My screenplay is set in the 70's, however, the first and last pages are present day. My main character is 60 years old in present day and 23 in 99% of the script. I introduce him on page one at the older age, and page three at the younger age.

Does this require all caps since two different actors would play this character? My feeling is yes.

Yes as they are two characters... sort of.


Phil

Yes, I've done the same.

Got a character at the beginning of my screenplay at 10 years of age and capped, then later on he is 39 years of age and capped.

I also have flashbacks and every time he is re-introduced I show his age then flip back and show his present age to save any confusion.

Its pretty clear when on black and white.

Alex

My guy is 63 on pages one and 102. He's 24 from pages 2-101. Since I'm not alternating back and forth, I didn't want to refer to him as "Younger Joe" of "Older Joe."

I used all caps on the intros, and different descriptions since he is, in fact, very different at 40 years younger.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I know the technical side of script writing but this one stumped me. Couldn't find anything on it, and I've been doing it for 14 years.

I wrote a script that dealt heavily in flashback of the main character over the course of twenty-five years.  In each one, I identified and called him by his name and age.  It kept things simple.


Phil

I think it's all about clarity.  You know exactly what the scenes of the story look and sound like but the rest of us don't.  When in doubt, kill a line or two or, in your case, a couple spaces for the sake of clarity.

Yep, Each time he is introduced at a different age, add it in.

Insider901 (12) rides his bike along the path.

Insider901 (24) picks up a hot chick in a bar.

Insider901 (55) look at his aging wife........

FLASHBACK

Insider901 (26) stands at the alter, his wife approaches, smiles at him. He runs away.

BACK TO SCENE

Insider901 (66) sits alone depressed.

Yeah, I'm with Phil in that I specify.
Typically, I don't put down a number though...

TODDLER JOE drools.

TWEEN JOE stomps off to his room.

TEEN JOE experiments with drugs.

E.D.

Good stuff guys. My story basically is told in 1974. That part of the story constitutes 100 of the 102 pages, with a quick intro and ending in present day. I don't even use Flashback, however, the reality is that my SP is one long flashback.

Kind of like the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance.

I'm not sure if you would first introduce your character as JOHN and then (in the flashback) YOUNG JOHN as he's Young John through most of the movie.  It sounds weird.  Then again, introducing him as OLD JOHN and, later as, JOHN is a little awkward too.

Maybe introduce him as JOHN and JOHNNY?


Phil

That's one thing I wanted to stay away from - using old Danny versus young Danny.

Because I don't alternate between time periods, I think I can get by with it.

I do have VO which is done by the older version of the character throughout, even in the younger scenes.

This is good conversation. Interesting to toss different ideas around about something that's probably acceptable in different ways.