Script Speak

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Creator Speak that has to do specifically with TV scripts, script-writing, and production. Compare and contrast Fan-Speak and Creativity Leash.

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Script Speak:

• Act Break - Splitting up a program into segments
• Arms Up - Camera movement not as strong as boom up
• Aside Glance - Brief look at camera
• Beat - Short pause
• Blipvert - High speed montage
• Book Ends - Matching scenes at both ends of a story
• Boom Up and Over - Camera moved high over subject
• The Climax - High point of a story
• Establishing Shot - Wide shot covering an area
• Fade In - Dissolve from black
• Fade Out - Dissolve to black
• Fade to Black (see also Smash to Black) - Slow dissolve to black
• Fade to White - Slow dissolve to white instead of black
• Flyaway Shot - Slow zoom out
• Hat and Coat Shot - Closing shot of the movie
• An Insert - Close-up shot of a specific object
• Internal Reveal - Something known to the audience is now known by a character
• Iris Out - Black edges move inward toward the center of the screen
• Landing Gear Shot - Quick airplane landing shot
• Mandatory Line - Strange or quirky piece of dialog probably added for contractual reasons
• Market-Based Title - Title of a work in a foreign language is changed for marketing reasons
• "On the Next..." - Montage to encourage watching the next episode
• "Previously On..." - Montage showing scenes from one or more previous episodes
• Script Life Cycle - How a script is created
• Show Parts - The structure of a TV program
• Smash Cut - Abrupt change in the middle of a scene
• Smash to Black - Immediate cut to black, typically at a commercial break
• The Tag - Short mini-act near end of the show
• The Teaser - Short cold opening used at the beginning to establish a show
• Three Act Structure - Constructing a program to be set up and finished in three acts
• Title In - Indication that words describing something related to the scene are to appear
• Where When Who - The three primary components of scene setting

Writer Speak

• Aborted Arc
• All Just a Dream
• Backstory
• Breather Episode
• Canon
• Character Focus
• Concepts Are Cheap
• Entrance
• Exposition
• Flat Character
• Foil
• Four Lines, All Waiting
• Framing Device
• Fridge Logic
• Half Arc Season
• High Concept
• The Hollywood Formula
• In Medias Res
• Lead In
• Meanwhile Back At The
• Meanwhile Scene
• Mid-Season Upgrade
• Myth Arc
• Negative Continuity
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore
• One-Shot Character
• Opening Monologue
• Opening Scroll
• Out of Focus
• Plot Tailored to the Party
• Recurring Character
• Regular Character
• Reset Button: Examples (see also): All Just a Dream; Negative Continuity; Snap Back
• Retool
• The Reveal
• Rotating Arcs
• Script Salve
• Script Wank
• Sequel Hook
• Series Goal
• Shoo Out the Clowns
• Show, Don't Tell
• Snap Back
• Stand Alone Episode
• Status Quo Is God
• Story Arc: See also: Aborted Arc; Half Arc Season; Myth Arc; Rotating Arcs
• Subtext
• Tableau
• Take That
• Third Line, Some Waiting
• Two Lines, No Waiting: see also: Third Line, Some Waiting; Four Lines, All Waiting
• Understatement
• The Un-Reveal
• Wham! Episode
• Willing Suspension of Disbelief
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants
• You Bastard

Production Lingo

• ADR
• Audio Description
• Blue Screen or Green Screen: slang for Chroma Key
• Bottle Episode
• Closed Captioning
• Concept Art
• Episode Code Number
• Five Episode Pilot
• Fix It in Post
• Laugh Track
• Looping Lines
• Model Sheet
• MOS
• Multi Part Episode
• Precap
• Scully Box
• Shoot the Money
• The Slug
• Squib
• Storyboard
• Studio Audience
• Stunt Double: see also Talent Double
• Stock Footage
• Syndication Title
• Talent Double