 
Scriptwriting Newsletter
Opening Statement ▶︎
Except for the Tip of the Month, there isn’t much in this newsletter this month. That isn’t all that is a part of this newsletter, though. I’m going to write something in the other Tabs, but It’s not going to be much since I had no entries in either The Monthly Script Writing Contest or The Daily One Scene Contest.
The only other Tab that might interest you is the Joining Us one. It’s about the same as the first two newsletters, but it is a little bit more than that just this month. You can read it for yourself right now, but you don’t have to do it. Whether you read it now or not you definitely should read the Tip of the Month Tab.
Tip of the Month ▶︎
Parts of a Scene There are five part in a scene: Scene Headings, Action Descriptions, Character Names, Character Descriptions, and Dialogue. I’m going to write about each one of them below. Separately they might not mean too much but put them together and you have a scene.
Not all these parts will be in every scene. Most of the time it will be four of them. The one that isn’t used too much is the Character Descriptions. Except for ‘(beat(s)),’ it never has been used that much. Of course, if it’s an Action or an Action/Adventures, there will a lot of scenes that doesn’t have any dialogue in it. The only part that will be in every one of them is the Scene Heading.
A Scene Heading is written in all CAPs from left to right margin. It has at least parts to it. First it starts off with either EXT. or INT. Then a space, and where that scene takes place. After that can be another part of where the scene is at like INT. LIVING ROOM – HUDSON HOUSE or it can be just the last part which is the time of day like INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY. The last part it can be either DAY or NIGHT like the last example or it can be more specific like INT. LIVING ROOM – HUDSON HOUSE – EARLY EVENING. I do the last example, but the others are okay too. It’s all up to you. About the only time I might not do it is if it’s an Establishing Shot like EXT. THE PLANET OF VOHN – SPACE.
Action Descriptions also are from the left to right margins, but they aren’t done in all CAPs. They are handled like a Short Story, Novel, Fiction, etc. Only there is no indent on them that some writers like to do. I’m one of those writers. They are written in upper and lowercase letters. The only time you use CAPs are when you first introduce a character or for sound effects. Sound effects are like Character Descriptions, they aren’t used too much anymore. As for Character Names, it doesn’t matter if they have had dialogue or not they are still in all CAPs. Only the first time, though. After that they are written just like any other name.
Character Names are also done in all CAPs. Only they aren’t from the left to right margin. They are two inches in, twenty s with WDC, on both sides. That leaves twenty spaces for you character names. It can be the first and last names, just one of them, a title like WAITER, or a phrase like AN OLDER WOMAN. The only drawback is that you only have one line to do it. So, you only have twenty spaces to work with. That should be more than enough for most Character Names.
A Character Description comes in two areas in your scene. It all depends on if it’s something that the character is doing like (mumbling) or (shouting), or if it’s a passage of time. That’s a (beat). The ones like (looking at the dead body) are right under the Character name an inch and a half, fifteen (s)s with WDC, on both sides. That leaves you thirty spaces for your Character Descriptions. They can be on more than one line, but it shouldn’t be on more than two. If it’s on more than that they need to be written as Action Descriptions. The (beat(s)) appears within the dialogue with a line of its own.
Dialogue are like Action Descriptions. They use both upper and lowercase letters. The only difference between the two is that dialogue appears an inch, ten s with WDC, on both sides. That leaves you forty spaces per line for dialogue. There is no limit as to the number of lines you can have with your dialogue, but it should be limited to about five or six. If it’s more than that you should either have another character speak or separate your dialogue with an Action Description. Of course, you can always do both.
August Participants ▶︎
I’ve had a lot of problems with getting participants for my contest. I’m not all that surprised that there has only been one entry for The Daily One Scene Contest, but I am for The Monthly Script Writing Contest. The first three months of that contest it was good. Not as good as I was hoping it would be, but there were participates. Since then this makes the third month there have been no entries at all. I’m considering stopping The Daily One Scene Contest. I’m going to give it until the end of the year, though. If it doesn’t pick up by then, I doubt that it ever will. The Monthly Script Writing Contest I will keep going. At least I will for another year. After that it depends on how it’s going by then. Hopefully, it will pick up a lot real soon.
August Entries ▶︎
Unfortunately, there were no entries into either The Monthly Script Writing Contest or The Daily One Scene Contest. So, there isn’t too much I can write about that for this month’s newsletter. With this month being our eighteenth WDC Anniversary I’m hoping there will be this month, but as of this writing there hasn’t been any entries in either of them so far.
August Reviews ▶︎
Since there was no entries in either of my contest there are no reviews either. Other than that, I’m not sure what to write here. I was really hoping that there would be some this month because it’s our anniversary month, but so far there haven’t been any entries to review, yet. True, this is just the first week. So, hopefully it will get better by the end of the month.
August Winners ▶︎
I have been saving a lot of GPs because there have been no entries, but I would rather use my own GPs to send to winners than not having any entries to do it. Hopefully, that will change by the end of the month. It might for The Monthly Script Writing Contest, but I doubt that it will for The Daily One Scene Contest.
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