Screenwriting : Screenwriting Tip: Use shorter words by Maurice Vaughan

Okay is considered better than ok in a screenplay. Also that is not going to change your page count.

"Mic" instead of "microphone" is another example.

There may be times when "television" and "microphone" should be used instead of "TV" and "mic." Example: A person may say "television" or "microphone" because of the way they talk (the unique way that person talks throughout the script).

Hi, Dan. One "ok" (or a few) won't change page count, but if you have "okay" many times throughout a script, it will take up more space on pages than if you just had "ok."

Changing "okay" to "ok" (or "television" to "TV") throughout a script will help cut down on page count. And if it doesn't cut down on page count, it may give you more white space on a page.

Learn to write clean and tight. Avoid abbreviations in your narrative but they often fit nicely in the character's dialog.

So the two extra letters in "okay" takes up space? I write out the entire word in dialogue. If your page count is high, it's probably because of other unnecessary dialogue or scene descriptions.

In dialogue, I can see where you'd use "mic" instead so we get a feel for the character. If in description, I'd write it out. Ok and okay sound the same so spell it out.

But this is a good post because I have used ok and mic and changed them in my scripts.

Thanks, Christine Capone. I try to find ways to make as much white space as possible. Changing "okay" to "ok" (or other words) helps; even if it creates a little white space. Every word and every piece of white space in a script are important.

Totally! I know that white space is important.

Great post! does it bug you as much as me when you press period and it moves to another line? I can spend a looooong time trying to get that bad boy back on the above line!

I do the same thing, Jon. I spend time rewriting action lines so the last word doesn't get pushed to another line.

Be careful with this in dialogue as actors might not know what the abbreviation means. John August shared a funny story on Scriptnotes once where an actor read something like "50mph" as "Fifty Umpf".

Spell it all out for them. Even number sequences so the rhythm/use is right eg "Turn one-eighty" vs "Turn a hundred and eighty" vs "Turn one-eight-zero".

In my last produced script, there was a little confusion in development over the common pronunciation of "Roth IRA". Someone thought it was normal to say "Roth eye-rah" while some say "Roth eye-arr-aye" and thus it was written as "Roth I.R.A" in the script to make it clear which way we preferred the actor to pronounce it.

CJ if the action is written correctly then the actor should know to say mic and not mick. Same thing for turn one-eighty. And doesn't everyone say Roth eye-rah. Roth Eye -arr-aye is the irish republican army. The actors need to have a clue, in my opinion. I mean fifty umpf??

I'm sure there's terms that could catch us all out. On my first movie, almost all the American actors didn't know what "erm" meant in the dialogue as Americans tend to say "umm" instead.

The point is to be clear and not make any assumptions. It may not always be worth the saving on space and, if a term is used wrongly during shooting, could be a real problem.

We did research the Roth IRA thing and went with how the financial consultants on YouTube say it. The fact there's any debate only goes to prove the point I'm making.

Not debating. I'm just saying how I've heard it pronounced.

You can say it either way.

JFC.

Thanks for sharing, CJ. I didn't think about that (the actors might not know what the abbreviations mean).

You don't have to be a jerk CJ!

You're more than welcome, Maurice. I think you have given a great tip but it's best only applied to action rather than dialogue.

And I don't think it's appropriate to say that on this site.

I'm pretty sure we're good to say "Jamaican Fried Chicken".

Unless you assumed the abbreviation meant something else?

I know it meant something else. Please.

I eliminate words when ever possible. I don't really care about trying to create white space or change my page count. I just want my script to read fast and read like a screenplay is supposed to be written. Here are words I try to eliminate. I am not suggesting anyone else do it my way I am just pointing out what I do.

Make all your action immediate so eliminate words like "suddenly", "then", "begins to", "starts to" and just make the action happen without any sort of temporal qualifier. For example: "Suddenly, he runs off." becomes "He runs off." "She starts to climb" becomes "She climbs." Replace the "to be" verbs with an active verb or eliminate them entirely. For example, "She is in uniform" becomes "In uniform.” "It is dark outside" becomes “Dark, " etc.

Avoid words that can usually be eliminated such as “are”, “and”, “there”, “it is”, “it's”, “to go”, “to say”, “is”, “to be” and words ending in “ly” and “ing” and replace “and” with a coma or start a new sentence when possible.

In dialogue you can usually eliminate first words of dialogue such as "Well", "No", "Yes", “Okay”, "Of course", "I mean", etc. Eliminate words like "hello", "goodbye", "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" unless used for irony or emphasis. Avoid having your character ask questions but when they do don’t have the other character answer if the audience will automatically assume what the answer would be.

I was just saying that it could be said either way but he had to bring Jesus, I mean chicken, into it.

Oh the things we learn on S32.

Yeah, sure that's what it means.

Stop worrying about page count. Stop worrying about "abbreviations" stopping worrying about stuff that doesn't matter. No one cares about any of that stuff. The only thing that matters is the depth of the story and how your characters get from point a to point b. That's it. Everyone is worried about the wrong thing.

Jay. It obviously matters to some of us. I believe screenwriting is different than other forms of writing. They have a certain cadence to them that comes from writing economically. I agree story is important but screenwriters also use them for calling cards to show people that they know the business and how to write for it. If a screenplay is over written there is a good chance very few people will bother reading it and why should they. It will make them work twice as hard and the odds it was written by someone who doesn't have very much experience.

Sometimes I wonder why I haven't logged on for a while, then I read a few posts and I remember.

Brevity is key to good writing after all.

Who has the time to peruse an article chock-full of extraneous adjectives and adverbs after all? But trimming down individual words sounds like a symptom of struggle; as if out of desperation to fit far-more in far-less page space. I've been there. You're not alone. Your Page Count sky-rockets above the intended 120 page limit you intended for and you really don't want to trim down all the goods; all those great quotes, character moments, lengthy action descriptions, etc.

But that's the purpose of multiple drafts; filtering down the fat and some of the muscle until you have shiny bare bones on display.

Nicely put, Brad.

Depends on needs of the producer and team involved.

J.O.