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Nope If your script is set in a certain location and year you need supers.
You don’t need supers, but you do need to say it in a way that the audience can see/hear it. The characters can drive past the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, the radio can say “the best hits of Philly,” etc. If the date is important, you’ll probably need to show a newspaper or TV news broadcast, a calendar, or something else that hits the audience over the head with the information.
In a sci-fi short, I showed the year by expiration dates on milk or “people born after this year need to show ID” placards. The latter expects the audience to know the US drinking age is 21.
A sparse apartment: bongo drums, bare mattress, trumpet, couch. And outside the window... GREENWICH VILLAGE.
Nice and simple.
You'll probably need to be more specific than that. Greenwich Village (neighborhood in New York City) is not the same thing as the Village of Greenwich (in upstate New York) or Greenwich (neighborhood in London).
One thing that distinguishes the Village of Greenwich from the other two is how locals pronounce it. In upstate New York it's Green Witch, while the other two are Grehn Itch. You might be able to use that in an early establishing bit of dialogue, assuming it's not essential to know the precise location at the very beginning.
(I don't know anyone from the Village of Greenwich to know how seriously they take the pronunciation, but I do know that if you pronounce Worchester, Massachusetts as War Chester the locals will have no idea what you're talking about. It's Woostah because New Englanders are allergic to Rs.)
I dunno. It's just one short scene. The film jumps around New York locations a lot and TBH I need to be very careful with page count. Feels a little redundant to add more.
The fact it's a 60s beatnik apartment should communicate that we are in the bohemian part. I dunno. How about if I say...
I dunno. It's just one short scene. The film jumps around New York locations a lot and TBH I need to be very careful with page count. Feels a little redundant to add more.
The fact it's a 60s beatnik apartment should communicate that we are in the bohemian part. I dunno. How about if I say...
GREENWICH VILLAGE ("THE VILLAGE")?
If you do mean the neighborhood in NYC, then it can just be
A sparse apartment: bongo drums, bare mattress, trumpet, couch. And outside the window... New York City's GREENWICH VILLAGE.
I only bring this up because it could confuse a reader. A viewer of the eventual film can tell a little village from a city street pretty easily.
Is the entire film set in 1962? If so, just say so in the opening narrative. But if your story transpires over the course of many years, or jumps back and forth in time, including the year in the slug line is perfectly fine.
Is the entire film set in 1962? If so, just say so in the opening narrative. But if your story transpires over the course of many years, or jumps back and forth in time, including the year in the slug line is perfectly fine.
No, it's not perfectly fine. You never want to put years in your Slugs. They do not transfer to film. If the year is important, you need a SUPER.
It is indeed fine. I can't count how many scripts I've seen it in. As the writer, you need only point out to the reader what the year is, and you can do that simply in a slug. Let the director, costume designer, set designer, etc. worry about making it LOOK like that year. If you need an example of a writer putting years in slugs and not including supers, check out Frank Darabont's script for The Shawshank Redemption.
It is indeed fine. I can't count how many scripts I've seen it in. As the writer, you need only point out to the reader what the year is, and you can do that simply in a slug. Let the director, costume designer, set designer, etc. worry about making it LOOK like that year. If you need an example of a writer putting years in slugs and not including supers, check out Frank Darabont's script for The Shawshank Redemption.
Alright, I didn't know all of this, but this was my reasoning in putting a date in a slug:
By NOT entering SUPER on its own line below the slug, I was able to buy an extra line.