Screenwriting : Formatting for emphasis by Amy Jayne Conley

IMO, you should not use either

Both are acceptable, so I would just pick one and stick with it; don't mix, be consistent. Personally, I always advocate underlining to stress a word or words as often italicising can be missed be a speed-reading, over-worked reader. Underlining the word(s) ensures a greater chance of this not being missed. And one last comment on this: don't overdo stressed or emphasised words. If it's not essential, don't do it. Only if the line doesn't make sense. Hope that helps, Amy. Happy New Year!

Phil Clarke Thanks so much Phil! I see what you mean - it's not something I've used a lot, just every now and again where I want a particular thing to be stressed, but I realised I'd used both! I'll go through and do underlining. I think I only have like 5 instances across 50 pages so far! Happy New Year to you too! And it's great to see you over here!! :D

Dan MaxXx Thanks for your input! Can you tell me why you have this preference?

Amy Jayne Conley because I was a reader and I am not acting out character interpretation. Now, if you're able to get past readers & decision makers and meet talent interested making a movie, maybe then you can underline or do whatever formatting.

Hi, Amy Jayne Conley. I underline words in dialogue when I want to emphasize them. I think it's easier for producers, readers, actors, etc. to catch an underlined word than an italicized word.

My opinion:

If you absolutely have to emphasize a word, underline. But even that should be sparing, because the characterization and style of dialogue should make it obvious. If you have to do it a lot, your dialogue craft needs work.

Italics in a screenplay are a device to facilitate a shorthand. For instance, if there is going to be a lot of parenthetical (in [some language]; subtitled), you can instead note that italics indicate that dialogue is in that language and subtitled in English. And then be accurate and consistent in denoting the italicized dialogue.

Hope this helps.

Oh Jeez, that's a tough one - I'm tapppin' out.

Amy Jayne, I underline words when I want to emphasize them...but I've learned to do it sparingly. And I don't italicize words unless they're part of a song a character's singing.

All the VERY BEST to you...glad you've joined Stage 32!

As noted, italics to indicate subtitled language or a title. Otherwise, neither underline nor italics at all.

An involved quality Director and Actors will know what to do.

Hi Amy, I agree with everyone that it should be used extremely sparingly. To Dan's point, it can be slightly jarring to see that kind of formatting when reading a script and can take the reader out of the story. I think underlining would be the least intrusive way to do it.

This week, I read screenplay excerpts from several of the year's biggest films. They all did formatting things I wouldn't do. However, give it a whirl if you want to do something you think helps you stick out. The biggest turnoff for industry readers is misspelled words, poor grammar, and shitty writing. If you want to italicize quotes or all-cap your action, you may have a fighting chance if your writing knocks it out of the park. Online, everybody's a frigging expert; but frankly, I go on my merry way and haven't heard a peep from anyone.

In addition to the comments above regarding italics being used for song or dialogue spoken in another language, I’d also agree that it should be used sparingly. Too much use can be interpreted as an attempt to “direct on the page” to the actors, rather than they and the director working to see what will work best in the scene.

I'm old school in this. I don't mind italicized or underlined words in a script but I don't do it myself. My workaround for when I need a word understood a certain way is to write it in the action line or parenthetical. For instance:

JACK

(Lying)

What a wonderful dress you have on!