The Movie Script Sample

FADE IN1

EXT. – A TWO STORY HOUSE – NIGHT2

As we come down a long street we can see several difference houses on both sides of it. The only thing that they have in common are that they are all two-story houses, and that they have small front yards. We only get about halfway down that street when we turn into a driveway next to a light blue house with yellow trim around the windows and door.3


INT. – LONG HALLWAY WITH STAIRS ON ONE SIDE OF IT – NIGHT

A tween and a young teen came running down the stairs there. BRANDI VIOLET4, eleven5, ran down a few steps ahead of her thirteen-year-old brother ROBERT VIOLET. She suddenly stops. Robert ran into her.

                    ROBERT6
          Why did you do that?7

                    BRANDI
               (sniffing the air above her)8
          Can’t you smell that. We are having
          Meatloaf for dinner tonight. Our
          father knows I don’t like Meatloaf.

                    ROBERT
          It’s my night to choose what we have
          for dinner. And I like Meatloaf. I
          know you don’t. That’s another
          reason why I choose it.

                    BRANDI
          I hate you. You do this every time
          it’s your turn to decide what we
          have for dinner.

Robert pushes his way past Brandi. She loses her balance slightly. After regaining her balance, she quickly catches up one step behind Robert.

                    CARL(O.S)9
               (SHOUTING)10
          Where are you? Dinner has been
          ready for almost ten minutes. If
          you don’t get down here now it going
          to get too cold to eat. And both of
          you hate to re-heat your food in the
          microwave.11









Like the television script this example is made up on the spur of the moment. I just wanted to show you the proper way to write a script.

Footnotes
1  There is only one time that FADE IN appears in a script. All movie scripts begin with these capitalized words. So are the words FADE OUT. Only they appear at the end of the scripts. And they are right justified.
2  This is the way that the Slug Line BKA the Scene Heading looks like. The only different between all the other script writers out there is that I like to be more specific about the time of day. Most, if not all other writers, either us DAY or Night. But I am more specific like EARLY MORNING, MIDDAY, EARLY EVENING, etc.
3  The first scene of this example is known as an Establishing Shot. It’s usually very short. Only a few sentences or a paragraph or two. It is used as an introduction for the Interior scenes that follow.
4  When a character is first introduced in an Action, aka Scene Description, paragraph it’s capitalized. You don’t need to spell out the first name of the character. But you can do it if you want to do it.
5  After a character is first introduced a little about them needs to be done. It can be just their age or range of age. But it can be a lot more than that. They usually are a lot more than just that in Movie Scripts. True, they can be stretched out throughout the whole scripts. But some writers like to get it over with right now.
6  Whoever is about to speak is done in all caps. And they begin two inches from the left margin. They end two inches from right margin. That should be more than enough space for your Character Name. Even if you spell out the whole name. Some writers do. But most don’t. And some do both.
7  This is where your dialogue goes. It’s begins an inch from the left margin. And it begins wrapping to the next line one inch from the right margin.
8  Descriptions appear between two Half-Moon Brackets. And they appear one-and-a-half inches from both the left and right margins.
9  When a Character isn’t physically in a scene they are considered Off Screen, presented as O.S. When it comes to someone who is about to speak O.S. appears next to the Character Name. It can also be O.C. for Off Camera.
10  Sound effects are represented in all caps. Most of the time these words appear in Action, Scene Description, paragraphs. But they can appear in the Character Descriptions too.
11  Since this is shouting normally this should have been capitalized. But because it’s dialogue, and the Character Description, it isn’t.