I have a character that has several phone calls. We don’t see them. But we know him as “Christo”, they have heaps of dialogue and play a part in the story.
Finally we get in the same room as them. I just instinctively went CHRISTO when physically describing him. That makes sense to me. This is the first time we see him, so I cam calling that out.
But there may be some rule that says I should have capitalised him when he was just a voice. I did be interested to see how other may handle this.
I think it will become more important as mobile communication is embedded in everything we do and the idea of never being in the same room as people becomes more common.
Thanks Everyone.
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You did it right. You only ALL CAP a character's name when they actually appear on film.
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Yep, I would have done it the same way Craig.
It felt right. Thanks Dan.
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You capitalize a character's name the first time you see them, you introduce them to the camera. It doesn't matter how many times you hear their voice beforehand, that is not an introduction. If someone has told you or indicated that you should introduce them when you hear them then they are wrong. What you have done is correct.
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Don’t reinvent formatting unless you’re 22-year old wonderkid Shane Black, or you’re married to a movie star actress & your brother is Tony Gilroy.
What does using mobile comms have to do with page formatting? Lots of different ways to show “phone texting” on the page.
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Dan, I think you hit upon it in your last sentence. “Lots of different ways....”. I real don’t give a rats fat ass about formatting and such. My main concern is to not confuse the reader and remove every obstacle between my words and their brain. If that means call a phone a “wingnut” I am in.
So having a easily recognised way of tell the reader something is a text, or a mid-air augmented reality message or a .... I don’t know what is next is important.
Most of the relationships I have are with people I have never meet face to face. This is the new world and it will change what we write and how we write it. That was my point.
Craig - I suggest you reword that. While script format need not fit tight like a straight jacket; it's one of those little things that just may send your hard wrought script to the waste basket. You wouldn't want that now?
Hi Doug, I didn’t mean I don’t use it. But it is not what I live and die by. If it evolves and changes, great. I don’t care what happens to it.
I see it as the quickest way to remove a barrier between my story and the readers brain. But I have no emotional investment in it. Hence me not caring. I have seen threads where people get very upset about single or double spaces, or left or right justified. As long as I don’t drag my reader out of the story I am happy. I don’t want people to have to work for their meal. I want them so immersed in my story they see nothing else. If they have to try and figure out if something is a text message or dialogue, they are out of the trace and thinking. I don’t want thinking, I want emotion.