
Screenwriting ABCs Script Formatting
Dialogue Punctuation Part 1
by T. J. Alex
Book Excerpt, 4 pages
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Dialogue: Punctuation Part 1
Punctuation in a screenplay, and especially within Dialogue, is unique. Punctuation can be used strategically to convey to the reader the various ways lines should be delivered.
In this section, we'll look at the options afforded to screenplay writers with Punctuation and how to properly use things such as ellipses, dashes, hyphens, underscoring, and more.
Commas:
Whether names are proper or improper, set them off with commas when the speaker is directly addressing the person to whom the name refers.
Here are a few examples:
Don't do this too much, though. Most of the time placing the name of the person to whom a speech is addressed inside the speech itself is considered filler and information the audience likely doesn't need. Do it too much, and you'll expose yourself as an amateur writer.
Exclamation Points:
It should be obvious when and how Exclamation Points are used. So why even include it here? Well, whereas in prose writing Exclamation Points can be anywhere and everywhere, in screenplay writing they should be used sparingly, and only when they are completely necessary.
If there is a scene in which the fact the character is yelling is obvious, then no exclamation points are necessary.
Look at this example:
Based on the context of the scene, the Exclamation Point may have been dispensed with. But since this is just an example, and we don't know the context of the scene, we aren't sure how the line is to be delivered. Ennis' line could just as easily been delivered in a calm and quiet, matter-of-fact fashion.
But whatever you do, don't use more than one Exclamation Point to emphasize a line. Don't tell me to calm down!!! doesn't really add to the line's punch and delivery, and done too often, multiple Exclamation Points look amateurish.
Periods and Acronyms:
In screenplay Dialogue writing, Acronyms are handled very differently than in other types of writing.
In journalism writing, for example, the rule is, if an Acronym is a series of letters that don't spell an actual word, then the letters need not be separated by periods. So, in journalism, FBI, ACLU, and NAFTA need not include the periods, but Acronyms like ICE, SEAL, and MADD (even though that's not the correct spelling of mad) would need to include the periods after the letters (I.C.E., S.E.A.L., and M.A.D.D.). Why? Because journalism writing is a reading medium and journalists want to be sure their readers know that ICE isn't referring to frozen water and SEAL isn't a cute polar animal, nor a soulful pop singer married to a super model.
However, screenwriting is a visual medium, and when a character speaks an Acronym it needs to be spoken how real people would speak it in everyday life. So, FBI would be F.B.I. to convey to the actor that each letter needs to be pronounced. NAFTA, SEAL, and MADD would be written without periods to indicate to the actor to pronounce the Acronyms as words rather than pronouncing each letter.
All of these examples are correctly written:
In the above examples, had the periods been left out of L.A.X. then the actor would have assumed it should be pronounced as a word (LAX).
Also, look at the last example. The way I've written N.A.A.C.P. MIGHT be wrong. This is a very common Acronym, but when it is said in the real world, it is pronounced N. Double-A C.P. I've written it as above because I assume the actor will know better than to pronounce each "A" separately (or the director will know how to direct the actor to say it). However, if in doubt, then spell it N. Double-A C.P. in the Dialogue.
Hyphens:
In Dialogue, Hyphens have many useful functions, so long as they are used correctly.
In regular writing, Hyphens are used to break long words at the end of a line. However, in Dialogue, words shouldn't be hyphenated unless they are already spelled with a Hyphen.
This example is WRONG:
The word deoxyribonucleic acid, as long as it is, should be carried over entirely to the next line:
Only words that are already hyphenated may be hyphenated at the end of a line in Dialogue, as in these two examples:
When a person's age is a compound word and a noun or an adjective (five-year-old Tommy), the age will include Hyphens. However, if the age is not a compound word and is used simply to tell how old someone is, the age is not hyphenated.
Look at the difference between the mentions of age in this example:
We saw how periods are placed within Acronyms to cue an actor to pronounce each letter of the Acronym. Well, if an actor needs to pronounce every letter of a word, but the word is not an Acronym, then Hyphens are used to separate the letters, such as when one character is telling another how a word should be spelled.
Here's an example:
If a character is stuttering, say because he is really cold, a writer can write the stutter into the Dialogue using Hyphens to indicate how the line should be delivered, as in this example:
Of course, if this is going to be a longer piece of Dialogue, this sort of writing will get old quick. The writer might opt for a Parenthetical to indicate the stuttering rather than trying to spell it out, such as (stuttering).
What's more, if this is a character who has a stuttering problem and stutters throughout the entire screenplay, the writer would want to indicate the character's flaw in his initial introduction and description, but write his Dialogue normally.
Then, if he has a line he delivers without a stutter, that line can be indicated with a Parenthetical. Or, if the character overcomes his flaw entirely and speaks through the rest of the film without a stutter, the writer can indicate such with a notation in a Direction paragraph.
Basically, reading stutters can be tiresome to the reader, so only write out stutters for short, quick lines.
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For more screenplay formatting rules and advice, check out the book, Your CUT TO: Is Showing! by T. J. Alex or visit www.scripttoolbox.com.
From there, please like the page on Facebook, and share it with your friends. If you have any formatting questions, please email T. J. at tj@tjalex.com.
