Klazart said:
Just wondering about the use of 'Bold' in a script. I've read through a good few scripts and there doesn't seem to be a consistant rule.
In my script I've done all the scene headings in bold, as well as charecter names preceding dialogue only, but not actions. It looks nicer this way when printed and makes it easier for the reader I think to concentrate on the charecter delivering the dialogue.
I don't know how this goes down among film circles, will the bold annoy them? Is it too much, too little or just right?
This is not a good idea in a feature spec. Television spec, yeah, maybe, if you think your work needs to be distinctive somehow, although bolding speech cues wouldn't be adviseable in a teleplay.
Your feature spec may look "better" to you but you're not the one who counts, it won't look "better" to those who read it, and they count. What you want is your script to look just like the last thousand they've read. You bold your scene captions and speech cues it no longer looks like the last thousand they've read and flags itself, "If this guy can't get the form right, what else isn't he getting right?" And so now they're looking and will be primed to jump on the least thing, just by attitude.
Emphasis in a script is achieved by underlinding and using uppercase. In dialogue for example, an underlined word means it is to be delivered with more emphasis than words which aren't udnerlined; a word in uppercase means it is to be delivered with more emphasis than an underlined word, usually a loud shout.
No italics, no bolding.
You may underline or write some of your narrative text in uppercase, sounds for example or for emphasis.
John fires, KAPOW!
and Billy falls to the floor, dead before he hits it.
-----------
Sam's eyes go wide, like WHAT?
It used to be de rigeuer to cap all sounds, which made it easier for a sound recordist to pick out their cues. But even this has tended to fall by the wayside. I did it for a long time but have shifted away from it, only capping sounds now when I want the emphasis, as in the first example above. A script reads better without all those words in uppercase, believe me.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. You'll be way ahead of the game, and all the other amateurs in it, if you do.
What you want to stand out is your story and your cinematic vision of it. Anything you do otherwise only gets in the way of your reader's ability to apprehend your movie.
Cheers! 
