Lazy Bee Scripts
How to tell actors what to say

Start with the Character Name

• The character's name should appear at the start of every paragraph of speech.
• It should appear in Title Case (not all in capitals)
• It should be the same all the way through the script
• The character name should, if possible, be short whilst avoiding excessive use of initials
  • "Fairy Godmother" can be conveniently abbreviated to "Fairy" if there are no other fairies in your script
  • "Fairy Godmother" can be conveniently abbreviated to "Godmother" if there are no other Godmothers.
  See also more on name length
• Put a colon after the speaker's name.
  • Let me put this another way: the first character after the speaker's name should always be a colon.
  • Then put a single tab.
  • Now you're ready to start the speech (or a short stage direction for the charcter, then the speech).
• If a speech is interrupted by a stage direction which includes directions to other characters (or to the crew)
  • The stage direction is placed on its own line
  • When the speech resumes, on a new line, the speaker's name should be restated
• We will put the speaker's name in bold. (If you wish to do that, that's fine!)

One Speech, One Paragraph

• The general rule is that one speech should form one paragraph.
  • A paragraph ends with a "return" (achieved using the "Enter" key).
  • If you hit the Enter key before the end of a speech, then you are doing something wrong! See hints.
  • Multi-line speeches should be indented using "Hanging Indents"
    • Do not use returns, spaces or tabs to mimic Hanging Intents.
      It will mess your text up when we reformat it, and we will get really cross.
    • Your Word Processor's "help" menu should tell you how to use hanging indents.
    • If you can't get this to work, leave the text left-justified. (We will sort out the indents anyway!)
  • Paragraphs that run over the end of a page should be sorted out by your Word Processor, not manual intervention.
• Exceptions to the "one speech, one paragraph" rule are:-
  • Lines of verse (where it is normal to put in a return at the end of each line)
  • Song lyrics (a special case of lines of verse!)
  • Those occasions where a speech is interrupted by a stage direction which applies to other characters
    • The stage direction is placed on its own line
    • When the speech resumes, on a new line, the speaker's name should be restated
  • Long monologues, where it is (aesthetically) necessary to break a single speech into multiple paragraphs.

Use Words Instead of Numerals

• If your speech contains numbers, write them out in words instead of numerals
  • It's a more explicit way of telling the actors what you want them to say
  • It looks better on the page - more like a play and less like a business report
• This is clearest if you talk about large numbers and currency amounts.
  • How do you want the actor to say $1140.50?
    • English people would tend to say "One thousand one hundred and forty dollars and fifty cents."
    • Americans tend to omit the "and", and have a greater tendency to group hundreds rather than thousands, thus "Eleven hundred forty dollars, fifty".
  • Do you want the character to say "dollars" or "buck" or to omit the currency?
  • You're the author.  It's your line.  Write down what you want the actor to say!
• The only significant exception is years, where writing 1945 is okay, unless you write it at the beginning of a sentence, where it looks horrible.

Emphasis

• If you want a speaker to stress a particular word or phrase, then indicate it by using italics.
  • That's all.  Not bold, not underlined.  Just italics.
  • Don't use italics in speeches or stage directions for any other purpose.
• Use this sparingly.
  • Inexperienced actors (kids) may benefit from some pointers
  • Experienced actors will develop inflection from meaning
• If you want a character to shout, then
  • either use a stage direction - (shouting) - or
  • use UPPER CASE.
  (In my opinion, the former is better, because the intention is clearer.)
• Distinguish between emphasis and shouting.
  • Almost any word in a sentence can be stressed.
  • Shouting tends to be
    • Whole phrases ("GET OUT OF HERE!")
    • Words at the ends of sentences ("I want you to GO!") or
    • Single word sentences usually a name, a command or a curse! ("OUT!")

Don't Invent Your Own Punctuation

• The first rule is to aim for self-consistency
• All questions, even (would you believe it?) rhetorical questions should end in a question mark
• If you want a speech to tail off, or to be interrupted, use an ellipsis (...)
  • More than three does not add meaning
  • Two just looks like a mistake
  • Dashes are inconsistent in this context (see below)
• Use only one dash at a time, and only for
  • Hyphens, in word-concatenation or
  • In conjunction with one space either side - this sort of thing - to separate ideas
• So don't use dashes
  • At the end of lines (use the ellipsis - see above)
  • In multiples
    • Some systems interpret two dashes as an em - a single long dash
    • Others don't, so the results are messy.  Clarity is better.
  • In conjuction with other punctuation marks: don't use the semicolash
  • Half way between a hyphen and a separator. (A dash has one space either side, or none at all.)
• Multiple exclamation marks and question marks don't add anything.  To convey more than one, use a stage direction.
• Likewise, we deplore the interrabang (?!)

Song Lyrics

• Format song lyrics and lines of verse in the same way as speeches
  • When a new singer takes over, state the character name at the start of the first line
  • If several people sing together, group their names as you would for simultaneous speaches [see below]
• Write lyrics in sentence case, not ALL CAPS
• If one singer (or group) sings multiple lines, start each vocal line on a new line with a tab (not an indent)

Simultaneous speeches (multiple characters talking at the same time)

• Put the character names on separate lines
  • Never put a list of characters on one line, such as "Jane and Fred: What?"
    (Our formatting is quite likely to turn that into a speech for Jane starting with the words "And Fred".)
• After the speaker's name, put a colon, a tab and a curly bracket: one of these }
• If two or more speakers say the same thing, then
  • put "} (Together)" on the first speaker's line
  • Put "} " followed by the speech on the second speaker's line.
• If two or more speakers say different things at the same time, then
  • For long speeches, add "} (At the same time as <speaker>)" at the start of each speech
  • For short speeches, just add "} " at the start of each speech

Example of Simultaneous Speeches