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Screenwriting guide

Screenplay Examples: Annotated Script Pages

A screenplay example shows how a script page really looks: scene headings, action, character names, dialogue and transitions in industry format. Below are six short example scenes written for this page, covering an opening page, action, dialogue, a montage, a phone call and a TV cold open, with every element explained.

Written and reviewed by ScriptLix Editorial

Example 1 · Drama, feature opening

The first page of a feature

How a feature script starts: FADE IN, the first scene heading, and a character introduction.

1FADE IN:

2EXT. HIGHWAY 50 - DESERT - DAWN

3Nothing for miles. Then a tow truck, hazard lights blinking, crawling along the shoulder.

4INT. TOW TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

5JUNE OKAFOR (40s), uniform shirt buttoned wrong, drinks gas station coffee and steers with her knee. A child's drawing of a truck is taped to the dash.

The radio crackles.

6DISPATCH (V.O.)

June, you awake? Got a car off the road at mile ninety.

JUNE

7(into radio)

I'm always awake, Carl.

Written for this page as a teaching example. Not taken from a film.

  1. Opening transition. Optional, but traditional. It opens page one, before the first scene heading.
  2. Scene heading. Interior or exterior, the place, then the time of day. Every new location gets one.
  3. Action line. Present tense, only what we can see and hear. Short lines read fast.
  4. CONTINUOUS. Used instead of a time of day when the action flows straight from the last scene.
  5. Character introduction. Name in capitals the first time, age in brackets, then one detail that tells us who she is. Format guide
  6. V.O. extension. The voice comes through the radio, not from someone in the cab, so it takes V.O. Format guide
  7. Parenthetical. A short note under the name. Use it when the line could be misread without it. Format guide

Example 2 · Thriller, chase

An action heavy scene

Action that reads at the speed it plays: short paragraphs, strong verbs, one image at a time.

EXT. CONTAINER PORT - NIGHT

1Rain hammers steel. MILES (30s) sprints between stacked containers, a hard drive clutched to his chest.

2Footsteps behind him. Fast. Closer.

3He cuts left. Dead end.

A ladder on the side of a container. He climbs.

4The PURSUER, a tall woman in a dock worker's jacket, rounds the corner. Looks up.

Miles hauls himself onto the roof and runs along the top, leaping the gap to the next stack.

He lands badly. The drive skitters toward the edge.

He dives. Catches it. Fingers over the drop.

Below, the pursuer is already climbing.

5SMASH CUT TO:

6INT. MILES'S APARTMENT - LATER

Silence. Miles sits on the floor, soaked, laptop open. The drive blinks green.

Written for this page as a teaching example. Not taken from a film.

  1. Strong verbs. Hammers, sprints, skitters. A precise verb does the work of a sentence of description.
  2. Fragments for pace. Sentence fragments are allowed in action. They speed up the read when the scene is fast.
  3. One image per paragraph. Each paragraph is roughly one shot. White space tells the reader where the cuts are.
  4. Unnamed character. A role in capitals on first appearance. Name a character only if they matter later.
  5. Transition. Flush right. Saved for a cut where the contrast matters, here noise to silence. Format guide
  6. LATER. A time of day option for a jump forward within the same story day.

Example 3 · Drama, two hander

A dialogue heavy scene

Two people talking around the real subject: cues, parentheticals, (CONT’D) and subtext.

INT. HOSPITAL CAFETERIA - NIGHT

1Vending machine hum. ANA (50s) and her son DANIEL (20s) sit across a table with two untouched coffees.

2ANA

They said it went well.

DANIEL

That's good.

ANA

The doctor was very young. Did you see?

DANIEL

Mom.

ANA

3I'm only saying he was young.

4She tears a sugar packet open. Doesn't pour it.

5ANA (CONT'D)

You didn't have to come.

DANIEL

6(a beat)

I know.

He slides his coffee across to her. She takes it.

Written for this page as a teaching example. Not taken from a film.

  1. Setting the mood. One sound sets the room. You do not need to describe the whole cafeteria.
  2. Character cue. The speaker’s name in capitals, centred over the dialogue column.
  3. Subtext. Nobody says I was scared or I am angry you were gone. The feeling sits under the words.
  4. Action as reaction. A small action between lines often says more than another line of dialogue.
  5. (CONT’D). Added when the same character keeps talking after an action line interrupts them.
  6. A beat. A short pause. Use it rarely, only where the pause changes the meaning. Format guide

Example 4 · Comedy, time passing

A montage

Weeks of change in a few lines: a montage header, one beat per line, and a clear end.

INT. FAILING BAKERY - DAY

1Priya flips the sign to OPEN. Nobody comes in.

2MONTAGE - PRIYA SAVES THE BAKERY

3Priya burns a tray of croissants. The smoke alarm screams.

She hands out free samples on the sidewalk. A pigeon takes one.

4Night. She studies a library book: Pastry for Beginners.

A tray of croissants, golden this time. She almost cries.

5A line out the door. Her mother, in an apron, works the register.

6END MONTAGE

INT. BAKERY - DAY

Priya hangs a hand painted sign in the window: SOLD OUT.

Written for this page as a teaching example. Not taken from a film.

