STORYTELLING UNIT: SCREENWRITING RESEARCH

When researching into screenwriting. I'd learnt so much from my lectures about constructing a story and the 5 golden rules of screenwriting, as well as the importance of structure and of dialogue. But what I still didn't quite understand was the layout and format of how to write a screenplay. I've written scripts before but for stage productions, not screenplays so this turned out to be a lot more difficult.
One of my classmates referred me to the website Australian Short Films which lets you look at different screenplays and this helped me get an idea on what sort of layout a script needs to be in and how different writers will write their scripts differently. Some will give a lot of detail on the characters and the type of shot they want. Others will give very minimal detail on the characters but a large amount of detail on the actions of the characters. It all depends on the writer and the type of script as well. But this website allowed me to look at different scripts and understand the right format for a screenplay which is:
1. Scene heading
2. Action
3. Character name
4. Dialogue
This obviously depends on what is happening in the scene but it helped me see the difference, since I was actually very unsure what needs to be in a scene heading and didn't realise that I had to specify if the scene was Interior or exterior.

As well as this I chose to look into two TV series scripts, one of which I chose was written by one of the screen writers I researched into, Russell T Davies. Having had the pleasure of meeting the Science Fiction writer and had the chance to talk to him about his writing he told me "I love the small details, attention to the shot and the focus on key points in the script, that's what makes a script work!" So from this I went on to find one of his scripts online and I managed to find the script for Episode 1 of Torchwood Miracle Day. When reading this I can see what Russell meant, he puts a lot of detail into his scripts including the types of shots he wants which I've not seen in many screenplays that I've already looked at. He describes the characters with little details "REX MARTHESON at the wheel - 30s sharp suit, sharp smile on speakerphone" very simple ways of explaining a character which I ended up using in my script as well rather than detailing everything about the character. What Russell does give a huge about of detail on is the scene actions. "WHAM! DOORS CRASH OPEN - REX wheeled in by PARAMEDICS! The scaffolding pole has been cut away, though a remnant still juts out of his chest. He's wearing an oxygen mask, with IV drips suspended above. He breathes hard, wild-eyed, willing himself to stay awake. In case he never wakes up" that scene action is hugely detailed on how the actor should act and is telling him exactly what to do. Sometimes you'll get scripts which will give the actors very minimal actions and allow them to ad-lib but Russell writes so that it's exactly how he wants it.

Another script I looked into was one by Steve Thompson who was a guest writer for the BBC series 'Sherlock' the modern adaptation of the classic Arthur Conan Doyle character 'Sherlock Holmes'. The script I found was for series 1 Episode 2 The Blind Banker. Steve also writes with huge detail on the actions but rather than the detail on character actions, its more about what we see in the actual scene. "Clang! museum doors are shut and bolted. Clang! The upper galleries are locked tight. Electrical switches. A security man flicks them off one by one. Lights go out through the upper floors" and also "In the gallery's centre is a mannequin - an Empress in black and gold dragon robes. Silently she dominates the room". Steve gives so much detail for everything within the scene and everything around the characters. Rather than the character action he adds to the atmosphere of the setting and creates this dominating environment even though we're only in a museum. But he makes it so that tension builds and we get a real feel for the scene.