Screenplay elements are what distinguish a screenplay from any other document. If the right screenplay elements are used in their correct positions, no one needs to tell someone who is a friend of the movie industry that the document he or she is holding is a screenplay.

Screenwriting is a form of visual storytelling, and these screenplay elements together would make your reader visually see the story you’re telling, so not knowing how and when to use these screenplay elements correctly would make your screenplay difficult to read and understand. In this post, you’ll be taught how to use these screenplay elements correctly so that you can visually tell your story and your screenplay won’t scream novice. There are six screenplay elements, and they are as follows:

1) Scene Heading or Slug Line.
2) Action or Action Description.
3) Character.
4) Parenthetical or Actor’s Direction.
5) Dialogue.
6) Transition.

Let’s see a photo gotten from Screencraft before the explanation begins.

SCREENPLAY ELEMENTS EXPLAINED

SCENE HEADING: A story is broken down into scenes in a screenplay, which simply means that we move from one scene to the next until the storytelling is complete. A scene heading is an instruction from the screenwriter given to everyone involved in the movie production. This instruction tells everyone “where and when” a particular scene is to be shot.

A scene heading or slug line majorly tells everyone involved in the movie production three things, and it’s the first thing that begins a scene. These three things are:

1) Where the scene is to be shot (INT. or EXT.)

2) The location and scene.

3) The time of day (day or night).

SCENE HEADING EXPLAINED

To give you a clear idea of what a scene heading or slug line looks like and how it’s used in a screenplay, we’ll be seeing some examples.

INT. CAR – DAY

The instruction from the screenwriter to everyone involved in the movie production based on the scene heading example above is that the scene should be shot inside a car during the day.

EXT. HOTEL – NIGHT

The instruction from the screenwriter to everyone involved in the movie production based on the scene heading example above is that the scene should be shot outside the hotel at night.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD SCENE HEADING

1) Capitalised: Scene headings or slug lines should only be written in capital letters. Writing a scene heading like this: “Ext. Hotel – Night” is totally wrong.

2) Clarity: Scene headings aren’t meant to confuse anyone. It should be easy to read and understand. Writing a scene heading like this: “INT. RICHARD’S HOUSE – DAY” would be confusing to the reader because he or she would be asking, “Where in Richard’s house should this scene be shot?”

As a screenwriter who wants to be seen as a professional, this is the correct way to write the scene heading: INT. RICHARD’S HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – DAY. Your reader will know straight away that you want this scene to be shot inside Richard’s living room and that it should be shot during the day.

ACTION DESCRIPTION: This is the second element of a screenplay, and as the name implies, the only thing that happens here is the description. When reading a screenplay, the action description is the next thing that follows a scene heading, and it basically describes three things. These three descriptions are:

a) Environmental Description.
b) Character Description.
c) Character’s Action Description.

ACTION DESCRIPTION EXPLAINED

1) Environmental Description: The screenwriter describes what he wants a particular character’s home, office, or wherever to look like. The environmental description isn’t always needed until the story says it is. Let’s see some examples.

a) KELVIN (30s) walks into a one-bedroom apartment with no furniture; it only has a bed that has clothes littered on it.

b) This house is a one-bedroom apartment with no furniture; it only has a bed that has clothes littered on it.

Do not describe an environment if it has nothing to do with the scene; don’t waste your reader’s time. When describing the environment, you should be careful of the things you mention because whatever you mention that can’t be gotten easily will cost money.

2) Character Description: The screenwriter tells the reader the name of his or her character(s), their age, and whatever else he or she feels is important for the reader to know about the character. The screenwriter doesn’t just write these things; there are rules when describing your characters.

RULES:

a) When you’re writing a character’s name in your action for the first time, you should write it in capital letters. For example: RICHARD,  VICTORIA, and so on.

b) The next thing that follows the name is the character’s age. You can choose to be specific (32) or not (20s).

c) The next thing that follows the age is any special information the screenwriter has to give about the character he or she is introducing.

d) Whenever you want to mention the same character name again after the first time, you shouldn’t write it in capital letters.

