Screenwriting glossary – The Fact-Based Screenplay

New to screenwriting and need to get up to speed with the lingo? Here’s a glossary of terms you might come across on your creative journey…

Action: Description of physical movements, settings, and visual elements in a script, written in present tense.
Adaptation: A screenplay based on existing material, such as a novel, play, or real-life event.
All-is-Lost: A moment at the end of Act Two when the main character wants to give up, only to regain their resolve and head into Act Three.
Antagonist: The character or force opposing the protagonist, creating conflict (can be a person, nature, or a flaw within the main character – anything which stops them from getting what they want).
Arc: The transformation or growth of a character throughout the story.

Backstory: The history of a character or situation which is relevant to the current story but occurs prior to the narrative.
“Based on a true story”: A phrase used at the beginning of fact-based films and TV shows to suggest to the audience the drama closely mirrors the actual events.
Beat: A moment of action, emotion, or realization. In dialogue, a beat may indicate a pause.
Beat-sheet: An outlining tool which lists the main story beats.
Biopic: A biographical fact-based film which focuses on all or some of a notable person’s life.
Breakdown: An analysis of a script’s elements (scenes, props, characters, etc.) for production planning.
B-Story: Also known as a subplot, this is a secondary storyline that complements or contrasts the main plot.
B-Story Flashback: When the secondary storyline takes place in the past (often showing events from the main character’s earlier life).

Character Arc: The emotional, psychological, or moral growth of a character throughout the story.
Composite Characters: Fictional characters inserted into fact-based films and TV shows to present a certain POV.
Character Need: What the main character needs emotionally (e.g. In Rocky (1976), down-on-his-luck boxer Rocky Balboa needs to regain his self-respect).
Character Want: The main character’s concrete goal, which drives the story (e.g. Rocky wants to win his fight with heavyweight champ Apollo Creed).
Closing Image: Where we leave the main character at the end of the script (often mirrors or contradicts the opening image in some way).
Compressed Timeline: A tool which improves narrative flow by taking historical events spanning multiple years or decades and presenting them as if they happened closer together.
Concept: The basic story idea (e.g. down-on-his-luck boxer gets the chance to fight the heavyweight champ).
Conflict: Obstacles in a story which prevent the protagonist from getting what they want.
Coverage: A document created by a reader or development executive summarizing and critiquing a screenplay (created either for the writer or for the industry).
Cliffhanger: A moment of suspense at the end of a scene, act, or TV episode/season, designed to keep the audience engaged.
Climax: The final showdown between the character and the antagonist.

Denouement: A brief scene after the Act Three climax highlighting the character’s new life and/or how they’ve been changed by their journey.
Deus Ex Machina: A plot device where an unsolvable problem is suddenly resolved at the end by an unexpected intervention (best avoided in modern scripts unless used ironically or for comic effect).
Dialogue: The spoken words of characters in a script.
Docudrama: A narrative which combines elements of documentary and drama.
Draft: A version of the screenplay at a particular stage of its development.
Dramatization: The process of taking actual events and expressing them as a dramatic narrative.
Dual Dialogue: Two lines of dialogue that appear side by side in the script, indicating simultaneous speech by two characters.

Elevator Pitch: A concise, compelling summary of a screenplay idea, designed to be delivered in under a minute (ideally to an industry exec).
Exposition: Information presented in the script to explain background details, such as character history or story context.

FADE IN / FADE OUT: A transition where an image gradually appears or disappears (often used to start and end a script).
First 10: Screenplays are often judged by the strength of the first 10 pages.
Flashback: A scene or sequence set in an earlier time than the main story, usually to provide exposition, context, or insight into a character’s state-of-mind.
Foreshadowing: A narrative device that hints at events to come.

Genre: The category of the story, such as comedy, drama, thriller, or science fiction.

Hero’s Journey: A storytelling framework adopted in screenwriting which is drawn from Joseph Campbell’s book of the same name describing the stages of a hero’s mythical journey.
Hook: A compelling opening or moment designed to grab the audience’s attention.

Image System: A subtle visual element which appears throughout the script to add meaning and underline the theme (e.g. the colour red in Schindler’s List (1993)).
INT. / EXT: Scene headings in the script which tell the reader where the scene occurs, interior (inside) or exterior (outside).
Inciting Incident: The event that sets the main story in motion, often occurring in the first act (usually in the first 10 pages).
“Inspired by a true story”: A looser description of fact-based films and TV shows which tells the audience the drama departs from the actual events.
Ironic Ending: An ending which defies audience expectations in some way or one in which the character loses but really wins (*spoiler* Rocky loses the fight but wins his self-respect).

