I don’t get too much of a chance to indulge in reading screenplays, if indulge is even the right term. Next to actually writing, reading screenplays is one of the best things I find that helps me with my own writing.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I’ve got a bunch of screenplays saved on my devices (phone, Kindle, laptop) so that I can read when I get the chance <\/p>\n
The script I just finished reading is the shooting script of the academy award nominated Mr Smith Goes to Washington<\/i>, from 1939.<\/p>\n
At 182 pages plus the cover, it’s a long script, but not a long read, as there is some rapid fire dialogue that bloats the page count.<\/p>\n
The main difference I noticed between this seventy-year old script and modern ones is that there were no slug lines.<\/p>\n
That’s right, none.<\/p>\n
Not a one. <\/p>\n
Instead, locations were indicated by FULL CAPS in the scene description. It was a little odd at first, and it did mean it would be harder to skim and follow the story as easily.<\/p>\n
It is worth noting that this was the shooting script, so the numbers down the side helped clarify when the scene changed. I don’t know if a spec script from this era would have slug lines or not. Perhaps a mini-research assignment would be to investigate a history of the slug line; when they were first used, and what scripts they were first used for, specs or shooting scripts.<\/p>\n
Characters were not written in full caps the first time we met them (nor in subsequent times).<\/p>\n
Most everything else seemed the same, or very similar. Dialogue was the same formatting <\/p>\n
The writing is economical, visual, visceral and humorous.The protagonist, an endearing, naive young senator, is a character you want to see win. I don’t know if the part was specifically written for the young James Stewart, but it suits him to a tee.<\/p>\n
The antagonists are not moustache twirling villains, but human beings who have their own agendas, and who can sometimes see the immorality of their actions, but are none-the-less trapped into doing what they see as unavoidable, even if it brings them into opposition with their own conscience.<\/p>\n
It’s a great script, and well worth the read, even if it is from a bygone era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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