Super advice. My question is once again with the word "is". I have been told to use active vs. passive words regarding the word "is". Example: in a scene there are several people are in a car and i want to put their positions in the car. Normally when writing (not a script) I would write something like "John is driving, Betty is sitting in the passenger seat and George is sitting in the back seat."

According to advise from others I have been told to avoid the word "is" in a situation like this. So the above, in screenplay mode, would be written like "John drives, Betty sits in the passenger seat and George sits in the back seat"?

That sounds rather artificial to me, but does it really matter? Is the second example that avoids the word "is" correct in usage in a screenplay?

Many thanks... stephan

I am a first time writer. I use celtx2.9.7 , it always includes the space of (Continued) at the top and bottom of the page even when I disable the option. Is there any option of manual tweaking and using the unconsumed space or else it's making a difference of 20 pages in my script

My question is: How I utilize the unconsumed space by eliminating the 'continued' nuisance.
Regards
Rakesh

Thanks!

Great blog - really is. I have a few questions I'd appreciate your thoughts on if possible.

I have a script in which there is a lot of sign language. I'm trying to keep it from disrupting the flow and am trying to think how best to represent it on film. There are two types of characters who use it, one is a person with no hearing-impairment who can sign, he therefore signs and speaks at the same time, which is fine I think. For people who are totally hearing-impaired, I have resorted to subtitles. Is this ok?

I realise this is probably not a common problem! But your thoughts would be welcome on this. I the same script I also have some foreign language, and I have treated both situations by pre-formatting character speech in parentheses with (in Chinese, with subtitles) or (in Sign Language, with subtitles) is this correct?

In another script, an animation, the first scene is supposed to feel like the camera is investigating a scene, looking at certain things and acting in a certain way - in this case, as its an animation, is it ok to use thing like 'camera pauses as if to investigate' or 'camera glances left, then right, spots the trail and follows' as it is trying to give the movements of the camera a personality almost?

More basic question. What kind of characters should be capitalized when they first appear in action? Only characters who appear again later or all characters?

I realise these are quite random questions, but the help on this blog is great, so any thoughts would be fantastic.

Thanks
Ross

When a book title is mentioned in a screenplay, either in action or dialogue, should it be in quotation marks, underlines, or some other form?

Thanks

Jeff