Example:

a) RICHARD (32), a disabled man, picks up a stone and throws it at a car.

b) VICTORIA (20s), a lady who loves touching her ears, picks up a stone and throws it at a car.

c) GEORGE (40s) picks up a stone and throws it at a car. George takes off his slippers and runs away.

From the example above, you’ll see that I’ve been able to show you how the four rules listed above work.

3) Character’s Action Description: This is where the screenwriter describes the exact thing he or she wants the character(s) to do in the scene. Let’s see some examples.

a) STANLEY (32) sits on a couch reading a book as his phone rings.

b) DIANA (20s) opens the curtain to see Richard drive into the compound.

QUALITIES OF A GOOD ACTION DESCRIPTION

Remember, the goal of this post is to make your screenplay look professional; hence, you must write it the way professionals write theirs, and the following are the qualities of a professionally written action description.

a) Present Tense: Whenever you want to describe an action, write in the present tense.

b) Third Person: Action lines are written in the third-person singular. Pronouns such as “he,” “she,” “him,” “her,” or “it” should be used.

c) Clear: It should be concise, straight to the point, and easy to read and understand.

d) Dialogue: Write dialogue where dialogue belongs; it doesn’t belong in the action.

e) Left to Right: It should be written from the left margin of the page to the right margin of the page with no indentations.

Question:
a) Why should the action line be written in the present tense?
b) Why should action lines be written in third-person singular?

Answer:
a) As a screenwriter, whenever you write a screenplay, you’re telling a story that hasn’t been produced (watched), which means your writing is still alive, but when you write in the past tense, it means the story you’re telling has already happened, so why would you spend time writing what has already happened?

b) Action lines are written in third person because, as a screenwriter, you’re a third person in the lives of your characters, which simply means you’re an outsider who is looking into the lives of your characters.

CHARACTER: A character is an imaginary person in a story. When a character’s name first appears in the action description, it should appear in capital letters (CHARLES); afterwards, it can appear in normal letters (Charles).

The character’s name to begin a dialogue is written beneath the action description, not on the left margin but at the centre of the page. The character’s name must be written in capital letters.

PARENTHETICAL: This is an instruction from the screenwriter given to the actor who is taking up the role of the character, and this instruction appears in parenthesis or brackets beneath the character name. For example: (upset), (beat), (sarcastically), and so on.

DIALOGUE: This is the conversation that goes on between the characters. Dialogues appear either beneath the character name or beneath the parenthetical.

TRANSITION: Screenwriting is a form of visual storytelling; this means that, whilst writing, you as the screenwriter should be able to see how events would unfold on screen using your mind’s eye.

In post-production, the video editor executes the transition in movies, but as a screenwriter, you can instruct the video editor on how you want the transition in your screenplay to be. Do it only when it’s necessary.

These transitions are written on the right side of the page with a colon at the end. For example: CUT TO: , BACK TO: , DISSOLVE TO: ,

Even though the “popular” six screenplay elements have been mentioned above, there’s another element called “extension.” Let’s see an image from Writers store.

EXTENSION: We write extensions next to the character’s name on the right side and put them in brackets. There can be as many extensions as possible, but the most common extensions are:

a) (V.O.): This means voice-over.
b) (O.S.) or (O.C.): This means off-screen or off-camera.

READ: Screenwriting Terms Every Screenwriter Should Master

As someone who wants to become a screenwriter, the words inciting incident even though they may seem strange now, shouldn’t be strange words to you after reading this post. This is because, for every story you intend to tell, you need the inciting incident for the story to be attention-grabbing. Including the inciting incident in your story changes the relaxed nature of your protagonist as it gives him or her a goal, which sets the story you want to tell in motion.

Have you ever watched an interesting movie without an inciting incident? No, I don’t think so. No reader wants to read a story where the protagonist’s life is smooth sailing. The challenge your protagonist faces is very important to the story you’re about to tell, and it starts with the introduction of the inciting incident. Let’s see a diagram from Research Gate.

