Scene heading for script writing

http://www.scriptwritingsecrets.com/Scene_Headings.htm

A Scene Heading tells the reader where a scene takes place. In other words, where are we standing? Where do we put the camera? Look at some of the examples below:

The Scene Headings start with an indication of whether you're inside or outside. INT. means "interior." EXT. means "exterior." Sometimes you might want to use EXT./INT. if, for example, a scene starts outside and moves inside, or INT./EXT. if it moves the other way.

The next part of the Scene Heading tells where you are, generally. In other words, at a house, in a building, at a park, etc. The key here is the generality. You want to keep this consistent so the reader can easily know where you are in general terms. If your script is in production, you want these to be consistent so the production manager can easily find and schedule all the scenes that take place at that location.

The next part of the Scene Heading is the specific description of where you are. If you're at a house, where in the house? If you're in a space ship, which compartment of the ship?


Another thing that you might put in the "specific" section is ESTABLISHING, like: EXT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, ESTABLISHING - DAY. This says that we just need a shot of the location so we can "establish" that this is where we are. Typically, after an establishing shot, the next scene takes place in a specific location at the same place. So, after establishing that we're at the Empire State Building, the next scene might be INT. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, OBSERVATION DECK - DAY.

The last piece of a Scene Heading is the timing section. DAY and NIGHT are the most common ones you'll use. If you need to get more specific, do it. If the scene needs to happen as the sun sets, say SUNSET.

The whole point of a Scene Heading is simply to tell the reader quickly, easily and efficiently, where the scene takes place.

Formatting

The first thing you may have noticed is that Scene Headings are uppercase... ALWAYS.

Next, you may have noticed that the INT or EXT is followed by a period.

The spacing after the period is also up for debate. Two spaces after the period is common and accepted. One space is also okay. This one's more up to your aesthetic sense than industry rules.

The general description is usually separated from the specific location description by a comma.

Similarly, the punctuation before the time indicator is most often a space, a dash and another space.

The margin settings are 1.5" from the left edge of the page to 1" from the right edge.

You want to keep your Scene Headings to one line, if possible. If you need a Scene Heading that takes two lines, try to break up the text at one of the natural break points.

Finally, you would like to have 2 blank lines before each Scene Heading.