How to Write an Abridged Script

Writing an Abridged Script seems easy, but the huge number of rejected contributions indicates it is harder than it looks. If you want to write an Abridged Script that gets featured on the site, it's an incredibly good idea to read this page, despite how obscenely long it is.

Script Elements

Abridged Scripts consist of a few elements:

  1. Scene Headings - These set a scene, INT. YOUR MOM'S CAR, or EXT. NEW YORK. INT means interior (inside something), EXT for exteriors (outside).
  2. Action text - Regular text that describes what is happening onscreen. JULIA opens the fridge and guzzles MILK.
  3. Characters - These are the character names right before dialogue to indicate who is speaking.
  4. Dialogue - These are the lines the characters are saying. Abridged Scripts are mostly dialogue.
  5. Parentheticals - Things the character is doing while speaking lines. (cutting celery) for example.
  6. Transitions - CUT TO:, FADE TO:, etc. They describe scene changes.

Formatting

Send scripts in a plain text file. Don't try to replicate screenplay format in Microsoft Word, that's just a pain in the ass. Use Notepad or vim or Textmate and write a text file.

Please write your script in Simple Script Markup. You don't have to format it perfectly or anything, but it makes life easier if you do a halfway-decent job of adhering to it.

Here's how to write in SSM:

FADE IN:

INT. A BUILDING

This is action text.  It describes what is happening in a scene.

 JOHN:
 Character names and dialogue both start with a space.

 JANE:
 (interrupting)
 Don't forget about parentheticals!

 JOHN:
 Right, those start with space too.  Character names also end with colons.

SMASH CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST - NIGHT

Scene changes end in a colon but don't start with a space.  Notice also that there are no linebreaks in order to force word-wrapping.  Word-wrapping is handled automatically, you can just make lines as long as you want.

END

Note: Submissions written in celtx format are also accepted.

Tips

Here are some Generic Abridged Script Authorship Tips. These are guidelines, not rules (mostly), but over the years they've been found to be generally good to follow.

Scene Tips

  • Remember that these are abridged. Don't give a scene-by-scene breakdown of a movie. Try to compress into fewer scenes. If two scenes occur in the same place but with another scene between them, work the middle scene's relevant information into a line of dialogue without leaving the location.
  • Don't bother changing the scene for minor changes. For example, if some character starts in his NEW YORK CITY APARTMENT and then goes to his NEW YORK CITY OFFICE, you can just have EXT. NEW YORK as the scene heading, then use action text to mention when he is in his apartment and when he is in his office.
  • If I were to describe, say, The Hangover, in a single sentence, it would be something like: "three guys wake up in vegas unable to remember their party the night before, and they have to find their friend". Notice that the SETTING of the one-line sentence is VEGAS. That means that the scene headings should take us to Vegas no later than two scenes in. So the second scene should be in vegas and the ball should be rolling on the story. Most movies have a first act that takes place before the main setting and introduces the main characters. This entire act should be compressed into the first scene of your Abridged Script. A lot of contributors make the mistake of taking forever introducing characters before the plot gets going. This makes the script really boring to the reader.

Action Tips

  • Action text should be short. Instead of "SO-AND-SO types into the computer, which displays 'PLEASE INSERT DISK' on the screen", just make a new character named "COMPUTER" that says, via dialogue, "Please Insert Disk." Be creative and avoid a wall of text.
  • Action text should rarely criticize the movie itself. Think of action text as an objective narrator, not you. The action text can't say the movie is stupid, a character has to do that.
  • In normal screenplays, the first time a character is introduced (in action), their name is ALL CAPS. In an Abridged Script, ALL CAPS are used for every ACTOR NAME or RELATIVELY IMPORTANT NOUN. This is only for action text, names should have regular casing everywhere else, including dialogue and parentheticals.