From the Freytag Pyramid diagram above, you can see that a story remains flat until the inciting incident is introduced; that’s how powerful inciting incidents can be. You can also see from the diagram where and when to place inciting incidents in stories.

It’s important to know the perfect time to introduce your inciting incident, and this depends on the story you’re about to tell. If you don’t introduce your inciting incident at the correct time, you’ll make your audience lose interest in the story you’re about to tell as they will be asking themselves what the story is about; you wouldn’t want that. Let’s start by knowing what the words mean.

WHAT’S AN INCITING INCIDENT?

To get the concrete meaning of the words, let’s know the meaning of each word individually before combining them to see what they mean. According to the Oxford Language, to “incite” means to “stir up,” whilst an “incident” means “an event.” Thus, combining the meaning of the words means “to stir up an event.” Using the combined definition, let’s redefine an inciting incident to suit our screenwriting needs.

An inciting incident means “a stirred-up event that destabilises and gives the protagonist a goal.” This means that every event introduced in a story’s exposition should build beat by beat until the point where it blows up. From the Freytag Pyramid above, you can see where the beat-by-beat events blew up.

WHEN SHOULD IT BE INTRODUCED?

This is a question manual screenwriters ask. The reason for calling them manual screenwriters is that they seem to want a quick fix for everything. They want a drag-and-drop formula, not minding the story they’re telling. Some books, blogs, or even fellow screenwriters tell you to place it here and there, but have you looked at the story you’re telling to see if the inciting incident needs to be dropped at that time?

This is the reason why you watch some movies and notice that the screenwriter placed the inciting incident either too early or too late because he or she wants to follow a formula. Yes, formulas work for some things in screenwriting, but when it comes to placing the inciting incident in a story, the screenwriter must be connected to the story to know the right time to place it.

All that can be said about this is that it should be dropped at the end of the exposition, but there’s no fixed page to drop it. In some stories, the exposition is longer than in others. That’s the sole reason why you need to be connected with the story you’re about to tell. When you’re connected to the story, the story itself will tell you the right time to insert it.

THE WRONG INCITING INCIDENTS

These are the inciting incidents that aren’t loud enough. Even when it happens, it doesn’t destabilise the current state of the protagonist. They are the ones that occur without your reader realising it because the protagonist’s goal remains unclear. The correct inciting incident is the opposite of the previously mentioned.

EXAMPLES OF STRONG INCITING INCIDENTS IN STORIES.

1) The story of a politician’s son who falls in love with the daughter of his father’s political rival, and when he tells his father who he’s in love with, his father replies, “That will never happen.”

2) The story of a man who, after showing so much love to his wife and daughter, finds out the girl he has been calling his daughter doesn’t belong to him but to someone else.

3) A well-known pastor finds out his daughter is pregnant; he tells her to secretly abort the child, but she refuses to abort the child.

From these above-listed stories, you can see how loud the inciting incident is; you can see that the current relaxed state of the protagonist changes; and you can clearly see the goal of the protagonist. These are the kinds of inciting incidents your story should have. Whenever you wish to write a story, write a story with a very strong inciting incident.

READ: The Three Act Structure: How To Keep Your Story on Track

The foundation of any good movie or screenplay is a very good plot structure. As humans, we need our skeletons to stand upright, and so do stories, but with stories, instead of calling it a skeleton, it’s called plot structure. Inasmuch as we humans need our skeletons to stand upright, placing the leg of a skeleton where the head should be will never make us stand upright; the same thing applies to stories.

As a screenwriter whose dream is to one day write a blockbuster, you should be able to place the head of your story where it belongs and the leg of your story where it also belongs, and to do that properly, you need to use a pyramid called the Freytag Pyramid. First, let’s get to know what a plot means.

WHAT DOES A PLOT MEAN?

We’ll be looking at some dictionary definitions of the word “plot,” and at the end of those definitions, we’ll combine all the definitions to get what we need as screenwriters.

