Screenwriting : Craft question: character description by Fay Devlin

Fay, my understanding is that you give a description for a character when you introduce them the first time. Put their name in all caps and give their age and brief sense of their character and appearance if relevent.

Steve is on the mark. Don't spend any time in the script describing a character that is only being mentioned. The first time she "appears" in the script as a character the audience will see is when you provide the descriptive details.

Where are you saying "Lucy is missing"? In dialogue? You're not writing that in an action block, are you?

Kerry, I'm writing "Lucy is missing" on page 1 in dialogue. She actually appears around page 8.

Okay, phew. :) Then I have nothing to add to the other answers.

Actually, I do have something to add. You'll be able to answer subsequent questions like this if you remember Rule One of screenwriting: Never describe anything that can't be seen on screen. If the viewer can't see it (at that moment, obviously) don't write it.

I'd like to say that your rule about not writing anything in description that can't be seen is correct in general. But there is something to offer a director or actor in scene description that provides the flavor or feeling of what they are seeing. It goes beyond just the material and addresses the tone or feeling of the visual. To include a word like "mysterious trees" or "akward laugh" does help set tone even though it can't necessarily be seen. Film is more than just visual it is emotion and sometimes that emotion should be set in the visual.

Exactly, Steve. "Mysterious trees" and an "awkward laugh" can both be seen onscreen. They do not violate Rule One. Rule One isn't just correct in general. It's 100% correct. As long as you interpret it correctly. :) And you and I interpret it the same way.