EW Skill — Script Writing

EW Skill — Script Writing

Dependency chain. Read these in order before writing anything:

1. core/runtime-contract.md (short operating contract; does not replace the full rules)
2. core/obsidian-workspace.md (resolve storage and persistence rules)
3. core/anti-ai-rules.md (full standard)
4. core/ai_slop_commandments.md (mechanism reference and diagnostic checklist)
5. core/voice-profile.md (voice resolver; require the resolved profile's Completed: field to be exactly Yes, otherwise stop and run onboarding)
6. Any .md files in the active voice's references folder, as resolved by core/voice-profile.md

This chain applies on direct invocation (/ew:script-writing) exactly as it does on dispatch through /ew. Direct invocation skips routing, not constraints.

Also read skills/scene-structure/SKILL.md. The scene mechanics apply here, filtered through the constraints of the screen format.

For serious script work, also read skills/script-writing/craft-reference.md. It contains the mode selector and advanced craft diagnostics for feature screenplays, TV, shorts, YouTube long-form, short-form social video, video essays, and documentaries.

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WHAT THIS SKILL IS FOR

Screenplays and scripts for film, television, YouTube, video essays, documentaries, sketches, and short-form video.

First identify the output mode:

• Screenplay / TV / short film: write production-readable pages where story is seen and heard.
• YouTube / video essay / documentary: write an attention-safe script that confirms the title promise, sustains curiosity, and creates viewer satisfaction.
• Short-form social / sketch: compress setup, turn, and payoff into the smallest possible shape.

For screenplays, the format exists to communicate a story that will be realized by other people — directors, actors, cinematographers. Your job is not to write the movie. Your job is to make the movie inevitable on the page.

For YouTube and social video, the format exists to plan attention. Your job is not only to say useful things; it is to make each beat earn the next beat.

Script writing is the most constrained form of fiction writing. Every constraint is a discipline. Master the constraints before you break them.

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THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE FROM PROSE FICTION

In a novel, the writer controls everything — interiority, sensory detail, time, perspective. In a script, you control only what can be seen and heard on screen. No internal monologue. No "she felt the weight of the decision." No backstory in narration unless it's spoken aloud.

The screen test: Can this be filmed? Can a camera capture it? Can an actor perform it? If the answer to any of those is no, it cannot go on the page.

❌ "She remembered the last time she'd been here, three years ago, before everything changed." ✅ "She stops at the doorway. Looks at the space where the couch used to be. Doesn't move."

The second version is filmable. The first is not.

For YouTube and video essays, apply a related test:

The viewer-value test: Does this line help the viewer understand why they clicked, what they will get, why it matters, or why they should keep watching? If not, cut it or move it.

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FORMAT: THE RULES

Format is not bureaucracy. Correct format is the signal that you understand the medium. A script with formatting errors reads as amateur regardless of the quality of the content.

Slug lines (Scene headings):

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT
EXT. ABANDONED WAREHOUSE - DAY
INT./EXT. CAR - MOVING - DUSK

INT = interior. EXT = exterior. Location. Time of day. That's it. Do not write long descriptions in the slug line.

Action lines: Present tense. Active voice. Only what can be seen or heard. Introduce characters in ALL CAPS on first appearance. Keep action blocks to 4 lines maximum — if it runs longer, it reads slow on the page, which means it will feel slow on screen.

❌ "John walks slowly over to the window and looks out at the city that he once loved but now resents for reasons that will become clear later." ✅ "JOHN crosses to the window. The city below. He doesn't look at it for long."

Character names in dialogue blocks: Centered, ALL CAPS. First appearance only.

Parentheticals: Used sparingly — only when the reading of the line is genuinely ambiguous without direction. If the actor can figure out how to deliver the line from context, no parenthetical. Overuse of parentheticals signals the writer doesn't trust their own dialogue.

✅ "(under her breath)" when the line must be inaudible to another character ❌ "(sarcastically)" — if the sarcasm isn't on the page without the direction, rewrite the line

Page count = screen time: One page = approximately one minute of screen time. A feature film is 90–120 pages. A half-hour TV episode is 25–35 pages. Know your format and write to it.

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VISUAL WRITING

Scripts tell stories in images. The best scripts give the director specific, evocative images to work with — not instructions, images.

The visual verb: Action lines live or die on their verbs. "Walks" is not a visual. "Crosses," "drifts," "tears through," "freezes mid-step" — these are visuals. Every action line should contain at least one verb that tells the reader something about the character's emotional state without stating it.

The telling visual: Find the one image per scene that carries the scene's emotional truth. A character who straightens their tie before a difficult conversation. A child who hasn't touched their food. The object that's missing from the frame. Make that image specific and let the camera find it.

What NOT to write:

• Camera directions (CUT TO, CLOSE ON, PUSH IN) unless you are also the director. They interrupt the read and signal amateur.
• Music cues in the script body — that's the director's decision
• "We see" — the camera always sees. Redundant.
• Weather descriptions that don't affect the scene

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SUBTEXT IN DIALOGUE

All the scene-structure rules on dialogue subtext apply here, but in scripts they are even more important because there is no interiority to carry the weight.

