ANOTHER REVIEW OF: Script Writing 101

A SCRIPTWRITING TERM EACH DAY

STUDY and PRINT THE LIST OF VOCAB FOR SCRIPT WRITING. KEEP A COPY OF THIS IN YOUR PORTFOLIOS!!!

YOU WILL HAVE A VOCAB TEST OVER ALL THE TERMS !!!!

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Beat Sheet

An abbreviated description of the main events in a screenplay. This outline includes basic things like your script’s genre and more complex elements like your character arc, plot, and subplots.
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Pen

To write, especially a script. So when someone asks you what you are doing this April, you can tell them you will be “penning a brilliant script!”
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Conflict

This is the heart of drama of your script; your protagonist wants something badly, but antagonists and other obstacles prevent him or her from getting it. For awhile, anyway.
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Scene

A continuous block of storytelling either set in a single location or following a particular character. The end of a scene is typically marked by a change in location, style, or time.
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The Business

AKA: The Biz, The Industry

This refers to show business in general, but more specifically, Hollywood moviemaking and television business.
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Slug Line

A header appearing in a script before each scene stating the location and time in which the following action will occur.
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Character Arc

A curved line that traces the development, growth, and transformation of a character over the course of a script. Scriptwriters follow this arc to ensure that they have exciting characters!
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Majors

In Hollywood, this is what people in the “Industry” call the Major Hollywood movie producer/distributor studios, which currently are MGM/UA, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Universal, and Disney.
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Logline

A one-sentence, "25 words or less" description of a screenplay. People will probably ask you for a short summary of your script when you tell them you're writing one or that you've already written one. When they do, you need to be able to state the main concept of your story in one short sentence.
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Scene Cards

A method used by some writers to outline their script by describing each scene on an index card, then arranging and rearranging them to work out the story structure. This is something that is really helpful if you are stuck during April, or when revising your script after the Frenzy is over.
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Cast Page

A page that typically follows the Title Page of a play, listing the characters with a very brief description of each.
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Courier: 12 point

This is the main font used in the film and television industry. Warning: it is rumored that Hollywood executives will throw scripts away without reading one word if it is not in this font.
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Voice Over

AKA: V.O.

When written in your script after a character name like so—Boris the Unicorn (V.O.)—it indicates that their next bit of dialogue will be heard off-stage or off-camera, meaning the speaker will not be shown.
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Short Subject

AKA: Short

According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), a short is a movie that is shorter than 45 minutes (meaning it will have around a 45-page script). Other sources argue that a short can be as long as 60 minutes (around 60 pages), and many short-film festivals only accept 15 minute films (around 15 pages).
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Television Movie

AKA: TV Movie, Movie of the Week (MOW), Telepic, Made-For-TV Movie, Telefilm, Telemovie

A feature-length movie intended to be premiered on television.
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Bomb

A movie which is a financial disaster! But if you live in the United Kingdom, “bombing” is a good thing. When used with the word "down" (e.g. "went down a bomb"),the term means “a great success.”
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Mini-Series

A short television series with a set number of episodes which tells a complete story. All the episodes are usually filmed at the same time.
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Storyboard

A sequence of pictures created by a production illustrator to communicate the general appearance of the scenes in a movie before any shooting takes place.
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Spaghetti Western

A western filmed in Italy, many times with American leading actors. This term arose following the appearance of Clint Eastwood in a number of Westerns produced by Italian studios in the 1960's.
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Cameo

A small part—sometimes as small as one line—played by a famous actor who would ordinarily not take such a small part. (Also referred to as Stunt Casting.)
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Pilot

A TV series episode which is produced to “test out” a proposed series. Pilots establish the characters and settings of the series. After seeing a pilot of the proposed series, networks will then determine whether making additional episodes is a smart decision.
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Sword and Sandal

A term used in Hollywood for a genre of film that is usually set in Greek or Roman times. These films are known for their heavy costuming and large production design budgets. These were very popular in the late 1950s and early ’60s. Ben-Hur (1959) and Spartacus (1960) are the most well-known of this genre.
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Flashback

