Question about the characters

riyad khoury

New member
Should the character's details be written in the script or is it preferable to put in the treatment instead?
An example of a character from a script I am writing, is it right or wrong :
1 INT. VERA’S HOME . NIGHT

A two story house.
Vera (80) goes down the stairs leaning on a cane while
limping. She’s frail, Glasses hang around her neck, the
cane makes clicking sound is the metal bottom of her cane
hitting the tile floor.
 
Last edited:
Hey @riyad khoury !
Everyone has their own style of writing a script and there is more than one way to do this. What you could do best is to find your inspiration from scripts that are available online that are related to the type of scripts that you wish to write. :)
 
Vera (80) goes down the stairs leaning on a cane while limping. She’s frail, Glasses hang around her neck, the cane makes clicking sound is the metal bottom of her cane hitting the tile floor.

Becomes:

Vera (80), frail, glasses hanging around her neck, limps down the stairs on a metal cane that makes an annoying CLICK! every time it touches the tile floor. CLICK!

Or maybe the sound is pleasant or musical or something, but that's the proper way to do it. Always incorporate the description into the sentence immediately following the age, even if it's bad grammar. The reason is obvious in hindsight: The Casting Director and Wardrobe & Makeup people need that description readily available. They don't care about the story, just the Character. The way you have it, they have to read passed a period to get the full description, and that's a no-no.
I don't make the rules, I just know them all. But as a Reader, I want that description first, too. Don't make me work to read your script.

The sad fact is that most of the people who work on-set don't actually read the script. There are actors who don't read the script. All those people only need to know what's required for the particular shot/scene that's being shot, and the Director gives everybody emotional context. They look at the character's description and listen to the Director. One of your jobs as writer is to make that as easy as possible.
 
Hiya;

I'm with Maura on writing what works for your own needs, at any given time. Seems like for every "Thou Shalt NOT" where online script formatting advice is concerned, there's invariably a "Thou MUST" waiting just one click away!

Here’s how character-details got treated in an amazingly successful series like the BBC-America’s “Killing Eve” script: SCRIPT_Killing-Eve-S02E02-Nice-and-Neat.pdf

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAWN

The crack of dawn. And the family from the Calais service station park up. The parents get out and carry their small, sleeping daughters up to the front door.

The SMALLEST GIRL’S eyes open as her father waits for his wife to open the front door. She’s looking over his shoulder back at the car.

Small Girl’s POV: the car trunk pops open and Villanelle sits up.

Villanelle sees that the Small Girl has spotted her, she puts her fingers to lips: shhh.

The terrified Girl stays silent as her father carries her inside.


ABOUT ME: My name is Denise. I am a freelance Banter-Dialogue Specialist who'd love to work with other creatives requiring enhancement of the comedic elements of their work.

Here's a brief sample of my present online writing:

PORTFOLIO LINKS: The first two of the three selections of sample-writing are presently being hosted on the British movie-review website ComedyToWatch.com:

(1) Excerpted from a web-comic series entitled “Quackiavelli;” Click link to view sample-segment: https://comedytowatch.com/2021/09/03/quackiavelli-episode-11/

(2) Excerpted from a weekly movie-related byline entitled: “Now That’s What I Call Much Better: Bridgerton (2020).” Click link to view sample article: https://comedytowatch.com/2021/05/07/now-thats-what-i-call-much-better-bridgerton-2020/

Cheers!

..............................
Denise J.
Email: deejaybim@yahoo.com
 
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