The Anatomy and Physiology of a Script
How to Use Page Structure to Help Your Readers Visualize the Story Better
The proper execution of page structure and its significance is typically overlooked in screenwriting because writers know that the film industry mostly only cares about the story and whether or not it’s great, can be shot, and sold for profit. So naturally, we tend to downplay its importance.
While ultimately the story is what matters most, knowing how and why to structure your pages can still be enormously helpful. Not only because it can make you look better, but also because it can help everyone involved in the production of your story.
A lot of writers struggle to really understand this because they typically learn page structure from other scripts. While it's certainly good to study the greats, I’m not necessarily convinced that this alone is the best way to learn how to do it. Screenplays will tell you how to structure, but going out and making a film will tell you why to structure.
This is because when you make films it becomes much easier to see how these “rules” serve the whole production from the visualization to the logistical planning. Good page structure gives clarity for the whole production team to collaborate. That’s why it matters.
So what I’m about to show you is a breakdown of page structuring, including what all the elements are and why we choose to use them or not. For the most part, they’re almost universally implemented in every script, but keep in mind that you don’t have to use most of them or any of them at all. It’s just easier for everyone, which makes it easier for you to make a name for yourself. So why not adopt these things if you haven’t already?
Slug Lines
Have you ever opened up a script and seen something like this:
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - DAY
That’s called a slug line. Why is it called a slug line? Honestly, I don’t know the specifics, but I think it has something to do with newspaper printing way back in the day. That’s not important, though. What’s important is understanding what it is and why it exists.
First, let's examine the anatomy of a slug line so that we can understand what it is. You probably noticed the INT. at the beginning of the example. That’s short for interior to indicate that this scene takes place inside. You can also write EXT. if you want to indicate that this is outside.
The next part is a description of where we are. In this example, it’s Walter’s apartment. It’s good to be specific, but also brief. Writing, “WALTER’S CLEAN AND EMPTY APARTMENT DOWN ON FIFTH STREET” is way too much and isn’t necessary to write because most of it can be added in the action lines.
But writing, “APARTMENT” might be too ambiguous because we may need to know that it is specifically Walter’s apartment. The key is to only describe what will be on screen and in the briefest possible way so that you don’t end up adding more pages and so that the people who make this will create the scene in a way that allows the audience to understand exactly where this is.
The third part of a slug line describes whether it’s day or night. In the example it’s written as, “DAY”, but of course, if it takes place at night write it as night. You can also be a little more specific if you want such as, “WINTER DAY” or, “LATE AFTERNOON”, but I would only do this if it needs to be stated. If you’re just moving from one day to another and it doesn’t matter what time it is or if the time of year remains the same throughout the story, then just stick with day or night.
Okay, so why does a slug line even exist? I mean, can’t we just describe all of that information in the action lines? Well, you can, but it will make it harder for readers (the people making it into a film) to be able to discern what takes place in one scene and what takes place in the other, which can make it challenging when trying to plan the film.
That’s the main reason why we use slug lines because we need something in place that can help the reader differentiate between multiple scenes. So if you’re starting your first scene, you would write a slug line and then write your action lines and dialogue before writing a new slug line for the next scene to show that we moved from one scene to another such as in the example below:
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - DAY
Walter sits at his desk holding his head in a dimly lit room that’s strangely very empty and clean.
He stares down at his desk, frustrated and concerned.
INT. STEPHANIE’S KITCHEN - EARLY EVENING
Sitting at the end of an empty table, Stephanie quietly eats her meal.
But a slug line does more than just break up scenes. It allows readers to gain the most important baseline information without having to find or infer this information in the action and dialogue. With a slug line, a reader can almost instantly know whether it takes place inside or outside, where it takes place, along with when it takes place, all of which can make a significant difference in the decisions you have to execute when planning the film.
Without slug lines, yes, your story may still be great, but it will make producing it that much harder and thus selling it that much harder. So at the very least, make sure you use these.
