The picture thang is rough in a script - much more clear in the filmed version.

I would not intro a character through a picture if for no other reason, a picture is static and there's not much you can really say if it's simply a headshot, for example.

I use a picture to introduce a character in "Empowered".  It's a really old photo though, torn, frayed and dirty.  The photo is set in Roswell 1947, black and white, introduces "Kai" who is the father of one of my main characters... though the story is set in 2016 and said character is like, 18.  

I think it's a cool way to intro characters.  I also use the TV to introduce characters, which is another cool way to bring folks into the fold as it's live feed some of the time, and opens doors to switch scenes seamlessly.

Usually though, sticking to the classic action line during scene works best.  

Unless your character LOOKS different and has not aged since the photograph was taken, otherwise I believe you're just shooting yourself in the foot by saying he/she's 25 in the photo then they're 60 when you meet them in a scene.  

All depends on how you handle it in truth.

As for the "--", examples of how I use it below:

RION (pronounced: Ree-on)
How's the chicken?  Is it -- hold on a sec --

*Throws guy through a wall*

RION
You mind?
*takes chicken, bites into it*
Hm -- not bad.

That's dialogue.  In terms of action blocks I only EVER use it if there's a break in scene.  Such as this:

Rion's fist turns concrete. He punches a guy through a wall into --

*NEXT SCENE TAKES PLACE IN NEW LOCATION*

-- guy crashes through a fish tank.  Water floods out, glass rains down.  Onlookers SCREAM and scatter.

They basically work as beats without the parenthicals.

-Lee

Quoted from Guest I think I'll take us further off topic with a quick, simple question.  If you show a main character in a picture/photo before he is actually shown as a real person, does his name still get all caps for the picture/photo introduction or no?  Help please.  Thanks.

I used a current framed photo of my main character in Scream For Me to start the script off with and I used all caps to introduce him. The reason I used a photo instead of the character himself, he's in the same room, is because the whole film is about him changing to a monster throughout the film. In the end, when he dies, his face returns to normal or to the handsome face we first saw in the photo. So, it also serves as bookends for the film as well.

There's no reason why we can't use the photo to tell us something about the character too... rock climbing for example. I think it can work quite well if utilised correctly.

Quoted from Angry Bear Therefore, what most of us think of when we think amateur scripts are not completed polished last drafts. The pro scripts we read are the final drafts or at least VERY polished and rewritten drafts. That is IMHO why the difference between a Blackilist script for example and a script here at SS vary so much in quality.

There's truth in that.

On Writing is a quick read and it will be worth your while.

Quoted from deadite I think I'll take us further off topic with a quick, simple question.  If you show a main character in a picture/photo before he is actually shown as a real person, does his name still get all caps for the picture/photo introduction or no?  Help please.  Thanks.

Kevin's right on the caps, if the character make an appearance on screen later.

But I couldn't see why I ever would use a photo to introduce a main character, maybe for some reason I would. It seems counter productive to me since you want, for most characters, to introduce them in the shortest period of time. A photo is simply the face of another person walking down the street. Unless you plan on having the character holding the photo, looking at the photo, or whatever, and actually tell us something about the character, okay, maybe.

Quoted from DustinBowcot The way you've written it suggests that amateur is bad and pro is good.

I think the fact you avoided to answer my questions suggests something.

-J.S.

Quoted from DustinBowcot If you think that... then you should change it. I'd never do something I considered lame, just because somebody else suggested it.

Nobody suggested it...I did it on my own ( I don't like the route I took, but for now I'm gonna keep it...maybe).  I was just curious as how to format it.

As for everyone else --

Formatting problem solved, and I am now moving on with my story.

I might toy with deleting that "photo" intro, however....

Thanks for all the suggestions, though!!


--Steve

I can EASILY see why a main character would be introduced in a photo...and I'm sure it's been done.

Here is a hypothetical. Last week, I read a story about a British soldier in WWI. A German soldier found his dead body, and in his hand was a photo of the man, his wife, and his baby...and a written request to return the photo to his wife. The German soldier did so after the war.

If the story opened with this scene, this is how we would meet his wife...in the photo.

And I think I read an optioned script last year that begins similarly in Iraq where the soldier has a photo of his wife, and then a scene or two later we meet the wife.

I think I actually have a scene like that in one of my own scripts, but I can't recall it at the moment.

All kinds of possible situations:
- a mother holds a photo of a missing child that she is searching for and we eventually meet.
- a character who first meets someone online, so we first see the photo on a screen, like a dating service
- we're in dracula's castle, in the present, and there is a painting of him on the wall, and later we meet him
- a newspaper photo of a serial killer who our character is chasing, and later we meet him

Why why why delete the photo intro if that's what works best for the story? See, this is where the rules stuff aggravates me. People worried about whether that's the "best" or "correct" way to introduce a screenplay character have now changed a writer's story choice! It's literally a kind of madness that we need to develop an antibiotic for.

DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR STORY. If it makes sense that this is how we first see the character, then do that.

Steve, when you have free time, visit here: http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/

Go back about a month and find his week long discussion on "rules". Scott has consulted many of the most experienced hands in the field...people that are actually involved with the film making process. He even goes into the history of how this rules stuff has evolved. It's really a new phenomena, as schools only started teaching screenwriting a couple decades ago...and THEY needed rules so they could teach them.

