FORMATTING YOUR SPEC SCRIPT WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: A PRIMER - PART 8
At this point, you know the drill. While fellowship season corresponds with quarantine season, we’re breaking down formatting of library scripts to help you get the info you need for writing your spec.
We’ve covered quite a few shows the past eight weeks. If you’re wondering whether or not we’ve covered the show you’re spec-ing, here is a rundown with links.
WEEK 1 - Big Mouth, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Crown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Mindhunter, PEN15, Shrill, Succession, Will & Grace, You
WEEK 2 - Atlanta, Evil, The Good Doctor, Legacies, Superstore
WEEK 3 - Bob's Burgers, Dead to Me, Power, The Rookie, Russian Doll, Younger
WEEK 4 - Arrow, Better Things, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Homecoming, Insecure, Pose
WEEK 5 - Mom, Ramy, Riverdale, The Twilight Zone, Westworld
WEEK 6 - Barry, The Good Fight, One Day at a Time, Supergirl, This Is Us
WEEK 7 - The Boys, Good Girls, The Good Place, Manifest, The Morning Show
And below, WEEK 8 you’ll find All-American, Bojack Horseman, Dear White People, Grown-ish, Ozark, Vida
We’ll keep doing these posts through the end of the month. If you’re spec-ing a show we haven’t covered or have more targeted questions, please e-mail us at library@wgfoundation.org. The reason that we haven’t covered the show you’re spec-ing might be that we don’t have scripts for it. As always, if you’re curious about the scripts in the library’s collection, you can search our catalog here.
Remember: We can’t send you scripts in their entirety. We aren’t the copyright holders and we don’t have the right to distribute them beyond the physical library. We can, however, pore through the scripts and try to find you the information you need.
ALL-AMERICAN (The CW)
Average page count: 60
Average scene count: 35-50
Broken into acts? Yes, 6.
Other things to consider:
Acts are about 8-12 pages long. Act breaks are formatted in the standard ACT ONE / END OF ACT ONE centered and underlined way. At the end of the episode, it’s: END OF EPISODE.
The first act usually contains a title card on around page 6 or 7.
The show underlines significant action and visuals for emphasis.
The writers also play around with the speed of time, specifying that “TIME RAMPS UP:” or “TIME SLOWS:” in bold in the script.
BOJACK HORSEMAN (Netflix)
Average page count: It’s a big range — 25 to 41
Average scene count: 48
Broken in acts? Yes, 3. Plus one cold open (2-4 pages)
Other things to consider:
Despite being created for Netflix, she show contains acts, which is more common to network animation. There are 3 acts to be precise. Act breaks follow the standard ACT ONE / END OF ACT ONE formatting and at the end of the episode: END OF ACT ONE.
Act lengths vary pretty wildly across scripts, so the only requirement is that there’s three of them.
Each script begins with 2-4 page cold open. These are formatted COLD OPEN / END OF COLD OPEN.
The writers don’t shy away from camera directions, transitions and bulky bits of description, even though the show is dialogue-driven. It’s also important to note that the description (like the show) is very down to earth — like they’re writing a single-cam sitcom, not necessarily a zany animated one.
Also note the dialogue is single-spaced.
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (Netflix)
**Note: we only have one script from this series in the library — episode “Chapter VIII”
Page count: 29
Scene count: 13
Broken into acts? No
Other things to consider:
Scene headings are bolded.
The script uses an episode title card centered and bolded.
Generally speaking, the script is formatted in a very uncomplicated way with mostly dialogue and white space on the page. Paragraphs of description rarely spill over three lines.
The script ends with “CUT TO CREDITS” on the right-hand side, then END OF SHOW, centered and underlined.
GROWN-ISH (Freeform)
**Note: we only have scripts for the first two episodes of Grown-ish in the library.
Average page count: 29-31
Average scene count: 30-35
Broken into acts? Yes, 3 (Plus one 2-page cold open and one 1-page tag)
Other things to consider:
Both scripts contain a cold open. It’s 1-3 pages long and formatted COLD OPEN, centered and underlined, then CUT TO OPENING: on the right and END OF COLD OPEN centered and underlined.
Acts 1 and 2 are roughly 9-14 pages. The 3rd act (at least in these scripts) is much shorter — 4-6 pages. Format act breaks: ACT ONE centered and underlined, then END OF ACT ONE, centered and underlined.
Scene headings and significant camera directions are in bold.
Scripts end with a TAG, (centered and underlined) then FADE TO GROWN-ISH on the right side, then END OF SHOW centered and underlined.
OZARK (Netflix)
Average page count: 48-50
Average scene count: 43-67
Broken into acts? No
Other things to consider:
No special formatting. Scripts are written very much like feature screenplays.
There are a lot of beats and pauses on otherwise, very clean, dialogue-heavy pages.
Some of the description is written almost in stanzas, which gives the scripts a very distinct rhythm and pace — like you can see new shots and cuts on each new line.
VIDA (Starz)
Average page count: 29
Average scene count: 30
Broken in acts? No
Scene headings are bolded.
Descriptive paragraphs are rich and detailed, not sparse. This creates a really specific sense of atmosphere and everything we’re seeing on screen.
Spanish is written in Spanish. English is written in English. Mixing the two in dialogue is common. If you’re bilingual, spec-ing Vida would be a great opportunity to show that off.