Action Lines and White Space
Now, for the meat and potatoes, the stuff that comes after a slug line: Action lines and white space. Your action lines are the lines you write that describe your action and white spaces are the spaces in between your action lines. Taken together, they look like this:
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - DAY
Walter, sits at his desk holding his head in a dimly lit room that’s very empty and clean[Action Line]
[White space]
He stares down at his desk for a long moment, frustrated and concerned before standing up. [Action Line]
[White space]
Walter begins to pace his bedroom, holding his hands behind his head, but then suddenly stops and remains frozen for a moment. He then rushes back to the desk and begins to furiously write. [Action Line]
[White space]
The pen moves erratically along the page. [Action line]
Of course, I added “Action line” and “White space” to point out what was what, but by no means do you write this in your action lines and white space. Just know that every line of action, whether it’s a sentence or a whole paragraph is an action line and, every time you hit the “enter” key twice (once for automated programs) that creates white space in between the first action line and the next action line you write. Hence, “White space”.
Most writers don’t have a problem understanding this about action lines and white space, but what a lot of them do have issues with is understanding exactly what action lines and white space represent for filmmakers.
Technically, we could write paragraphs with spaces like what I’m doing right now in this blog, but doing so makes it much harder for filmmakers to plan their shots because ideally, each action line represents a shot and each white space represents a transition to another shot. So if you’re clumping action lines together into paragraphs, then it adds more of a mental strain on the director and DP to properly visualize the story shot-for-shot.
Now, it’s not exactly black and white, especially if someone else directs it. For instance, you could write one single sentence as your action line and in your head, you’re seeing it as one shot, but a director could take the same sentence and turn it into two or three shots. So there isn’t a one-to-one ratio, but as a writer, it’s still good to sort of treat it that way because it allows you to indirectly express whether something is a short or a long shot and when we see a shot transition, such as in the example I showed you:
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - DAY
Walter sits at his desk holding his head in a dimly lit room that’s very empty and clean[One shot]
[Transition to next shot]
He stares down at his desk for a long moment, frustrated and concerned before standing up. [One shot]
[Transition to next shot]
Walter begins to pace his bedroom, holding his hands behind his head, but then suddenly stops and remains frozen for a moment. He then rushes back to the desk and begins to furiously write. [continuous shot]
[Transition to next shot]
The pen moves erratically along the page. [one shot]
But again, it’s not a one-to-one ratio. A director could easily add more shots or even get rid of some because you can show this in a million different ways. That’s why it’s even more important that as a writer, you have a decent amount of knowledge about filmmaking because then you can write action lines that infer the shots without having to specifically describe the shots, something typically frowned upon as it implies doing the director’s job. But, if you also learn how to set up shots, then you can describe them indirectly without stepping on anyone’s toes or ruining your flow.
So let's examine the first two action lines that I wrote in the example to understand what I mean:
Walter sits at his desk holding his head in a dimly lit room that’s very empty and clean.
He stares down at his desk for a long moment, frustrated and concerned before standing up.
These action lines could be combined into one close-up shot of Walter, but because I also described the room and because I created a second action line that described him staring at his desk, this implies two shots, one that’s a wide, establishing the space and where the main character is and one that’s a close up of his face.
Notice, though, that I didn’t describe or imply specific shots, just a description of what needs to be conveyed in the story to drive it. A director could still decide to make it into one shot by panning around the room to show the space before ending on Walter sitting at his desk. But because I described everything important to the scene and broke the action lines up, the director now has all the information available to them so that they can visualize it the way that I intended or choose to reimagine it by combining them into one shot.
If it’s giant blocks of action lines, then it’s up to the director to visualize everything and a very skilled director can do this and make great decisions, but it does make it harder for them and it makes it frustrating for you since you may have visualized it differently. Because you clumped it all together, the director was never given a chance to see how you might set it up, which could be a better choice or lead the director to make a better choice. That’s how you end up getting steamrolled when communication on page fails.
Now, the million-dollar question is, what do you add or not add in your action lines so that they don’t end up becoming giant blocks? I mean, there’s so much we see when watching a movie, how is it possible to describe all of that succinctly? Well, you don’t exactly need to describe everything in a scene. You just need to utilize descriptions that make inferences along with specific descriptions about everything that a team of filmmakers needs to know to do their jobs and that includes:
General aesthetics of the space (i.e small messy office with papers and books sprawled across the room or big empty warehouse that’s old and dusty.)