There ARE standards that have arisen over time, of course...and they are always evolving. Your script should look and feel in accordance with these norms, and there is a wide range for those norms.

But those "rules" are never meant to interfere with the telling of your story.

This may sound noobish, but for those who use the iPad to write, I just found a way to insert an em dash on the page.

Just hold down the dash button, choose the em dash—you got it!

Looks good on the Final Draft app, although I'm not sure if it's received well considering I always see "--" used.

I'm not tech savvy, so this is a mind-blowing breakthrough for me.  

Kevin, I agree with what you're saying. And I was actually thinking of a similar war scenario that you mentioned (A soldier that holds the photo of his loved wife/girlfriend under his helmet or whatever). I considered writing that in my post but decided against it and here's why.

It's difficult for me to say whether the character in the photo would actually play a role as a MAJOR character (the protagonist, and characters directly influencing the protagonist). As a minor character, I can easily see it happening, for me. But a major character that we don't see until maybe half way through the movie? I'm dubious about that.

"a mother holds a photo of a missing child that she is searching for and we eventually meet."

I would consider the child a plot device and a minor character. Unless the story is not about finding the child, and the child is found early on and then the story is about something else, like finding the kidnappers. Then I suppose the child is a major character.

"a character who first meets someone online, so we first see the photo on a screen, like a dating service"

This is a legitimate one.

"we're in dracula's castle, in the present, and there is a painting of him on the wall, and later we meet him"

This one I don't understand.

"a newspaper photo of a serial killer who our character is chasing, and later we meet him"

Maybe. Depends on how "later we meet him" and what role the character plays in the story. E.g. Buffalo Bill was a minor character, yet he's the plot device for the story. On the other hand, Hannibal Lecter is a major character and, oddly, the story is not about him.

-J.S.

Quoted from oJOHNNYoNUTSo This may sound noobish, but for those who use the iPad to write, I just found a way to insert an em dash on the page. Just hold down the dash button, choose the em dash�you got it! Looks good on the Final Draft app, although I'm not sure if it's received well considering I always see "--" used. I'm not tech savvy, so this is a mind-blowing breakthrough for me.

Well done, Johnny. And, I mentioned earlier how it can be done on a PC with Final Draft if anyone's interested.  

Quoted from KevinLenihan Why why why delete the photo intro if that's what works best for the story? See, this is where the rules stuff aggravates me. People worried about whether that's the "best" or "correct" way to introduce a screenplay character have now changed a writer's story choice! It's literally a kind of madness that we need to develop an antibiotic for. DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR STORY. If it makes sense that this is how we first see the character, then do that.

Hey Kevster, it has nothing to do with rules.  I don't let that stuff stifle my stories.  I just think it's a lame way to intro a character.  I think the first time we see a character he should have a memorable introduction to the audience, like, for example the opening to Goodfellas.  These 3 guys are driving around and they think they "have a flat tire", but they pull over and we find out the thumping noise was actually a guy in the trunk that they thought was dead but who's still alive.  They proceed to blow this dude the fuck away.  Awesome opening, awesome introduction to these characters.  It's like, woah, what the fuck kinda movie am I in store for here???  Ya dig?  That's what I try to accomplish.


--Steve  

Quoted from J.S. Kevin's right on the caps, if the character make an appearance on screen later. But I couldn't see why I ever would use a photo to introduce a main character, maybe for some reason I would. It seems counter productive to me since you want, for most characters, to introduce them in the shortest period of time. A photo is simply the face of another person walking down the street. Unless you plan on having the character holding the photo, looking at the photo, or whatever, and actually tell us something about the character, okay, maybe.

Maybe your character lived 100 years before the story takes place and he's seen in a photograph?  That's what I went for at least.  Then when you meet him, and 100 years have passed since that photo was taken, and he looks identical to said photo, then you realize "oh, damn... this dude's freaking IMMORTAL!" and voila, character development without even doing anything with him yet.

Kinda depends on how you tackle it.  

An antibiotic may definitely be in need, but I'm not sure who needs it the most.

Kevin, I know you mean well and and have lots of great advice, but the more I read your posts on anything that has to do with actual writing choices, it becomes clearer and clearer how badly you want to buck the system and how much you're against rules and standards that are there for damn good reasons.

If I'm not mistaken, this latest discussion came up because the man with 1,000 different screen names asked if he should CAP his character intro in a picture, and he recevied several different pieces of advice.  Right?

Now, you're making this into whether or not it's OK to intro a character through a picture and you're all gung ho over it for some reason.

The examples you bring up are so far from unique, yet you act like you're offering up revelutionary ideas.  I honestly don't get  what you're saying or why you continue to harp on this stuff.

You want to first show a character in a picture or the like?  Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but when you first intro him/her in your script, as a living, breathing, live body (or dead one in Drac's case), you should do it the way you always would - CAP his name and give him a proper intro.  Why?  It's a screenwriting staple, that's why.

Does that limit your creativity in some way that I don't understand?  I sure don't think so, and for the life of me, can't see how.

Quoted from Dreamscale If I'm not mistaken, this latest discussion came up because the man with 1,000 different screen names asked if he should CAP his character intro in a picture, and he recevied several different pieces of advice.  Right?

Just curious. Why did you call him " the man with 1,000 different screen names" ?

Because I'm constantly changing my name on the board. haha





--Steve