FORMAT: CONTINUED

Don't use it. The only "cont'd" is use if a character's dialogue bleeds over to another page but your software should put that in for you. I don't use Movie Magic but there should be an option to turn them off in the preferences.

Also no "CUT TO:" between scenes unless is a big cut.

format

don't use "continueds" - only an idiot would not understand that the story, dialogue or action continues on the next page. keep the page numbers thou

I use the character' cont'd's whether dialogue is broken up by action or a page break - because I know that they are helpful to actors as a visual cue.

Actors often highlight their lines or read only their own lines and because the normal flow is that the same character's dialogue doesn't come back to back it's easy for them to miss the second part of the back to back line when they scan through it. Using CONTINUED helps them flag it when they are scanning.

dpaterso said:

Betcha if I'd said I use dialogue CONT'Ds you'd have said only an idiot uses them!

I'd guess the difference between us is, I'm writing spec scripts which I hope will be requested and find their way to readers, you're writing scripts you know will go to actors?

Click to expand...

Actually you are incorrect Derek. I learned that it makes it easier for actors when I had a table reading on my very first spec.

When I read specs in my role as a development exec - having them there doesn't bother me, or slow down my read. And in the long run I know they will be useful - because should we decide to develop a script - it will eventually go to agents for actors and I know that actors find them helpful.

I know some agents/actors who don't even bother reading the entire script at first - all they read is the role in question. If they like the role, then they'll take the time to read the whole story.

hey!

not only that.....I'm the one who calls people "idiots!"

I use Final Draft 7; it inserts a "cont'd" ONLY when dialogue spills onto the next page. It doesn't insert it at all when action/description carries onto the next page.

As for interrupting a character's dialogue with an action/description and then having them continue afterwards, well...I've heard so many different ways of handling this that I just came up with my own by using elipses.

ALEX
I don't mean to startle you, but...

Alex puts a gun to Bob's head.

ALEX
...then again, maybe I do.

Silly, spur-of-the-moment example but you get the idea.

cont'd

I read somewhere that Russell Crowe reads his lines backwards and wants the cont'ds there.

I use them when dialog spills over BUT I really work hard to not let that happen.

If someone is paying enough attention to the usage of (cont'd) by the actors name then you've got bigger problems to worry about.

Ah Nikee, your tactfullness is always refreshing.

The continues or mores at the bottom of the pages are no longer used.

Anybody know the history of WHY they were ever used in the first place?
I mean, it would seem obvious that the story continues.

scripter1 said:

Anybody know the history of WHY they were ever used in the first place?
I mean, it would seem obvious that the story continues.

Click to expand...

I believe it had something to do with a contingency in case pages were lost. Still doesn't make a lot of sense, though.

Reminds me of a funny anecdote I read about Ed Wood, director of Plan 9 From Outer Space (largely considered the worst film ever made)...

Supposedly, Wood went to another filmmaker's house party and became embarrasingly drunk, boasting and bragging and raising ten kinds of hell. When the host stepped outside to get away from the chaos, he and a friend found Wood's Plan 9 script sitting in the passenger seat of Wood's car. They took out every 6th page and buried the removed pages beneath a bush in the host's front yard. Apparently, Wood went on to shoot the film, never realizing he was missing every sixth page. So, utlimately, "cont'd" and "more" don't really matter. At least, not if you're Ed Wood.