Specific elements within the space that are important for context when establishing that space and for driving the story (i.e the bookshelf where the main character grabs a book or the footprint indent on the dusty warehouse floor that the detective examines).
Physical looks of your characters that briefly describe them uniquely from everyone else. Avoid descriptions that are too general like “Pretty woman” or “ugly guy”. We need to know specific features that will be seen. Also, you only need to describe physical looks when introducing them for the first time or if there’s a change in appearance that’s relevant to the story, such as getting a black eye or wearing an exceptionally beautiful dress when the person otherwise dresses in jeans and a tee-shirt.
Where your characters are in relation to each other, what they physically do, and where they go within the scene.
That’s pretty much it. You just want to add in everything that will be conveyed on screen so that those who make your story into a film will have the basic knowledge about that story to pull it off. And, for everything that has too much to describe briefly, such as an establishing shot of a busy waterpark, just say that with a few additional details that uniquely establishes the atmosphere. You don’t need to describe all 200 people milling about and every single ride that’s shown. You just need to give enough details so we can fill in the gaps and visualize what we will see.
But don’t make those gaps too wide because if people are forced to use too much of their imaginations, they could misinterpret what you are trying to convey. Now for really skilled filmmakers, this isn’t too much of an issue, but for filmmakers who are technically good, but have a difficult time with story development, they could make poor choices in those gaps, which could diminish the quality of your story. Conversely, if you reduce those gaps too much, you risk having clunky action lines and you may end up driving bad visual decisions while making it much harder for others to understand the story.
Character Name, Parenthetical, and Dialogue
This is pretty self-explanatory, but along with everything else, we also have a general standard for showing character names, parentheticals, and dialogue. This is what it looks like with all the elements combined:
1.WALTER 2.(V.O)
3.(frustrated)
4.When did I last have a clear memory of her?
Okay, so let’s deconstruct each of these elements so we know what they are:
Character name: Pretty easy to get. It’s the name of the character that’s saying this dialogue.
Character Cue: This is used when the dialogue is conveyed physically in a specific way. If not, don’t put anything next to the name. In this case, it’s a V.O, which is short for voice-over. So Walter isn’t saying this out loud. He’s thinking in his head and it’s being narrated to the audience. Other types of character cues are:
Off-screen (O.S) - used to show that the character is speaking outside of the scene area and will not be on camera at all (i.e mom yelling from the kitchen while the scene takes place in the living room)
Off-camera (O.C) - used to show the character speaking within the scene space, but off-camera (i.e dinner conversation with everyone listening to mom’s story as she does the dishes).
CONT’D - Short for continued. Used when the character says something, then an action line occurs before the character continues talking.
Parenthetical - These are adjectives used to convey an action or how something is said, such as (angry). Should be seldom used and only if the moment doesn’t make an action or an emotion obvious.
Dialogue - Used when a character speaks...Yeah.
So as you can see, there’s a lot you can do to convey many different things for how something is spoken, which is why it’s important to have a good understanding of what these elements are and how you can use them to better communicate the way you see the story in your head. But beyond the clear communication, lies logistical communication. If you don’t specify these kinds of things then just like everything else mentioned, it’ll put more work on the creators to address these concerns, or worse, they won’t even realize that they need to consider them at all.
Transitions
Okay, so now you have your first scene and you want to move on to the next scene. This is where transitions become important because it allows the reader to understand how we’re visually seeing the move from one scene to the next like in this example:
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - DAY
Walter sits at his desk holding his head in a dimly lit room that’s strangely very empty and clean.
He stares down at his desk, frustrated and concerned.
CROSS FADE TO:
INT. STEPHANIE’S KITCHEN - EARLY EVENING
Sitting at the end of an empty table, Stephanie quietly eats her meal.
In this example, we use a CROSS FADE to indicate that the first shot in the next scene fades into view as the last shot in the last scene fades out. Here’s the thing about transitions, though. You don’t have to add one between every scene. There was a time when that was part of the “rules” and in most professional scripts you would see, “CUT TO” sandwiched in between every scene. But somewhere along the line, I guess people realized that putting it in all the time wasn’t necessary, which honestly I agree with.
So my rule of thumb is simple. If it’s a specific kind of transition like a “CROSS-FADE” or a “SMASH CUT” then state that. Otherwise don’t add a transition in and let the readers assume correctly that it is a cut to the next scene and not something specific.
