Site Transcript Notes 

Assorted Format Issues

I use HTML files instead of text files because then a part of a word can be italicized for emphasis without making the reading awkward (e.g. demanding as opposed to de*mand*ing, de_mand_ing, or even *demanding* or _demanding_).


Italics in a character's speech means emphasis, bold italic means extra emphasis (often it's so emphasized that you hear a stressed out vibration in the voice). Of course, these distinctions are subjective at times.

For lack of knowing of an established way to do this, ".." denotes a speech said in a lingering or musing way. When it's at the end of a speech, the respondent appropriately lingers before replying. This is the approximate opposite of "--", which is a speaker saying something (usually with some conviction) and being interrupted at just that point. Within speech, "--" is sometimes a person being nervous at the start or throughout; they keep trying for another stab at it (e.g. "Well I--I had to--Well, wait a minute!)

Pauses. A longer linger before a speech (the pause is longer than the pace of the conversation demands, you know they're thinking or shifting to something weighty, or are distracted by something else) is denoted by "[pause]." Pauses within a speech are usually denoted by a new line, or a new paragraph, unless I used ".." --and, again, these things can be subjective.
Example:
MAX
[absently flipping TV stations] Trash.
Trash.
I just didn't know what to say..
LIL
Yeah. I know what you mean.. I thought things would fix themselves.
Well, maybe we better go. But in case--
MAX
[absent-mindedly dropped the remote into the dip] Oh!
Such pauses probably weren't all in the original script but since I could note it, you may as well know how the story played. I note what I can. Thus the improvised notation on pauses/lingers.

Obviously, I don't use a straight script format. As a lay person (and for transcripts that are, after all, basically for recreational reading), I find the all caps (e.g. "DAY"), abbreviations (e.g. "INT."), and double-spacing all to be distracting. Just let me enjoy the story! I assume others feel the same way. However, I do use all caps to set up who's in the scene, and to identify who's speaking a line.

I did note my deduced camera positions, movements, and distances in two transcripts: a drama and a comedy.

More notes: I don't center the name of the speaker, and don't double-space the speaker's lines. But those are also partly space considerations. The bytes for centering are saved. I want to keep my pages small. For the same reason, there are only a few small graphics.



Saving Paper
Some of my transcripts can run to 48 pages when you print. I note the number of pages my printout took in the full-length transcripts. If you want to save paper, you may want to:

• re-use the other side for another transcript,
  
• and/or resize the text via your preferences,
  
• or turn off images (which seems to tend to make the printer use smaller text).


Each transcript on one Web page
I find it annoying when people split things into several pages. A transcript on one page lets you start reading even as the rest of it is loading and there are no annoying breaks in reading. A transcript on a single page lets you readily print the entire transcript, not to find out later on that you don't have the entire thing. Finally, a transcript on one page lets you easily search the entire transcript using the browser's find function.

 
Credits
I try to get the names of the writers. I don't note the producers, creators, and such because I'm not describing the premise and regular characters of the programs. I assume you are familiar with the programs you read. If you aren't, just watch the program. Also, there are Web pages for most if not all of these programs.


I usually give the cast credits. As you'll see in the notes, I tend to include whatever nuances and pace are there. That may be a matter of the actor doing things that weren't in the script. Of course, maybe the director told them to vary from the script (how should I know, so I've started including the director credit).


Transcripts: How To

About this Site

Suzanne Morine


This fan site is for curiosity and fun and is not intended to infringe on any copyright nor to encourage such.
Last Update: 11 August 2001