A scene that breaks the chronological direction of a film, TV show, or stage play by showing events that happened in the past.
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Teleplay

The official term for a script written to be produced for television whose length is 42-48 minutes long (42–60 pages) for a standard one hour TV show. It can also refer to a 30-minute situation comedy. Note: It is also acceptable to call a teleplay a TV script if you feel funny saying teleplay.
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Telewriter

AKA: TV Writer

A writer who either writes for an existing television show or creates a new teleplay such as a pilot for an undeveloped television series.
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Off Screen

AKA: O.S., Off Stage

Dialogue or sounds heard while the camera is on another subject or, in a stage play, out of the view of the audience.
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Prequel

A movie that presents the characters and/or events that happened before the setting of a previously filmed movie.
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Subplot

This is also called a "B Story" in television. The subplot is used in various ways, weaving in and out of the main action to add excitement and characters to a film, TV show, or stage play. Having various plots is also helpful in creating a central theme to a story.
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Close-Up

AKA: C.U.

A direction used in a script to tightly frame an object or person, usually someone’s face, for a dramatic effect. This technique can pull the audience into a character’s emotion or focus on something a character sees.
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Spec Script

In film, spec scripts are scripts written on speculation; that is, written without an assignment in hopes of selling it as a project “ready to go.” They are also used by both novice and established writers to show off their talent and get work.
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Writers Guild of America

AKA: WGA

A union formed to protect and represent writers who write television shows, movies, news programs, documentaries, animation, CD-ROMs, and content for new media.
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Genre

The category a story or script falls into, such as a thriller, romantic comedy, action, drama, etc. See our Genre of the Day column to find out more about each genre!
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Blockbuster

A movie which is a huge financial success, making $100 million or more. This is the opposite of a “Bomb,” and is what your screenplay will hopefully become once it’s picked up by one of the “Majors.”
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Score

The musical component of a movie's soundtrack, written specifically for that film by a composer.
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Showrunner

Commonly working on a television series, showrunners are the people who create the plot twists for a given storyline. They keep track of the past storylines for a given character or characters, and they work with the writers to bring those new plot elements to life.
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Walla

AKA: Rhubarb

Background conversation. Historically, when a script called for "crowd unrest" or "murmuring", film makers found that it worked best if the extras mumbled the word "rhubarb" over and over. Oftentimes, actors just mimic talking when a scene is shot and the sound is added later in the post-production process called Additional Dialogue Recording (ADR).
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Cliffhanger

A moment of high drama that is frequently used at the end of a film or TV show with the phrase “To be continued . . .” written at the bottom of the screen. The name originally came from the old practice of leaving a hero or heroine actually hanging onto the edge of a cliff in serial films.
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Situation Comedy

AKA: Sitcom

A comedy in which humor is derived from people being placed in uncomfortable, embarrassing, or unfamiliar situations. Sitcoms usually run between 20-23 minutes (30 minutes minus the commercials), and their formatted scripts run from 45-50 pages in length.
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Blocking

The process where the director works with the actors on set to stage the action. When they are ready, they show the action to the crew so everyone can prepare for the shot.
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Sequel

A movie that presents the continuation of characters and/or events of a previously filmed movie.
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Film Noir

This describes a genre of film which usually features dark, corrupt, brooding characters along with detectives, plus the seedy side of the big city. This genre was very popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is known for its use of extreme contrasts in lighting.
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Brads

Brass fasteners are used to bind a script printed on three-hole paper. Acco #5 solid brass brads are generally accepted in the scriptwriting business. Warning: It is considered “amateur” to put brads in all three holes of the three-hole paper. Professionals do not put a brad in the center hole.
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Sketch