Now, what kind of transitions exist that you can use to describe the specific shift from one scene to another? Well, let’s examine some of the common ones.
CUT TO: A standard cut from one frame in a scene to another frame in the next scene. The absence of a transition between the scenes implies this kind of transition.
SMASH CUT TO: When an object hits something or someone and the moment when they come into contact with each other, an immediate transition occurs, usually to a scene with a calmer tone. Example: A serial killer’s knife striking the victim before cutting to a shot of a party scene.
MATCH CUT TO: When the last shot of a scene focuses on an object or a person and the first shot of the next scene is the same shot of that object or person, only in a different part of time. Example - Showing a close-up expression of a worried kid before a big exam and then have the next scene show that same shot with the kid only to zoom out and reveal him sitting in the classroom being handed the exam.
JUMP CUT TO: When you have a shot at the end of a scene, which sets up a “cause” and the next shot in the next scene shows an “effect”, usually to elicit a comedic effect. Example - Showing two people outside a front door before a party telling themselves that this will be fun and then cutting to a shot of them sitting at a table being miserable as everyone around them has fun.
DISSOLVE/CROSS FADE TO: When the last shot of the scene fades out as the first shot of the next scene fades in. This is used to show change over time, such as someone walking a long-distance or waiting forever for a phone call.
WIPE TO: When the last shot of the first scene wipes out of frame revealing the first shot in the next scene. Used a lot in Star Wars.
FADE IN/FADE OUT/FADE TO: FADE IN is used at the very beginning of the script and is generally left-justified as opposed to right, which is the case for all other transitions. This shows a fade from black to the opening shot. Isn’t used that often, today, and like CUT TO, if it isn’t there, then it’s generally implied. FADE OUT is the same only at the end of the story and is right-justified. FADE TO isn’t used all that often because DISSOLVE TO has replaced it. But it signifies a fade out of the last shot in a scene and a fade into the first shot of the next scene.
There are a lot of other types of transitions, but these are the most common ones that writers use to convey how scenes transition.
Conclusion:
And that, my friends, is the basic anatomy and physiology of a screenplay. It is a little technical and it’s not uncommon to get stumped on how to write something. So if you ever do end up in that situation or if you’re just worried that you put too little or too many details in your script, just ask yourself, “What does the entire film crew need to know to make this into a movie?” So, think about the needs of everyone from the producer to the set designer. What needs to be known to drive the story and streamline logistics on their end?
Those should be the questions you ask yourself. That way, if you can’t find an answer anywhere, you can just make it up, but in a way that is clear to the people making it because that is what is most important, beyond all the rules. The rules exist to serve these professionals, not so much the story itself, so breaking them doesn’t affect the quality of the story. It only affects the communication between you and those who are making it. So format, not to follow the rules for the sake of following rules, but to maximize your communication to your readers.
For further help, below is an example of all the structural elements put together so you can see how they function with each other. Keep in mind that none of this is properly formatted. My advice is to get a scriptwriting program like Final Draft or Celtx because these can auto-format. Anywho, hope this helps, and best of luck in your writing!
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FADE IN:
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - NIGHT
WALTER, young wired-haired man who is wearing nothing but boxers, sits at his desk holding his head in a dimly lit room that’s strangely very empty and clean.
Emotionally exhausted, he stares down at a blank piece of paper for a long moment before finally standing up.
Walter begins to pace his bedroom, holding his hands behind his head, but then suddenly stops and remains frozen for a moment. He then rushes back to the desk and begins to furiously write.
WALTER (V.O)
(determined)
When did I last have a clear memory of her?
The pen moves erratically along the page.
FADE TO:
INT. STEPHANIE’S KITCHEN - MORNING
We see an extreme close-up of STEPHANIE preparing a meal as she smiles while engaging in a conversation with someone off-screen; the morning sun bathes her face.
INT. WALTER’S APARTMENT - NIGHT
The pen stops writing and we pan up to see Walter, now filled with tears. He looks off.
WALTER (V.O)
God, I miss her.
A picture of Walter kissing Stephanie’s cheek in a group photo is seen resting on the dresser.
FADE TO BLACK:
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Story Prism, LLC