  1. Before. Show the starting state, so the end of the montage has something to change.
  2. Montage header. MONTAGE in capitals with a short label. No scene heading needed for each beat. Format guide
  3. One beat per line. Each line is one moment. Keep them short so the montage reads as fast as it plays.
  4. Place and time in the line. A word like Night carries the time jump without a new heading.
  5. The turn. Order beats so the last ones show change. Without it, a montage is only a mood.
  6. Closing the montage. On its own line, then back to normal scene headings.

Example 5 · Thriller, intercut

A phone call

Both sides of a call: set up each place once, then INTERCUT so the film can cut between them.

1INT. POLICE STATION - DESK - NIGHT

Detective RAMOS (40s) answers the phone with a sigh.

RAMOS

Ramos.

2EXT. PAYPHONE - GAS STATION - NIGHT

A teenage girl, LILY (16), hood up, watches the road.

LILY

You're the one on the news. About the missing hiker.

3INTERCUT - POLICE STATION / PAYPHONE

Ramos sits up. Grabs a pen.

RAMOS

Who is this?

LILY

I know where his car is.

4Headlights sweep across Lily. She ducks behind the booth.

LILY (CONT'D)

5(whispering)

I have to go.

RAMOS

Wait. Stay on the line.

6The line goes dead.

Written for this page as a teaching example. Not taken from a film.

  1. First location. Each side of the call gets its own full scene heading once.
  2. Second location. Set up the other end the same way, with a line that puts us there.
  3. INTERCUT. Tells the reader the film cuts between both places. No more headings needed. Format guide
  4. Locating the action. Name the character in action lines so we always know which end of the call we are on.
  5. Parenthetical for delivery. Used here because the change in volume matters to the scene.
  6. Ending the call. Close on a clear beat. A new scene heading after this ends the intercut. Format guide

Example 6 · TV drama, one hour pilot

A TV cold open

The scene before the main titles: a centred COLD OPEN label, a hook, and END OF COLD OPEN.

1COLD OPEN

2EXT. LAKE MERRITT - DAWN

3Mist on the water. A ROWER glides past, oars in perfect rhythm.

She stops rowing. Something floats ahead: a briefcase, handcuffed to nothing.

She paddles closer. Reaches for it.

4The briefcase is ticking.

ROWER

5Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

6END OF COLD OPEN

Written for this page as a teaching example. Not taken from a film.

  1. Act label. TV scripts mark their acts. The label is centred and often underlined in the final PDF.
  2. Scene heading. Formatted the same as in a feature.
  3. Fast setup. A cold open has a page or two to hook the viewer before the titles. Get to the strange thing quickly.
  4. The hook. End on a question the audience needs answered. That carries them through the titles.
  5. Tone. One line of dialogue tells us this show has a sense of humour.
  6. End label. Centred, like the opening label. Act One starts on a new page.

Read full screenplays

ScriptLix publishes its own original screenplays across genres. They are developed in house with AI tools under human direction, and a person reads and corrects each draft before it goes up. They are not produced films. The first 10 pages of every script are free to read, no signup, which is plenty to study how a whole script opens.

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For produced films, studios often release scripts during awards season, and online script archives, film school libraries and published screenplay books carry many more.

How to use it

  1. 1

    Read an example scene once for the story, then again with the numbered notes.

  2. 2

    Copy the pattern into your own scene, or paste it into the live formatter on the format guide.

  3. 3

    Then read full screenplays to see how the same elements work across a whole script.

What should I look for in a screenplay example?

Look at how little is on the page. Action lines are short and in the present tense, describing only what a camera could see or a microphone could hear. Dialogue sits in a narrow column under the speaker’s name. White space is deliberate: a reader moves faster down a page with short paragraphs.

Then look at what is missing. A good spec script rarely names camera angles, rarely uses CUT TO:, and does not explain what a character is feeling when an action can show it.

Why are these examples written for this page?

So you can study every line without copyright limits, and so each example isolates one situation that writers search for help with. They are teaching scenes, not excerpts from films. For full length structure, pacing and voice, read complete screenplays as well.

Where can I read produced screenplays?

Many studios and distributors release scripts of their films during awards season, and several online script libraries and film school archives host screenplays of produced films and TV pilots for reading. Published screenplay books are another source. Read drafts that match the format you are writing, a feature or a pilot, and remember a shooting script carries scene numbers and camera notes a spec would leave out.

How long should my scenes be?

As long as the scene needs to turn, and no longer. Most of the examples here run under a page, because each one makes a single move: a hook, a reveal, a reversal. If a scene of yours runs much longer, check whether it is really two scenes, or whether the first half could start later. The runtime calculator shows how page count turns into screen time.

Questions writers ask

What does a movie script look like?

Courier 12 point on a white page, with scene headings in capitals, action lines across the page, character names in capitals above a narrow column of dialogue, and transitions flush right.

Are the example scenes on this page from real movies?

No. Each one was written for this page as a teaching example, so every line can be explained and reused freely.

Where can I read full screenplays?

ScriptLix publishes its own original screenplays with the first 10 pages free to read. For produced films, look for studio awards season releases, published screenplay books and online script archives.

What is the difference between a spec script and a shooting script?

A spec script is written to sell or to show your writing, with no scene numbers and few camera notes. A shooting script is the production version, with scene numbers, revisions and more technical detail.

How do I format my own script like these examples?

Use screenwriting software that formats as you type, or paste your scene into the live formatter on the screenplay format guide to see it laid out.

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