This form is most used in comedies like Saturday Night Live; it is a short scene (usually less than 15 minutes long) written to be part of a sketch-based TV series. This should not be confused with a “skit.” Most comedy writers take offense to that term, and claim a “skit” is what the “football team does at a pep-rally in high school.”
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Ticking Clock

Something that builds drama in a script in which an event looming in the near future requires that the conflict reach a speedy resolution (hence, the ticking clock). These are things like disarming a bomb that is about to go off or getting out of the underground tomb before the door closes forever. Back to the Future (1985) uses this device not only as a metaphor in the story but quite literally as a “setpiece” in the film.
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Flash Forward

A scene that breaks the chronological direction of a film, TV show, or stage play by showing events that will happen in the future.
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One-Act Play

Technically, this is a play that has only one act, but in more common usage, it is a play that runs no longer than one hour. It is common for a theater to produce three half-hour long one-acts in the same evening, sometimes from one writer or perhaps as an evening featuring multiple writers.
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Heat

AKA: Buzz
Positive gossip about a project on the Hollywood grapevine.
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Roll

This is a term used for superimposed titles or text intended to move vertically on screen. For example, the text at the beginning of Star Wars movies.
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Setpiece

This term is often used to describe any important dramatic or comedic highpoint in a film or story, particularly those that provide some kind of dramatic payoff, resolution, or transition. It is often used to describe any scenes that are so important in a film that they cannot be edited out or skipped without seriously damaging the finished product.
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Button

A TV-writing term referring to a witty line that "tops off" a scene. A button is often funny, but it can also be mysterious and suspenseful. It gives you a feeling that the scene is done, and we're ready to move on to the next.
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Montage

Most commonly, a montage is a rapid series of images or scenes that imply the passage of time. Usually, thematic music is the only sound in these scenes; there is little to no dialogue in a typical montage.
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Ten-Minute Play

A complete play, with a beginning, middle, and end, designed to play in ten minutes. These are usually, plus or minus, ten pages long. These are usually considered a one-act play.
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Alan Smithee

AKA: Allen Smithee, Alan Smythee, Adam Smithee

A very common fictional name taken by a writer or director who doesn't want their real name credited on a film after they feel they lost creative control.
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Sword and Sorcery

A term used in Hollywood for a genre of film that is usually set in days of old with magic as well as sword fighting! The Lord of the Rings movies are great examples of this genre.
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Deux ex machina

Pronounced: Day-oos ecks mah-kee-nah
In Latin, this literally means “God in the machine.” In classical drama, it was an actor playing God who was lowered from above the stage to resolve the action of a play. Now it refers to any character or event that miraculously “saves the day” at the end of a script. A classic example is the T-Rex “showing up miraculously” at the end of Jurassic Park (1993).
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Oscars

AKA: Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards

Most people are familiar with the Oscars, but they may not know that the term "Oscar" was coined by an anonymous person who remarked that the statue looked like their Uncle Oscar.
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Treatment

A description of a movie written in prose form (not formatted) that ranges anywhere from 15-60 pages. It should be a blow-by-blow summary of the story that includes all of the important details of each scene, action, and character told in present tense.
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Tag

A short scene at the end of a script that usually provides something upbeat to the ending. These are most commonly used in television sitcoms between the final commercial break and the credits.
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Pitch

A meeting in which a script writer will try to interest another party (an agent, an “Industry” bigwig etc.) in their script. To do this, the script writer must present the story of their script in such an exciting way that the buying party finds it interesting enough to purchase.
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Abby Singer

The second-to-last shot of the day. Said to be named after Abby Singer, who would often shout "last shot of the day" only to have the director ask for more takes.
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Dénouement

Pronounced Dey-Noo-Mohn!

This is a really big and impressive word for the concluding scenes of a movie where the story ends and the characters' status after the climax is shown. Are they married, dead, in love?
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Guerrilla Producer

Someone who produces a film on a small (shoestring) budget. You can totally become a Guerrilla Producer after Script Frenzy and produce your script as a video. All you’ll need are some good friends and a video camera, and you’ll be all set!