Scriptwriting Question: How is the proper way to right an action sequence?

Question

In a part of my script, there is a huge action sequence that spans across a few different settings. Little to no dialogue exists and it's mainly just a chase and a fight. The problem is that when I am done writing it, it looks like a couple huge paragraphs. Is there a proper way to write an action sequence? It just looks really bulky and I don't like it. I got the scene the way I want it to look, I just wanted to know if there was a trick to make it not seem to big? I've read that you can seperate paragraphs but I'm not sure if that's accepted or not. Thank you.

Answer 1

Break it down into paragraphs of no more than five lines, as no one wants a wall of text

"Jackson leaps from the car and rolls along the road as the car continues off the cliff and explodes into flames."

"As Jackson gets up and dusts himself off, he turns to see another car, speeding at him. He dodges out of the way and the car, because of oversteering, loses control and crashes into a tree."

"Jackson runs up to the car and see the driver, groggy from the accident. He yanks open the door, pulls the driver out and proceed to beat the stuffing out of him. The driver eventually slides down the side of the car in a heap."

"Wiping sweat from he face, Jackson looks about for any more attackers. A helicopter crests the hill behind him and starts to fire off machine gun rounds."

You get the point.

Answer 2

I agree with Stephen until he says "5 lines"... 5 Lines is way to much. You should keep it to one line of action. Like this

Jason dives behind the car.

Bullets shatter the window above his head.

He reloads his gun and peaks around the corner.

The bad guy pauses to reload his gun.

Jason pops up and shoots him in the chest.

When writing action you want the reader to zip through it as fast as the action is happening. The last thing you want is to have the person read paragraph after paragraph because it will take you out of the story and will cause the reader to scan over the words instead of being really into it.

Be SURE to keep the action simple. You said there is a huge action sequence and some people write too much about whats happening. You dont want to put things in like.

Jason dives behind the car.

He wipes the sweat from his forehead.

Bullets shatter the window above his head.

Things like the middle line are best left up to the Director. If you read a couple scripts with action in it you will notice that the scenes on the page are a lot shorter than how they appear on screen. I hope this helps and good luck with the story.

Answer 3

I am in total agreement with crackr0. Essentially, you want your writing to reflect the pacing of the scene, so for an action sequence you want lots of single line paragraphs. One action per paragraph. Short. quick. clean.

Later, when your script has room to breathe, you can put more description into the narrative. Just limit it to what you absolutely need for the scene or for later in the story (such as a clue in a mystery).

Sometimes, if you open a film with an action sequence, you'll even write it this way, and save more detailed description for when the opening sequence ends.

Answer 4

Check out the scripts at simplyscripts.com to see how to write scripts. Search King Kong by Peter Jackson and study that paper, it always helps me when writing a script.

Answer 5

WRITE (not "right") it in the present tense. Use short directions, not full sentences. Have paragraphs only two or three sentences long, changing as the action changes.