Character Tips

  • If the actor appears onscreen, use their full name instead of their character name. If they are the voice for something animated, use CGI ACTOR-NAME. You can use character names only if the character or the actor portraying them is inconsequential (a good example is a minor Transformer).
  • Avoid character names like GIRL FROM THAT OTHER MOVIE or GUY FROM TV SHOW. If you want to reference something else the actor was in, do so in dialogue or action text. Give the actors their real names.
  • Any major character needs to be introduced, typically in action text, before they have a line. They shouldn't just appear with something to say.
  • Don't use "Audience" as a character. We try to do this rarely, and usually it just reads as "I couldn't think of a funny way to say what I thought about this part of the movie, so I'm inserting myself into the script as AUDIENCE to say it". Instead, try to have another character make the same point.
  • Seriously, don't use AUDIENCE.
  • Don't use yourself or the reader as a character, and don't use "FILM CRITICS" or "STUDIO EXECUTIVE" or anything like that. Try as much as possible to keep the script contained within the film's environment.
  • Caveat to the above, the director of the film can be a character. Always make sure they are DIRECTOR SO-AND-SO
  • Spellcheck actors' names. Use IMDB.com.
  • Not every character needs to be in an Abridged Script, even if they are played by a noteworthy actor. If a character does nothing that directly advances the plot of the movie, they may not even be worth mentioning.

Dialogue Tips

  • Feel free to emulate the speech mannerisms of characters with noteworthy accents or dialogue patterns. Just make sure it's readable (if I can sound it out and understand it, you're golden)
  • Keep it short. More than 3 sentences and people will skip it. Break up long dialogue with something happening. Even a (pause) can help.
  • Every line of dialogue should be a joke, a criticism of the movie, or the setup to a joke. If a line of dialogue ONLY advances the plot, it should be done as a joke of some kind or removed.
  • Avoid "talking heads" where it's just a handful of characters talking to each other. Break it up with action text every so often.
  • Characters can summarize themselves when they are first introduced. "Hi , I'm going to be painfully unfunny comic relief for the duration of this pile of shit." Once a character has been established, it's too late to do this. A character with a noteworthy trait, such as a superpower, can just state his or her trait to another character.
  • A lot of times dialogue will contain a verbal sparring between two characters. It's not enough to just have characters say "fuck you!" in riposte, be creative.

Parenthetical Tips

  • Sometimes action can be condensed to parentheticals. If a character has a line, then slaps another character, then has another line, you can just put both lines together separated with a (slaps so-and-so)
  • Parentheticals must be on their own line, not the middle of a sentence.
  • Though not okay in real screenplays, feel free to insert parentheticals AFTER dialogue if they are easy-to-describe actions performed by the speaking character that occur after a line has been said, such as "(runs away)"
  • Don't overdo it. Favor action text for action in general.

Transition Tips

  • Transitions are rarely worth putting in scripts. You don't need to end every scene with CUT TO. Only if the transition is directly relevant. If you're typing "CUT TO:" before every scene change, you're doing it wrong.
  • Seriously there's almost never a good reason to use them. Just don't.
  • Abridged scripts start with FADE IN: and end with END.

General Tips

  • Abridged Scripts are meant to be SHORT. Try not to exceed 1,500 words or so.
  • Scripts should be humorous to those who have seen the movie and informative to those who have not. It should work as a summary of the events of the film, so make sure you introduce characters, motivations, and cover arcs, as well as the actual plot of the film, as condensed as possible.
  • Starting scripts is often the hardest part. You need to skip over most of the first act of the film and get right into the interesting stuff, compressing the relevant character establishment into what is essentially the second act. It's hard to explain, but basically you want to start the script with the ball rolling a little bit. If the script isn't funny within the first few lines, nobody will click through to read the rest of it.
  • Try not to make cracks about "having to sit through" or "enduring" a movie. This reads strangely, since nobody ever forces someone else to watch a movie.
  • If you need a refresher of what happened in a movie, check out themoviespoiler.com
  • Point out plot holes and factual inaccuracies whenever you can, it's the most satisfying part of an Abridged Script. However, make sure you do your research, mocking a plot hole that the film actually explains makes you look stupid.
  • It's fun to pepper scripts with jokes and references that few people will get, but don't go overboard.
  • An actor's entire back-catalog of roles is fair game, as are their public lives and past careers. It's okay for Mark Wahlberg to be reminded of his work as Marky Mark.
  • That said, leave their private lives alone. Don't call an actor's kid ugly or anything like that.
  • If you want to mock a film for being racist (Transformers) or sexist (Sex and the City), that's fine, but doing something like having a black character "Talk like dis n' shit" even if he didn't talk that way in the movie at all is the shortest trip to the trash pile.
  • The script should end, in general, with it's harshest criticism of the movie. Save the meanest thing to the end, say it, then END.

Good luck!