The iceberg rule: The spoken line is 20% of the exchange. The 80% that's unspoken lives in the action line before and after the dialogue, in the silences, in what the character does while talking.

The character who pours themselves a drink while saying "I'm fine" is not fine. The character who straightens the photograph on the wall before answering a question is being careful. Write the behavior. Trust the actor and director to carry the iceberg.

Silence as dialogue:

MARCUS
I saw you.

A beat. SARAH doesn't move.

MARCUS (CONT'D)
At the restaurant.

SARAH
Which restaurant.

The beat is a line of action. It is dialogue. Use it.

Rhythm in dialogue: Spoken lines have rhythm. Read every exchange aloud. If you can't say it at speed without it feeling unnatural, it isn't right yet. Real speech is interrupted, overlapping, incomplete. Characters don't finish each other's sentences in real life — they cut across them.

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SCENE ECONOMY

Scripts have no tolerance for fat. Every scene, every line, every beat must earn its place.

The function test: Every scene must do at least one of: advance the plot, develop character, establish world, or create/escalate conflict. The best scenes do two or three simultaneously. A scene that does only one should be examined for cutting. A scene that does none gets cut.

The entry/exit rule from scene-structure applies even harder here: In prose you can afford a few setup lines. In a script, every line costs money. Enter late. Leave immediately.

The two-scene test: If two consecutive scenes convey roughly the same emotional information, one of them goes. The audience only needs to feel something once. The second time you make them feel it, you're either reinforcing or stalling. Reinforce with escalation — not repetition.

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STRUCTURE FOR SCREEN

Three-Act structure in practice:

Act One (pages 1–25 in a feature): Establish the protagonist in their ordinary world. The inciting incident — the event that makes the status quo impossible — must hit by page 12–15 at the absolute latest. By the act break (page 25–30), the protagonist must be committed to a path they cannot easily undo.

Act Two (pages 25–85): The protagonist pursues the goal. Every attempt runs into escalating opposition. The midpoint (page 55–60) is a false peak — a moment of apparent success that reveals the deeper problem. The low point (page 75–85) is the darkest moment — the protagonist has lost, or believes they have.

Act Three (pages 85–110): The protagonist overcomes — not by getting help from outside, but by integrating what they've learned. The resolution must be earned from the character's internal transformation, not from a convenient external development.

The catalyst, the choice, the consequence: Every major structural beat is a choice made by the protagonist. Passivity kills scripts. The protagonist must drive the action — not react to it, not be rescued from it, not stumble into the resolution. What does your protagonist actively choose at each act break? If you can't name the choice, the structure is broken.

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CHARACTER ON SCREEN

You cannot write "she is the kind of person who..." in a script. Character is action. The audience knows who your character is entirely from what they do and say under pressure.

Introduce characters doing something that reveals them: The first time we see a character, they should be doing something that tells us who they are. Not walking into a room. Doing something specific that only this character would do in this moment.

The want vs. the need: Every protagonist has a surface want (what they're actively pursuing) and a deep need (what they actually require to be whole). The story is the collision between these two. By the end, the protagonist must choose — and the choice must cost them something.

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TELEVISION AND SHORT-FORM VARIATIONS

Television: Each episode has its own three-act structure, but must also serve the season arc. The episode's A-story (main plot) and B-story (subplot) must intersect thematically, not just logistically. The episode ends in a different emotional place than it started — but typically not so different that the series status quo is destroyed.

Short-form (5–15 min): One scene, one conflict, one turn. The luxury of setup does not exist. Start at the conflict. One turn in the middle. Land the payoff. Every short film that fails is a feature trying to be short — not a story designed at this scale.

YouTube long-form / video essay: Title promise first. Confirm the click immediately, name the viewer's problem or curiosity, introduce a sharper angle, then structure the body around novel points, examples, rehooks, and a satisfying payoff.

Short-form social video: One hook, one idea, one turn, one payoff. Do not write a preamble.

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POST-GENERATION REVIEW

After producing any script pages, stop. Re-read core/anti-ai-rules.md Sections 1–7 with the draft in front of you. In scripts, Section 2 (sentence-level patterns) applies to action lines and Section 3 (tone patterns) applies to how scenes are framed. Fix every failure before presenting the output.

Action lines with AI phrasing read as amateur on the page. A script that passes industry format but fails the anti-AI checklist is a script a reader will put down at page 10.

PRE-DRAFT CHECKLIST

• Is every action filmable — can a camera capture it, can an actor perform it?
• If this is YouTube/social video, does the opening confirm and beat the title/premise expectation?
• Do slug lines follow the format: INT/EXT. LOCATION - TIME OF DAY?
• Are action blocks 4 lines or fewer?
• Are parentheticals used only where the reading is genuinely ambiguous?
• Is dialogue carrying subtext — and is the behavior around the dialogue written?
• Does every scene enter late and exit early?
• Does every scene do at least two functions (plot, character, world, conflict)?
• Is the inciting incident on screen by page 12–15?
• Does the protagonist make an active choice at each act break?
• For video essays or YouTube scripts, does every section answer context, application, and why-this-matters?
• Have you run the relevant sections of core/anti-ai-rules.md?
• Read every dialogue exchange aloud — does it move at speed?