Bold face the sluglines?

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  • #31
    Re: Bold face the sluglines?

    Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
    "Merely?" Style is important!



    Wait, so you're saying style is helpful? That didn't take long.
    You've conflated different types of style. Bold text is typographic style, whereas short paragraphs is writing style. In a script, writing style is important, but typographic style is not - evident by the industry's insistence on Courier.

    Were writers devoid of style during the mono-font typewriter years?

    A scriptwriter with typographic style is like a horse wearing jewellery.

    No, I did not say that white space and light paragraphs are helpful, I said "there is so much accepted advice" about that, in order to make a point regardless of what I think about that.

    (I think it's infantile - but I largely follow that advice.)

    Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
    And I agree - people may want to pull readers through scenes, but I would argue that a new scene is a place that you do want the reader to reset and reorient himself.
    To "reset" the reader sounds rather extreme. Standard format scene headings (double spaced / all capitals / begin INT. or EXT.) are adequate to "reorient" the reader. If they are not adequate, then the reader is a halfwit, and making sluglines bold is unlikely to help.

    Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
    Just like in a movie, when you jump from location to location, you need an establishing shot. (Or at least a wide shot so we know where we are.)
    It's quite a stretch to say a screenplay can, in any way, be "just like in a movie". I disagree. Words, however they appear, are remotely symbolic.

    Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
    Usual disclaimer: I'm not saying to bold sluglines. I'm saying it's fine if it matches your style.
    How on Earth can bold sluglines possibly match a writer's style - they're superficial ... shallow ... shouty ... oh, hang on ... now I see what you're getting at. Subtly done, you crafty writer. I like your style.
    Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
    "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

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    • #32
      Re: Bold face the sluglines?

      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
      Were writers devoid of style during the mono-font typewriter years?
      With a mechanical typewriter you could "bold" words by typing over them two or three times. People used to do it. (I'm old enough to remember it.)

      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
      A scriptwriter with typographic style is like a horse wearing jewellery.
      "Bolding" the slugline is not exactly "typographic style."

      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
      No, I did not say that white space and light paragraphs are helpful, I said "there is so much accepted advice" about that, in order to make a point regardless of what I think about that.

      (I think it's infantile - but I largely follow that advice.)
      There's a reason why there are standards in almost all styles of writing. Short stories, novels, research papers, etc., all have their own standards. If you were writing a vacuum maybe these standards would be "infantile" -- but screenplay standards (specifically) are there for a reason, like (for one) gauging the length of the script and approximating the minutes in the finished film or video.

      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
      To "reset" the reader sounds rather extreme. Standard format scene headings (double spaced / all capitals / begin INT. or EXT.) are adequate to "reorient" the reader. If they are not adequate, then the reader is a halfwit, and making sluglines bold is unlikely to help.
      Sometimes sluglines are not double spaced either. In that case a bold slugline would definitely help separate one scene from another, especially when you have writers who USE A LOT OF CAPS in their action lines.

      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
      It's quite a stretch to say a screenplay can, in any way, be "just like in a movie". I disagree. Words, however they appear, are remotely symbolic.
      You must strive to make your screenplay read like a movie. That's the whole point of the screenplay format. When screenplay writing is done well, you do "see" the movie as you read the script. I know I have done so several times -- unfortunately not in my own stuff.

      Originally posted by Crayon View Post
      How on Earth can bold sluglines possibly match a writer's style - they're superficial ... shallow ... shouty ... oh, hang on ... now I see what you're getting at. Subtly done, you crafty writer. I like your style.
      The same way using LOTS OF CAPS in the action lines shows a writer's style. The same way reserving short (sometimes single word) paragraphs for intense action shows your style. The same way longer sentences are usually used for introducing a scene or setting up the action, shows your style. You should be able to look at a script and know where the action really happens -- sentences get shorter. This is all a function of screenplay format (and formatting fiction writing in general).

      As for bold sluglines, specifically ... personally I'm not that crazy about them either. But it really doesn't matter what I think. The pros don't care -- the people who buy the scripts don't care. This is another one of those things like "we see" and "ing" verbs that no one really cares about, except the screenplay "gurus" who haven't sold anything.

      If the story is good and well told, all of these so-called formatting "rules" just vanish, completely forgotten.
      STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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      • #33
        Re: Bold face the sluglines?

        I've gone on various screenplay forums and newsgroups for close to twenty years and and this is the one true thing that I've discovered over and over again.

        Those who know the LEAST about writing screenplays, are the most successful at selling them and are called professionals. Those who know the MOST about writing screenplays have usually never sold one.

        It's a wonderment.
        "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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        • #34
          Re: Bold face the sluglines?

          It seems like more than enough has been discussed back & forth now in this 11-year-old thread brought back to life. I've seen folks use bold and other techniques. Personally, I'm much more traditional and straightforward with my formatting. But whatever works for you, do that. Sell scripts. And be happy.

          This way you have no one else to blame but yourself OR you can take all the credit in the world for being a genius, who did things his/her own way.
          Will
          Done Deal Pro
          www.donedealpro.com

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