Some wonderful ‘envelope’ set designs unfold when you need to change the scene. If you are ambitious in your setting buy a book on set design to research if your set is feasible. If your story takes place in more than one locale, you have to be aware of the logistics of set changes. An actor can’t exit stage left and enter stage right, seconds later, if you haven’t written in the time it will take for them to accomplish a costume change.ĥ. Be aware of costume changes in your writing. Remember there will be a director who has their ideas of where he/she wants the actors to be. This is where the playwright gives the characters instructions on when and where to move. The blocking is indented, in parentheses, and directly below the character’s name. (in pencil, as blocking frequently changes)Ĥ. ![]() The actor usually ‘highlights’ their lines and writes the director’s blocking in the margins. This is a sample of an actor’s (mine) working script. One day when your play is being produced, actors will need a place to make notes in the script during rehearsal. These times and figures are debated by others but this has been my experience as an actor/director/writer.ģ. For a ten minute play your script should be from 10-15 pages. You should keep your full-length script to about 100 pages which equals 1.6 hours of stage time. Audiences are even reluctant to sit through “ The Iceman for Cometh” a classic by Eugene O’Neill. Audiences aren’t going to sit for more than one and a half hours unless you are providing a circus, a fire drill, sex, and an earthquake. So if you have a play that is 200 pages long, that won’t work. Each page represents approximately one minute of time on stage. It seems little has changed except the name.Ģ. Concord Theatricals used to be Samuel French and is still the best. Or you might want to buy a play script from a publisher. A ‘beat’ is a dramatic pause to enhance the pace of the speech and is placed in the dialogue where you wish the actor to pause for a beat or two. ![]() Blocking (action): is placed below the character’s name in parentheses. Double space between the character’s name and the first line of dialogue. Blocking (action) is indented and placed in parentheses. There is software out there that offers auto-format but I found them lacking. If you submit your new play to anyone they will not read it if it is not in the proper format. NINE TIPS TO GET YOU STARTED … and more all journals & plays available at ġ. ![]() And that led me to create the Creative Writers’ Journals and Handbooks which include ‘how to write a play’ and ‘how to create exciting characters.’ I went on to create a book of writing tips. After all, 45 play scripts ago and seventeen years earlier I began writing my first play script. So I thought what a perfect time to give my readers nine tips about writing their first stage play. I am frequently asked ‘ how can you be so prolific?’, and ‘how do you write so many plays?’ ‘where do you get your ideas?’ the ideas come to me in a little kernel of truth and I am inspired to write. Ideas have come to me in the visiting area of a state prison, a haunted lighthouse, my days in Hollywood, or listening to stories of my mother, growing up with 13 siblings ….
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