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Purty please with sugar on it.

I'm writing a fantabulous script that has subtitles. I'm new to this. The info I've gotten so far says to *mention* the use of subtitles (how how how) and then to put a parenthesis around the dialogue.

And I don't want to confuse the reader, there may be two languages. Should I clarify this by possibly doing this:

FADE IN:

SUPER: SO AND SO CITY - DATE

This is a script using subtitles, the languages being _____ and _______.

Or should I just say:

This script has subtitles.

And then the dialogue portion as this:

JONATHAN (ITALIAN) (The child. Get a blanket.)

ANNA (FRENCH) (There is none.)

Does this look all proper and so on. TIA Any help on this will be greatly appreciated.

PS I know this example looks confusing, but there may be a few times where 2 languages will be in the same scene.

Sue,

None of the above. Just write:

INT. ROOM - DAY

Michelle and Jacques are talking in FRENCH.

MICHELLE Hi, Jacques.

JACQUES Hi. How are you?

Their American friend Peter enters the room and the French couple greet him in ENGLISH.

JACQUES Peter. What's up?

PETER Hey, man, just chillin'

End of lecture. The best thing to do whenever you finish a script is to send your draft to Barb Doyen (bscreen2000@yahoo.com). For $50 dollars, Barb will nail the fundamentals of screenwriting for you. You can find more info on her on this site.

Hi Frank, Thanks for the info!

I've been working more on this particular script and the language dilemna.

And I want to get Barb to read this one when I get it finished. Thanks again.

Sue -

Frank's suggestion is correct. Another (and, possibly simpler) way would be:

JONATHAN

(IN ITALIAN)

'ITALIAN' should be underlined - and whenever a word is spoken in a language other than English, it should be underlined, too.

So, if one character speaks French note that in parenthesis and underlined immediately below the character's name, as you would with personal direction. Do the same for other characters in the scene, if they speak anything other than English. And, if you want to, note that there is to be a sub-title of what they are saying.

Here's a question- if you have a character speaking Italian, why wouldn't you have the actual dialogue in Italian? Then have the notation of English Subtitles.

I recently submitted a script with some German in it and had to do that. Believe me, they appreciated it.

Someone is going to have to do translating, it should be the writer...don't ya think?

Steve

One reason is that the reader might not understand Italian, and since you are noting that the dialogue will have sub-titles, the writer wouldn't, in addition to the dialogue, also write out the content of the sub-title. It just makes for a simpler, cleaner page, and read. But, feel free to write it any way you choose, because there is no fast, set rule. As with all format issues, the important thing is to be clear, clean, lean and fast - and to make the page look like a script is expected to, generally, look.

Or maybe this:

Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.

I've seen this before. Still, it helps to know the language you're portraying...

Richard:

Your comment:

'Or maybe this: Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.'

To write it that way implies that both the dialogue and sub-titles are to be in Spanish. Is the film intended to be for an audience of Spanish-speaking persons? If so, the direction is right on; if not, it might be confusing for the reader, and in any event the direction further assumes that the reader understands Spanish.

Some years ago I had a similar situation and resolved it this way:

PETRIE

Richard:

Your comment:

'Or maybe this: Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.'

To write it that way implies that both the dialogue and sub-titles are to be in Spanish. Is the film intended to be for an audience of Spanish-speaking persons? If so, the direction is right on; if not, it might be confusing for the reader, and in any event the direction further assumes that the reader understands Spanish.

Some years ago I had a similar situation and resolved it this way:

PETRIE

Richard:

Your comment:

'Or maybe this: Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.'

To write it that way implies that both the dialogue and sub-titles are to be in Spanish. Is the film intended to be for an audience of Spanish-speaking persons? If so, the direction is right on; if not, it might be confusing for the reader, and in any event the direction further assumes that the reader understands Spanish.

Some years ago I had a similar situation and resolved it this way:

PETRIE

Richard:

Your comment:

'Or maybe this: Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.'

To write it that way implies that both the dialogue and sub-titles are to be in Spanish. Is the film intended to be for an audience of Spanish-speaking persons? If so, the direction is right on; if not, it might be confusing for the reader, and in any event the direction further assumes that the reader understands Spanish.

Some years ago I had a similar situation and resolved it this way:

PETRIE

Richard:

Your comment:

'Or maybe this: Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.'

To write it that way implies that both the dialogue and sub-titles are to be in Spanish. Is the film intended to be for an audience of Spanish-speaking persons? If so, the direction is right on; if not, it might be confusing for the reader, and in any event the direction further assumes that the reader understands Spanish.

Some years ago I had a similar situation and resolved it this way:

PETRIE

Richard:

Your comment:

'Or maybe this: Joe (In Spanish w/subtitles) Hello, friend.'

To write it that way implies that both the dialogue and sub-titles are to be in Spanish. Is the film intended to be for an audience of Spanish-speaking persons? If so, the direction is right on; if not, it might be confusing for the reader, and in any event the direction further assumes that the reader understands Spanish.

Some years ago I had a similar situation and resolved it this way:

PETRIE

Something went haywire. The example is as follows:

PETRIE

I understand you aren't a friend.

She heads for the door.

PETRIE (CON'T)

Ayn L'cha baytzim' (The Hebrew should be underlined)

ENGLISH SUBTITLE: "You have no balls."

In my opinion, underlining entire blocks of dialog can slow down the read. My rep's and critiquer's general consensus is to merely put (in Italian) or (in whatever language) under the speaker's name. It gets the point across without slowing the pace.

This is particularly important for action packed scenes where you can't afford the distraction.

I've written two scripts with subtitles without negative feedback concerning this issue.

Aloha

Eric, Thanks. Okay----all (ALL) of the dialogue will be a foreign language. Should I put every dialgoue this way?

Actually I was referring to short sections of dialog. If it's the entire script, I'd simply mention it in the narrative.

Thanks---I'm glad you said that---I did mention it at the beginning of the script and hopefully any readers will understand.

You're damn skippy, Ellum.

Or what I meant to say was...

Rich (In Spanish w/English subtitles) You're damn skippy, Ellum.

Jeez...where's my head?

Don't answer that Ellum.