Level Up.pdf

How to Write a Screenplay in Eight Easy Steps 413
File Name Dialogue Notes
Jake_Hit_01 Ow!
Jake_Hit_02 Oomph!
Jake_Hit_03 Aarrgh!
Jake_Death_01 Yaaaaaaaah! Jake falls off cliff
Jake_Death_02 Ung! Ooooh! Jake is shot and drops to
his knees
Jake_Death_03 Not again! Uhhhhh! Alternate death take
Jake_Death_04 YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Burned to death
As you may have noticed from above, VO (that stands for voice over,
btw. And btw stands for by the way, btw) scripts have a lot of
“ YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ” and “ Oomph! ” and “ Unngh! ” in them. Voice actors
read these lines very literally so write it the way you want it to sound. There ’ s
a big difference to a voice actor between “ Arg! ” and “ Aaaargh! ” . One ’ s a
pirate and the other is a death rattle.
If you ’ re not sure how to spell a grunt, hit reaction, or death cry, I suggest
reading comic books. They ’ re filled with all sorts of onomatopoeic 6 words
like POW! CRASH! And AIIEEE!
6 That ’ s a fancy way of saying “ It ’ s spelled like it sounds. ”