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Handling IMs in screenplays

NEWSLETTER

 February 1, 2011  Formatting, QandA

I’m working on a script in which there are several IM conversations, not short ones. How do you go A weekly-ish roundup of stuff we've found
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— Ben Your email address

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Whether text messages or computer-based IMs, my instinct would be to handle them as dialogue
blocks. The rst time you do it in the script, call it out in scene description.
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Hearing a BUZZ, Brent checks his mobile -- new text. [Note: IMs
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Can’t find Becca.
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On my way. Dead Projects (18)
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Screenwriting Q&A
IMs and texts aren’t going away, so I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next few years screenwriters Adaptation (66) Directors (90)
start using an alternative format for them. I chose dialogue blocks because that’s the closest analogy. Education (48) Film Industry (478)
But it misrepresents what characters are really doing on screen. Formatting (128) Genres (90)
Glossary (6) Pitches (29)
Something more like this could ultimately become common:
Producers (59) Psych 101 (116)
Rights and Copyright (95)
So-Called Experts (46)
MICAH
Hold on. I’ll check. Story and Plot (170) Television (161)
On the computer -- Treatments (21)
MICAH: Red or green?
Words on the page (236)
LISA: Huh
Writing Process (177)
MICAH: Sauce.
LISA: Red. Green makes me puke. More screenwriting Q&A at
screenwriting.io
MICAH
Green for Lisa.

RELATED POSTS

1. Formatting text shown on screen

2. How do I show simultaneity?

3. Television scripts vs. Screenplays

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