How Bending the Rules Can Make You Really Stick Out

Many amateurs are told that formatting is king, that if your script is too improperly formatted it will not go very far. This is true-- to an extent. Once you master the formatting rules, you quickly realize how restrictive they are. No doubt you have at least one or twice in your writing wished you could break out of them to better encapture what you're writing, but you fear bending the rules will destine your script to the trash can.

I'll tell you what my fourth grade classmate once told me on the playground: Rules are LAME.

I'm a reader at my uncle's production company, and let me tell you: a perfectly formatted script is just as good and a completely unformatted script. You're a writer. You're a bad boy. You are supposed to break the rules. You're just supposed to not get caught while doing it. AKA: I, the guy reading your script, am supposed to see your crime and let it go unpunished out of appreciation.

I once got a script in which the writer formed the following slugline:

INT. DAY - NIGHT

Wow. Just look at what he's communicating here. The location is "DAY," yet the time is NIGHT: something's off. When I read that, I just fucking flipped out. We ended up shelling a tiny bit of money to the author just because of that.

Another example. Screenwriters are told to never write action lines that are "unfilmable," meaning they depict something that can be understood in written language, but is impossible to visualize with a camera and audio equipment. Well one time, I was reading a script which had this action line:

In his head, Matt calculates how to get from his house to the liquor store. He gets distracted when he remembers that he has to do his laundry. Matt forgets what he was thinking about before thinking about laundry. He wonders if he should call up Georgiana. Blood rushes to his penis.

Now, NONE of the above is filmable at all; even an animated depiction of these actions would be insufficient. But I like that he had the balls to write this, especially about the blood going to the character's genital area. It's sexy language that makes me giddy.

Final example. Writers are told that unless they are 100% certain that they will be the ones directing their script, they should avoid shots and angles. Well check this out:

PAN and CUT and ZOOM and CRANE SHOT on Zelle's emerald wedding ring.

Mamma mia. 4 simultaneous camera directions? Whistle What better way is there to get my mind SEEING the wedding ring, examining it from all angles?

So, be courageous. Make bold choices in your writing and with your writing. Remember, if you have enough good formatting to make someone seriously read your script, throwing in some "bad" formatting can make them really stop and devour your words.