1) Oxford Languages definition: “the main events of a play, novel, film, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence.”

2) Wikipedia’s definition: “the story of a piece of fiction.”

Combining the definitions above to get what we need as screenwriters, we can say that a plot is an interrelated sequence of events that come together to form a story.

WHY DO I NEED THE FREYTAG PYRAMID?

No one will want to watch a movie or read a screenplay where everything is going well for the protagonist with no challenge, nor would someone want to watch a movie where everything is going bad for the protagonist; there needs to be a balance of both. A screenplay with a good plot structure takes the reader on a steady, high, downward, and then back to the steady journey. Gustav Freytag invented the Freytag Pyramid to help screenwriters determine where to draw the line when writing so that they don’t go too far.

The plot structure is always represented on Freytag’s pyramid. This Freytag’s pyramid has five elements, and these elements are represented in the diagram below.

From the plot structure diagram above gotten from Research gate, you can see that a plot structure has three “major” turning points and two plot points. The first turning point is also known as the inciting incident or plot point one; this is the point of twists and turns between exposition and the rising action. The second turning point is the climax. The third turning point is also known as plot point two; this is the point of twists and turns between falling action and resolution.

DIFFERENT ELEMENTS OF THE PLOT STRUCTURE

1) Exposition (the setup): This is where you’ll introduce your protagonist to your reader. You should also equip your reader with information about your protagonist so as to make your reader emotionally connected to your protagonist and the journey he or she is about to embark on.

1a) Plot point 1 or The Inciting Incident: The screenwriter becomes RUTHLESS toward the protagonist.

2) Rising Action: The protagonist’s journey has started, and nothing fantastic happens to him or her as every event that occurs makes him or her want to quit life.

3) Climax/Point of No Return: This is the height of the screenwriter’s ruthlessness, as the screenwriter gives the protagonist an escape route, that is, a chance to make a decision.

4) Falling Action: The protagonist follows the escape route of the screenwriter through the decisions he or she makes. The screenwriter gradually takes his or her foot off the ruthless accelerator.

4a) Plot point 2: This is where the screenwriter makes something miraculous happen.

5) Resolution: The point where the screenwriter ties up the loose ends he or she created.

The story you’re about to tell may have a different plot structure, but no matter how creative you want to get with your plot structure, make sure these five elements are well represented.

HOW TO USE THE FREYTAG PYRAMID

To know exactly how to use the Freytag Pyramid when it comes to plot structure, we’ll be using a typical Nollywood movie as our example. Let’s analyze a movie where a rich man who loves to give suddenly becomes poor after helping his wicked uncle in his time of need.

1) Exposition (the setup): Richard is a wealthy man who loves to help people who need help in his community.

1a) Plot point 1: Richard gives one of his uncles (his jealous uncle) money, but his jealous uncle takes his money to a native doctor to make him poor.

2) Rising Action: Richard becomes a beggar, and the people he helped whilst he was wealthy turn their back on him. His children are sent out of school; he has no money to eat; he has no money to pay hospital bills as one of his children dies; and his beloved wife becomes a problem.

3) Climax: Richard decides to become a vulcanizer of cars on a major road, not minding what people will say.

4) Falling Action: Richard still has all the problems, but at least he now has enough money to buy sachet water, bread, and groundnuts, which he couldn’t buy before.

4a) Plot Point 2: Richard’s niece enters her father‘s bedroom to sweep the floor; she sees a bottle under the bed tied with a red cloth. She takes the bottle outside and unties the red cloth. Richard’s uncle confesses and runs mad.

5) Resolution: One of the people Richard once helped in his wealthy days comes to vulcanize his car’s tire and recognises Richard; he promises to help him. Richard becomes rich. Richard’s wife apologises. Richard’s remaining children go back to school. THE END.

That’s how the plot structure works, but did you know that you can start writing your screenplay from any part of the pyramid? You can break the rules only when you understand the rules.

READ: Foreshadowing 101: What It Is and How to Use It Effectively