DIALOGUE PARENTHETICAL

HULK

Hulk wants to go to sleep and stop writing about screenplay formatting!

BETTY

Hulk! You know you have to get up early and go to Avengers HQ!

The world can wait another day for your movie thoughts!

HULK’S phone rings.

HULK (INTO PHONE) Yello? … What up, Tony!

BETTY rolls her eyes and exits the room.

BETTY (O.S.)

Come to bed when you’re done!

HULK Okay!

HULK puts the phone back to his ear.

HULK (INTO PHONE) Go on….

NARRATOR (V.O.)

And so Hulk sat there on the phone and listened to Tony Stark ramble on about science or something. Meanwhile…”

HULK SHOULD MENTION ONE THING THAT DRIVES HULK NUTS IS PHONE RULE

INCONSISTENCY. IN YOUR CINEMATIC UNIVERSE, CAN WE HEAR THE PERSON ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE LINE OR CAN WE NOT HEAR THEM? YOU’D BE SHOCKED HOW MANY FILMS MIX AND MATCH. IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE A BIG DEAL, BUT IT’S JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS NO ONE EVER THINKS ABOUT. AND HEY, IF YOU REALLY NEED TO DO BOTH FOR DRAMATIC PURPOSES, DO SO. BUT OTHERWISE JUST TRY TO BE CONSISTENT.

VI) DIALOGUE PARENTHETICAL

SO THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM THE CHARACTER PARENTHETICAL AND IS PLACED INSTEAD RIGHT BEFORE THE DIALOGUE. ITS PURPOSE IS TO ILLUSTRATE HOW THE PERSON IS TALKING OR WHAT THEIR TONE IS. IT CAN ALSO INDICATE WHEN ANOTHER LANGUAGE IS BEING USED. IT LOOKS LIKE THIS.

“INT. HULK’S HOUSE – NIGHT

A big giant green monster by the name of HULK is sitting at his computer and writing a book about screenwriting. He seems tired. BETTY walks in.

HULK (angrily)

Hulk wants to go to sleep and stop writing about screenplay formatting!

BETTY (concerned)

Hulk! You know you have to get up early and go to Avengers HQ!

The world can wait another day for your movie thoughts!

HULK (sheepishly)

Hulk know, Hulk know. You right.

BETTY walks over and puts her arms around him.

BETTY (whispering)

It’s okay, Hulky. It’s okay.

THE WHITE TIGER suddenly bursts in and stars yelling in Spanish.

WHITE TIGER (subtitle)

Hey you two! It’s me, The White Tiger! The short-lived Puerto Rican superhero that Marvel created in the ‘70s! I’m sadly the only

character you could think of who speaks Spanish!”

THINGS TO CONSIDER: SO… UM… TRY NEVER TO USE DIALOGUE PARENTHETICALS.

ESPECIALLY FOR DESCRIBING THE EMOTIONAL STATE OF THE CHARACTER. SERIOUSLY.

YOU MAY WANT TO, BUT YOUR ABILITY TO WRITE WILL DEPEND ON YOUR ABILITY NOT TO USE THEM. YOU WANT TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE IT CLEAR EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN THROUGH THE DIALOGUE ITSELF. WHEN YOU’RE STARTING OFF THAT CAN BE HARD, BUT YOU’LL GET THERE. HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR WORDS. ONLY USE DIALOGUE PARENTHETICALS WHEN THE CHARACTER’S TONE IS TRULY

COUNTERINTUITIVE. OTHERWISE YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO BE THE ACTING COACH AND THE ACTORS WILL RESENT WHAT YOU TRY TO TELL THEM ANYWAY.

HULK ONCE READ A SCREENPLAY WHERE 50% OF THE DIALOGUE HAD DESCRIPTIONS OF HOW IT SHOULD SOUND AND HOW THE CHARACTERS WERE FEELING. IT WAS SHOWCASING A WRITER WHO DIDN’T HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THEIR WORDS…

THE REST OF THE SCRIPT BACKED THAT UP.

VII) TRANSITIONS

SO A TRANSITION COMES AT THE END OF THE SCENE AND GOES ALL THE WAY OVER TO THE RIGHT OF THE PAGE AND SAYS WHAT HAPPENS IN THE TRANSITION. NOW IT’S NOT SPECIFICALLY AN EDITING NOTE (FADE, STAR WIPE! ETC), BUT MORE JUST A WAY TO LET YOU KNOW THAT A SCENE IS OVER. MEANING IT SHOULD MOSTLY BE A “CUT TO:”

SURE YOU HAVE YOUR POSSIBLE “FADE TO BLACK” WHICH IS OBVIOUS. BUT YOU ALSO HAVE YOUR “SMASH CUT TO:” (ANY TIME YOU WANT A CUT TO LAND REALLY HARD AND NOT SEEM SEAMLESS) OR “MATCH CUT TO:” (IN WHICH THE ACTION ONSCREEN MATCHES THE ACTION STARTING AT THE NEXT CUT IN SOME VISUAL OR AUDIO WAY).

HERE’S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.

“INT. HULK’S HOUSE – NIGHT

A big giant green monster by the name of HULK is sitting at his computer and writing a book about screenwriting. HULK seems tired. BETTY walks in.

HULK

Hulk wants to go to sleep and stop writing about screenplay formatting!

BETTY

Hulk! You know you have to get up early and go to Avengers HQ!

The world can wait another day for your movie thoughts!

HULK

Hulk supposes you’re right.

CUT TO:

INT. READER’S HOUSE – NIGHT

A DEVOTED READER sits there, refreshing the homepage for an update over and over, whilst crying.

FADE TO BLACK.”

AWWW. LOOK AT HULK. PRETENDING THOSE PEOPLE EXIST! ANYWAY, HULK HOPES YOU LOOK AT THIS TRANSITION NOT JUST FOR THE FORMAT, BUT ALSO AS EXAMPLE OF HOW TO USE A PRETTY STANDARD JOKE KNOWN AS “A CUTAWAY.” REMEMBER, GIVE YOUR TRANSITIONS PURPOSE! LINK THEM IN A WAY THAT CREATES NEW MEANINGS!

THINGS TO CONSIDER: MOST OF THE TIME YOU DON’T ACTUALLY NEED TO INCLUDE TRANSITIONS WHATSOEVER. SERIOUSLY YOU CAN JUST START A NEW SCENE HEADING AND WE WILL KNOW. AND OF COURSE YOU WILL BE “CUTTING TO” IT. SO REALLY THE

ONLY THINGS YOU MIGHT NEED ARE SMASH CUT OR MATCH DESIGNATIONS. ALSO IF YOU’RE CUTTING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN TWO LOCATIONS AND YOUR

CHARACTERS ARE ON THE PHONE OR SOMETHING, TRY JUST INTRODUCING THE NEW SCENE WITH THE TRANSITION OF “INTERCUT WITH:” AND THAT WILL IMPLY FILMING THE SCENE IN BOTH LOCATIONS, NO PROBLEM.