue itself. The character is pretty straight forward, it is in all caps, in the center of the page, and is the character who is talking. A parenthetical is used to show what the speaker is doing while they're talking, and is in parentheses. The dialogue is centered text that is left-aligned and is exactly what the character says.