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Need a bit of advice

Posted: Mar 04, 2014 8:14 pm
by TheWhiteWolf
Ok, I have been writing poetry sense I was 13 and short stories for a few years now. But I wanted to try my hand at something new. So now, I am working on my first screenplay.
I am still in ACT 1 and I am at a part where my 2 main characters have found a note that was written by there mom 3 years ago.

Here is my question. How would I write a character note/message into my screenplay?

I have looked on bing. But I couldn't find anything that seemed helpful. Any advice would be great.

Re: Need a bit of advice

Posted: Mar 06, 2014 10:01 am
by Chris Huntley
This is not a definitive answer, but here are the two most obvious possibilities...

VERSION 1:

Have either of the two siblings read the contents aloud. This would be done in dialogue.

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Bob picks up the note and reads it aloud.

                           BOB
       Blah blah blah...

OR.

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Bob picks up the note.

                      BOB
             (reading)
      Blah blah blah...



VERSION 2:

Put the contents of the note in the action indicating that it needs to be on screen and not read aloud.

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Bobby picks up the note and looks at it.  The note says, "Blah blah blah..."


OR you can call out attention to the note specifically...

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CLOSE ON NOTE

The note says, "Blah blah blah..."


The MOST important thing to remember is to be clear and brief. You do not need to call a shot because it is obvious as a way to communicate the contents of the note since there are many ways to indicate the contents on screen without doing a close up on it.