Week Three: What Makes a Script a Script—Dialogue, Action, and Description

Wow! Two weeks down and only two more to go before the official start to Script Frenzy. You are more than halfway there! Congratulations!

This week we're going to look at the two main ingredients that make up a script: dialogue and action/description. You can think of dialogue and action/description as the cars on the plot rollercoaster. Together, they will get you from the beginning of the plot to the end. Without them, you won’t get anywhere.

Dialogue, Dialogue, Dialogue

Let’s first talk about dialogue!

Dialogue is what happens when your characters speak to one another. We experience dialogue all the time in our everyday lives. Here's some dialogue you might hear on any given day:

"Hey, dude. How are you?"
"I'm really good. Thanks for asking. And you?"
"Good, thanks."

Of course, this kind of dialogue is really important to everyday life. If we didn't say hello and ask people how they were doing, we might lose a lot of friends, and fast. But in scripts of all kinds, this kind of daily dialogue is boring. The dialogue in your script needs to actually do something.

Dialogue should do one of two things:
1. Dialogue should move your story forward.
2. Dialogue should help the audience get to know the characters better.

Another thing you'll need to know about dialogue: Character names should be centered and written using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS or in ALL CAPS like this:

Here's an example of dialogue that moves the story forward

This dialogue has our attention immediately. We're already asking questions: What will an eight-headed Cyclops look like? What's up with the unicorns? Are they dangerous or friendly? What are the people on the ship going to do? What is the Cyclops going to do?. We want to know what happens next! We also want to know more about all the characters involved.

It's clear from reading these few lines of dialogue that the First Mate and the Captain are very different people. The First Mate is hip and easygoing, and the Captain is strict and easily angered. In just a few seconds of dialogue, the audience learns something about these characters and their relationship to one another without them having to describe themselves directly to the audience, which might sound something like this:

That is not the kind of dialogue you want in your script!

As you write your own script, think about the ways in which people talk and the things they say that help you understand more about who they are.

Exercise

Practice writing dialogue that moves your story forward and dialogue that will help an audience get to know your characters better using this "Dialogue, Dialogue, Dialogue" worksheet.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Now that you know a lot about dialogue, we’ll move on to talk about the second ingredient in a script, the action/description (screenplays) or stage directions (stage plays). If dialogue in a script is what’s said, action and description are what’s seen.

Important things to know about action and description:
1. Action is what your characters are doing in a scene.
2. Description explains when and where a scene takes place.
3. Action and description is always written in the present tense as if it were happening right this very moment!
4. You can only write about what you can see. That means you can’t write about what a character is feeling or thinking. You can only describe what they look like from the outside.

You will see action and description at the beginning of each scene. Here is an example of a scene introduction in a screenplay. The first line is called a slugline and is written using all capital letters like this:

BORIS THE UNICORN’S BEDROOM – DAY

Sluglines tell you where the scene takes place and what time of day it is. Underneath the slugline is a paragraph that describes who is in the scene, what they are doing, and more about where the scene takes place. Notice how all the character names and important props are written in all capital letters:

The unicorn BORIS is in his bedroom playing DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION and eating MINI-PIZZAS. BORIS is a young unicorn with a messy mane and a messy room filled with VIDEO GAME POSTERS and MAGAZINES and many different VIDEO GAME CONSOLES. His mom, WILMA, walks into his room with another PLATE OF MINI-PIZZAS.

You will also find action/description within the dialogue in a scene like this:

ARCHIE leaps across the stage and tackles IVAN. A few of the CLOWNS tie him to a CHAIR in the front row. The crowd cheers, and ALL THE CIRCUS PERFORMERS come up on stage to give ARCHIE high fives and hugs.