Writing Advertising Copy

TV Script Format

Title Page All scripts should have a title page with the title of the script, Company Name and Author on three different lines and centered horizontally and vertically. The title is in all uppercase while the company and author are in upper and lower case. Contact name, address, phone number and email address should appear flush left on bottom left corner. The date can go on the bottom right corner.

Header and page numbers should appear at the top of each page like the example:

Production: Date: 1 of 1

Format should be in two columns with Video on one side, Audio on the other side.

Character names appear in all capitalized letters and underlined with a colon after the character name before the scripted dialogue.

Dialogue starts on the same line as the Character name and appears in upper case. Dialogue that continues onto a next page should contain at least two lines on the first page then continued on the next with a continuation indicator like the example:

CHARA #1 / CONT’D OVER

The following page is continued with a new cue.

Music and sound is indicated in upper and lower case.

• (PAUSE) character to pause in dialogue

• (VO or VOICE OVER) Character to speak over sound or music

• (OC or ON CAMERA) Character to be seen speaking

• (Music Up) Increase music volume

• (Music Under) Decrease music volume

• (Music Up and Out) End of a production

• (SFX or Sound Effects) Sound effects to be used designated in the script

• (SOF or Sound on Film) Sound is from an audio track from a film

• (SOT or Sound on Tape) Sound is from an audio track from a video tape or audio tape

• (SIL or Silent Film) No sound has been added

Camera shots are designated in the script in upper case. These angles are listed from smallest amount of visual information or tightest shot, to largest amount of information in the frame.

These shots are created by adjusting the lense of the camera for distance.

• (ECU or extreme...