Screenwriting : Fades by Marcello Aurelio Lanfranchi

Agreed. Unless you are the director.

I also agree. Director's don't like it when the screenwriter tells them how to do their job.

Thank you, all. There is so much conflicting info. out there. I'll try to find the source, but I can swear when I first started writing, the advice was to begin and end each scene with FADE IN: and FADE OUT. Of course, many of those how-to books/blogs also suggest using CUT TO, FADE INTO, etc. They seem to make no distinction between a spec and a shooting script.

Well, I eliminated all of them except at the very beginning and end (though I prefer FADE TO BLACK.).

@Anthony oh my god, that is sooooo racist! pmsl jk :P

IG- NAW John West, Dan. LOL!

Phil, it is for a TV pilot. Does that mean you're suggesting it should have them at the beginning and end of each act?

You only need one FADE IN, unless you're doing a COLD OPEN. You can SMASH TO BLACK, FADE TO BLACK, or whatever you choose after each act. You don't even have to include the transition if you don't want to -- END ACT ____ will be the last line for each respective act anyway.

@Marcello No you don't need fades at the end of acts.

I know there are a lot of conventions that are different for TV than for film. I know that FADE IN and FADE OUT are really just tradition. I wouldn't use SMASH CUT or anything like that, because it's not a shooting script; that's for the director to decide. I do have END OF ACT __, so it appears that's enough. I still expect I'll FADE TO BLACK at the end of the script, even though it'll be followed by another script. I guess I'll hunt down some actual TV scripts to see how they do it. There aren't any carved-in-stone rules, I'm finding. Everyone has an opinion, and many disagree on any particular subject. And it's an evolving art form, so a lot of suggestions I get are based on the standards of the past. While somewhat frustrating, it's also kind of a fun challenge. Thank you all for your input.

I have bunches of TV shows message me if you need examples.

You want TV scripts? https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/ Also, if I were you I'd look into joining the Done Deal Messageboards. http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/boards/index.php Lots of helpful screenwriters.

Thank you, Marvin and Jai. It's funny, I've been to that site before -- a long time ago. I love looking at these. The problem is that these (at least many of them) seem to be shooting scripts. Or they were written by established writers who could "break the rules" and get away with it. There are camera angles, "we see," "we hear" descriptions, and some other things that supposedly "take the reader out of the script." I notice that some do have FADE IN/OUT (or TO BLACK) at the beginnings/ends of acts. I'd read the Desperate Housewives script when I first started writing my pilot episode, so that's probably where I got the notion to do it that way. No hard rules, it seems, so I'm moving forward with what seems most logical to me and hope readers won't dismiss my work out-of-hand over some picayune detail.

Oh, I just noticed the forum you linked too. That's great! I'm signing up. Thanks, Jai!