Screenwriting 101
A screenplay must always be written in this tense.
What is present tense?
This 2016 film tells the story of the three brilliant women whose work at NASA helped send John Glenn into orbit.
BONUS 300: Name these three historic women.
What is Hidden Figures?
BONUS 300: Who are Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn, and Mary Jackson?
This landmark was originally supposed to be temporary, but now many can't picture LA without it peering down from its perch.
What is the Hollywood Sign?
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard a luxurious, though ill-fated ship.
What is Titanic?
A shot description that strongly suggests a tighter focus in on some object, action, or person (an expressive body part such as the face, or a fist).
What is close-up?
If you're trying to indicate how a piece of dialogue should be delivered in your screenplay, you should use these, placed directly under the character's name and above the dialogue.
What are parentheticals?
This new release tells the story of the betrayal of Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton, by FBI informant, William O'Neal.
What is Judas and the Black Messiah?
Known as a haven for the movie stars of yesterday and today, this city hosts a number of beaches including Dan Blocker Beach and the Topangan.
What is Malibu?
A rich philanthropist leads a team of scientists to populate a wildlife park with living dinosaur clones.
What is Jurassic Park?
This term refers to how much of the image is in focus when shooting. This technique can separate a novice from an experienced cameraman in the look it creates.
What is depth-of-field?
This drives us from scene to scene, as we watch and hope for the characters to persevere.
What is conflict?
The Netflix series Self-Made starring Octavia Spencer details the life of this famed black entrepreneur who was the first female self-made millionaire in America.
Who is Madam C.J Walker?
You would find art galleries, trendy bars, and music venues off the beaten path in this infamously-hipster L.A. neighborhood.
What is Silver Lake?
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
What is Pulp Fiction?
This camera movement involves the camera turning on a stationary axis. Imagine standing in one spot on a cliff in Hawaii. You want to absorb the view so you, without moving your body or feet, turn your head from the left to the right.
What is pan?
These need to be written in ALL CAPS in a screenplay.
What are characters names when they're first introduced?
This 1991 film, whose imagery was referenced years later in Beyonce's Lemonade, brought attention to the Gullah Geechee culture, language, history, and narrative style.
What is Daughters of the Dust?
The red light at the top of the Capitol Records building blinks out this message in Morse code, sending a beacon to any and all artists out there.
What is H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D?
A boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.
What is the Sixth Sense?
This technique named after a director who didn't shy away from unsettling his audience is an unsettling in-camera special effect that appears to undermine normal visual perception in a way that is difficult to describe.
What is the Hitchcock zoom?