Is starting a scene with a dialogue line(if it was previously present/established) or ending it with someone saying something ok to do or should you write another action line?
It doesn't look that good on the page, but sometimes there is no action left(unless you "fill" it artificially)...:( What should I do in this situation? Is it ok to start/end like this?
Don’t fill it with action, but with a description of the scene. If you have described the scene location before, as you say, just put something like “the scene is as before”, or “the scene is unchanged”, else describe evrything in the scene. Don’t forget, either, that you have to name any thing or piece of equipment that is used/portrayed in the beginning.
For example you can’t just say:
INT. BEDROOM - DAY
GEORGE
Man, I’m tired
George walks to his bed stand and takes a pair of socks from a drawer.
—
the drawer/bed stand has to be mentioned in the setup. Also any change or addition from the previous time the locatiin was used must be clearly marked.
If it is within an already established context created by previous scenes, then I don't see the problem. I'm not exactly sure what Lukas is saying... I would not suggest writing "the scene before," etc, and you can certainly name whatever it is the moment it occurs, etc. Keep in mind to avoid redundancy and repeated information. But then again, Victor, I'm not exactly sure of your question either? Lol! ;)
Dan Guardino I’m sorry, you would or you wouldn’t?
I was trying to say that if, say, scenes 4 and 6 take place in the same room and the room has been described in scene 4, then, in scene 6 I would write something along the lines of “The room is as before” or so to let them know a) there are no unforeseen changes kater in the scene that need to be taken into account, and that b) all the relevant information for setuo is to be found earlier in the script.
But maybe that’s stupid.
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If that's the case, then you could just say "the room." Your reader would already know what that means because of story context. No need to repeat information, and possibly annoy and/or "insult" your reader's intelligence -- just saying in a general sense. Only add relevant, new information that moves the story forward. ;) Of course, we have no context here from Victor... so still not sure what we're talking about. Lol! Anyway, hope that helps! Back to work for me. Cheers!
It's from a script I'm writing... I'll try to copy-paste it an example scene from Final Draft, ok..:) Hope it works...
INT. CAR - CONTINUOUS
Michael and the scientist take a sit. Michael points the gun at him.
MICHAEL
Whatever happened there obviously doesn't exist. And it means you don't exist either.
The scientist nods.
MICHAEL (CONT’D)
So if you want to live, you need to tell me everything.
SCIENTIST
It's a disease. They already got the FSB liaison in Washington.
EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS
Multiple black vehicles pursue Michael. One of them slams into him. Michael's vehicle regains position.
INT. CAR - CONTINUOUS
MICHAEL
What kind of disease?
Had to manually edit the pasted test, hope it's ok... There are similar scenes(I'm just starting out this script, and perhaps in my other screenplays)
Just puke it out and pick out good pieces. nothing technical here.Lukas Flemming Dan Guardino Victor Titimas Okay, some advice. Make it read easy as the first ten pages here is critical for us getting our script read or not read. Make it clear. Give it to 10 friends and don't tell them what you're trying to do and see if they figured it out. Possibly tell them " was that confusing or did that make sense." As my tough East Village in the 80's Uncle would say, "At the end of the day you are going to do whatever the Fu&* is you're going to do, so me telling you this now, means sh&^. But know this if I see you do that again, I will kick your ass." That he would but I could run faster then him HAHA!. Okay, what the heck are we squawking about. Love you all.
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Victor, a lot of your questions tell me that you don't read screenplays. Find a hundred produced screenplays and read those and you'll get a much better idea of how it's done and how it varies from script to script, then read a hundred more. If you want to start your script with dialogue then do so, don't ask if it's ok.
Nah, it's fine to end it or begin it in just dialogue as long as you have the scene heading. I do it all the time, you don't need to fill lines with unnecessary action or stage direction. Something has to be left for directing/acting choices. :)
-G.R.B.