Linear Narrative: A story told in chronological order (beginning, middle, end).
Logline: A one-sentence summary of a screenplay’s premise.

MacGuffin: An object, event, or goal that drives the plot but may have little intrinsic importance (the most famous example being the falcon statuette in The Maltese Falcon (1941)).
Midpoint: A significant plot development which occurs midway through the script.
Montage: A series of short scenes or images which convey a passage of time or condensed action.
Multi-protagonist Story: A script which has more than one main character (though one tends to dominate the action).

Narration: Voiceover of a character (or narrator) describing the action from their point-of-view (e.g. Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990)). It often works as an editorial which adds colour to the story or contradicts what’s happening on screen.

Off-screen (O.S.): Dialogue spoken by a character who is present in the scene but not seen by the audience (such as an off-screen detective questioning a nervous suspect who remains in extreme close-up).
On the Nose: Dialogue or action that is overly explicit or lacks subtlety and subtext (see below).
Opening Image: The first shot or scene, which sets the tone and establishes the world of the story.

Pacing: The flow of the script, mostly referring to how effectively it moves the story along and balances dialogue heavy scenes with action.
Page Count: Feature screenplays (certainly from newer writers) are generally expected to be between 90 and 120 pages – one page = one minute of screen time.
Pilot: The first episode of a TV series which sets up the story and characters (this is what competitions and producers want to see from writers, along with the show bible – see below).
Plot: The sequence of events that make up the story.
Point-of-view (POV): Refers to which character/s perspective the story is told from.
Premise: The essential elements of the story expressed in a statement, including the concept, main conflict, story world, and stakes.
Pre-Lap: Dialogue or sound from a scene that starts at the end of the preceding scene (creating an overlapping effect).
Protagonist: The main character, typically the one who drives the story forward.
Pitch: A brief presentation of a screenplay idea, often to producers or studios.

Reader: A person who reads scripts on behalf of a studio, producer, or competition and gives them the dreaded classification: “pass”, “consider” or “recommend” (they’re sometimes called a “gatekeeper”, as they decide a script’s fate).
Resolution: The conclusion of the story where conflicts are resolved.
Reversal: A sudden and unexpected change in a character’s situation.
Rights: A catch-all term referring to who owns the right to sell a story from a legal standpoint.
Rising Action: The build-up of events leading to the story’s climax.

Scene: A unit of action in a script, typically in one location and time frame.
Set-up and Payoff: A narrative technique where an element is introduced early (set-up) and becomes significant later (payoff).
Sequence: A group of related scenes which together create a single block of action.
Short: A script for a film which is 40 pages or less (most are fewer than 20 pages)
Show Bible: The “world” of a TV show set out in detail, including character bios and relationships and the story over multiple episodes or seasons.
“Show, don’t tell”: A well-worn screenwriting adage which reminds us that we’re working in a visual medium, so should focus on showing a character doing something rather than talking about doing it.
Showrunner: The person in charge of the day-to-day running of a TV show (typically the creator/head writer)
Slugline: Also called a “scene heading”, it specifies the location and time of a scene (e.g., “INT. LIVING ROOM – DAY”).
Spec Script (film): A screenplay written speculatively, without a commission or contract.
Spec Script (TV): A writing sample from an aspiring TV writer which takes the form of an episode of a current show.
Stakes: What the main character (and maybe others) have to lose if they fail to achieve their goal.
Streamer: Refers to the streaming platforms (e.g. Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV).
Subgenre: A sub-category within a genre (e.g. political thriller or legal drama).
Subplot: See “B-story”
Subtext: Expressing underlying meaning through dialogue, action or theme, etc, without stating it directly.

Tagline: Different to the logline, this is the short, catchy slogan the marketing department comes up with to sell the produced film (e.g. “In space, no-one can hear you scream” from Alien (1979)).
Theme: The central idea or message of the story.
Three-Act Structure: The typical way films are structured, divided into three blocks of action covering: set-up, rising action, and resolution.
Treatment: An outlining tool which comprises a detailed summary of a screenplay, outlining the story, characters, and structure.
Turning Points: Sometimes called “plot points”, these are the moments at the end of Act One and Act Two where something pivotal happens to change the trajectory of the story (e.g. at the end of Act One, Rocky unexpectedly gets the chance to fight Apollo Creed).

Unreliable Narrator: A character who narrates the story but may not be who they seem.

Voiceover (V.O.): Dialogue spoken by a character who is not present in the scene.

Writer’s Room: A group of writers who work together on a single TV show.
World: Refers to where the story takes place and the “rules” of that world which define how things work there.