hi guys. i've been surfing the script pages, in the middle of revision. i wanted to check on transitions. some scripts use none, while others have cut to, dissolve to,etc. now i'm worried my scripts aren't formatted properly. should i just use no transitions unless really needed? cheers

Unless you are shooting the script yourself, avoid using transitions.

uh oh! i entered a script in a comp recently with transitions. do u think they would frown upon it even if they liked my writing?

It won't help, but it'll certainly be overlooked if your story is good enough.  The point of standardized formatting is basically to make it easier to read, and to put as few obstacles between your script and the reader as possible.  Casablanca could've been written on napkins with a crayon, and would've still sold.  Once you convinced somebody to read a stack of napkins.  

I use transitions all the time but I plan on directing my scripts.

thanks for the advice guys. when i was writing i used to wonder what the diff was between fade to and dissolve to. now i can write with more freedom! and it'll cut down on the length a bit too.  cheers

I think the use of Transitions are getting less and less mandatory; or approved of for that matter.

From everything I've studied and from the scripts I've read it seems that if you ABSOLUTELY have to use a transition, use nothing more than FADE IN/OUT or CUT TO:

The DISSOLVE to's and the SMASH/HARD/SLAM CUTs are history and are actually now considered to be a glaring admission by an amature writer.

If you really think about it, transitions are unnecessary in spec scripts because it's a script that's meant to be read, and besides, movies have a basic standard when it comes to what transition goes where.

FADE IN is about the only transition most specs have at the beginning and sometimes those same people put a FADE OUT at the end. But then, if you'll notice, 95% of the movies made have this in their final product. FADE IN and FADE OUT hae a black screen at the beginning and end respectively.

DISSOLVE TO links two scenes together usually or indicates a passage of time in the same scene. It's basically a fade from one scene to another, hence instead of a FADE OUT to black, it boils down to a fade out of one scene while simultaneously fading in on another.

CUT TO typically links elements of the same scene together and usually indicates no passage of time.

If you've written your script well enough, these things will be easily understood to the reader and director and are completely superfluous. I have directed (shot/edited) one of my own scripts and even at the end of the process, they still don't have any transitions written into the script. Why? Because they're obvious to a moviemaker what transitions go there. Dissolve between scene where time passes and cut between scenes where time doesn't.

In fact, for the record, the only change I made to my "shooting" script was the addition of scene numbers, since they make life on the set so much easier. I changed nothing else from the original spec I wrote last year.

thanks for your advice george. i only realised this morning that on celtx software which i use, you have to manually enter transition if u want it. the cursor doesn't automatically give u the option. i figured that meant something! anyway i'll use none from now on. cheers