Screenplays

One page, one minute. Whoever has to produce it knows that.

I write in standard format because it is how the text reaches the people who have to turn it into shooting days (I feel for them!). This is where a screenwriter probably has to de-romanticise their writing and not get lost in stylistic exercises: it is all structure. But once you know how to lay a page out, you can do whatever you like.

A scene exists if something changes — most likely the location or the time within the film. If two scenes happen in the same room, splitting them into two scenes makes no sense, it seems obvious to me.

Dialogue comes later.