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Theatre Arts for Advanced Secondary Schools

Character(s)
Every screenplay is about a character in a particular situation doing all they
could to overcome obstacles and win or accomplish something very important.
Every character is given a name by the scriptwriter. Naming the character is an
important aspect of scriptwriting because the choice of the name of a character
FOR ONLINE READING ONLY
may influence memorability and believability of the character. The names that the
scriptwriter chooses require revealing something about characters and should be
of significance to the story and they should reflect major traits of characters. All
names of characters are indented at the centre before parentheses and dialogues.

Parentheticals
Parentheticals clarify an attitude or interpretation, manner of action and reaction.
In scriptwriting, they are used to provide additional information about how a line
of dialogue should be delivered by the actor. Moreover, parenthetical is used to
convey character’s actions or reactions while speaking. They are typically placed
within parentheses directly beneath to the character’s name. They are usually
short, written in present participle tense; and every verb should end with “ing”.
Parentheticals are named so because they are written in parentheses between the
character’s name and dialogue, or within the dialogue itself, depending on how
they are used. Scriptwriting software such as Final draft has a shortcut that will
automatically place them in the proper format. But for those using a standard
word processor such as Microsoft Word or Pages, parentheticals should be three
inches to the left and three-and-a-half inches to the right. Parentheticals appear
in different types, namely emotional, physical, line delivery, pacing, and scene
clarity. When writing scripts, three different aspects of parentheticals should be
considered.

Emotions: These are used to convey emotions of characters. The following is
an example of emotional direction parenthetical, where the word “trembling”

indicates emotional direction.

Joel
(Trembling)

How would you hide that information for so long?
What else do I have to know?

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THEATRE ART F5 fnl.indd 42 28/06/2024 15:04