Hello Everyone: I made up a company name. THE RED DOOR TOY COMPANY Can I abbreviate it to TRDTC later in my action writing but not in the scene heading? Because later on I'll be using in the slug line, THE RED DOOR TOY COMPANY WAREHOUSE. Is there a way around this? TRDTCW or say the toy company warehouse and so forth.
Or; Are popular acronyms like FBI, NASA, etc. only used because they're common? Thanks.
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I'd write "The Red Door Toy Company" once in an action line when the name's first used, Claude Gagne. After that, I'd just write "toy company" or "toy company warehouse" in action lines and scene headings. That'd save space in the script.
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Maurice Vaughan Yeah! Once is enough. Maybe not scene headings cause they're saved in smart type. I don't like using acronyms anyway. There's always something to think about when you write.
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"There's always something to think about when you write." You're right, Claude Gagne. I like to try different things and see which one works the best.
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People tend to gravitate towards three letter abbreviations or to ones that spell a word, Australian Research And Science ARAS, of course everyone just calls it AR&S (Ass when you say it).
Perhaps people would just call it Red Door.
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I bet AR&S has a lot of researching with this climate change environmental issues.
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If you include the acronym in brackets after the first mention of the company it will make it clear to the reader that this will be how it will be referred to moving forward.
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Thanks, Ewan. You see it a lot in novels, so I guess it wouldn't hurt in screenwriting.
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I'd make it as clear as possible for the reader, and not expect her/him to remember anything. Therefore: TOY COMPANY. And then TOY COMPANY -- WAREHOUSE. Or TOY COMPANY -- PARKI NG LOT.
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FYI, an abbreviation that cannot be pronounced as a word isn't an acronym, it's an initialism.
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All good answers. Thanks and it's all free from you guys. Make it as clear as possible Craig Weeden You got it.
You're welcome, Claude Gagne.