JaneEspenson.com

Let’s talk about underwear lines. No, that can’t be right. Here it is. Let’s talk about underlines. You have to be careful with them. Produced scripts usually don’t have a lot of them, possibly because actors don’t like them. (They’re too much like giving an actor a line reading, which actors really don’t like.)

Now, in a spec script, you don’t have to worry about actors, but you do want to look like a produced script. So you probably don’t want to throw too many underlines around all willy-nilly. Besides, underlines can tend to run away with you. Once you start selecting a few words for emphasis, you start measuring every word in the script against that standard. If I underlined “do” in that sentence, how do I not underline “am” in this sentence? (Or, to put it another way, “If I underlined ‘do‘ in that sentence, how do I not underline ‘am‘ in this sentence?”)

Here’s a little trick if you want to make sure something reads as emphasized, but you don’t want to spend an underline: eschew the contraction.

This line can be read with emphasis on the word “got” or “biggest” or “world”:

I’ve got to be the biggest fool in the world.

But this line simply must be read with emphasis on the word “got”:

I have got to be the biggest fool in the world.

Neat, huh? It’s like a sneaky way of giving the virtual actors of your spec script a virtual line reading.

Lunch: quesadilla