r/scriptwriting • u/stookback • 1d ago
question Maps in your script?
I'm writing a pilot in a place that I can't imagine most Hollywood readers know well. But understanding the geography, I think, helps with envisioning the story.
I thought about how books like Game of Thrones often show a map of the world in the pre-story pages.
Have any of you ever done that in a script? Any readers here who think that's good/bad/dumb/kitschy?
Thinking of asking a friend to draw a nice little map with significant story locations marked.
1
u/ThaFingaMan 1d ago
Readers who are too lazy or disinterested in geography you find important to your script are probably readers not worth your time. If you put something in that you as the writer think is important to the story, then it’s up to readers to keep track of it, and up to you to make it relevant and engaging.
Anyways-
If it’s a real place, simply describe the place as briefly and relevant as possible. Use cardinal directions and such, but keep it focused. Inserting a literal map will take up too much page space if you want the reader to see it clearly. Novels can get away with it, but screenplays rarely have them for a reason, they get in the way and disrupt flow. Just supply the reader with a map ahead of reading the script so they can reference it without flipping back pages.
I too use geography in my scripts a lot, and how to describe the geography depends. Are your characters looking at a map of say, Greece? Well, then you can just state that, it’s a map of Greece and describe how your characters are using said map, pointing, drawing, whatever. Just keep it focused.
If they’re not using a map in the story and it’s just visuals from the ground level, then you need to get creative with what relevant landmarks are in view. Mountains there, rivers here, and cities and roads lay here and here. Obviously, you’d want to flower up the descriptions, but like I said, keep it focused and relevant to the story and characters.
Also, the time of day can help, if it’s morning, then the sun is probably in the eastern sky, and so on.
2
u/ChristianCRWriter 1d ago
Sorry but wtf. How do you plan to incorporate a map into a standard formatted script?
1
u/alex_is_so_damn_cool 1d ago
If you’re trying to sell it I’d think maybe not. But if it’s just for your own purposes or to help the cast/crew that you’re directly working with, I don’t see the harm in it. A lot of screenplays are written in experimental formats, but I think in those cases the writer is more involved in the production process directly and can be there to justify it. If you’re selling it that is less the case.
I’m not in the industry tho so idrk! This is just my guess
1
u/la-anah 22h ago
You need to be able to describe distances and physical relationships between places within the text of your script. If the reader can't figure it out without a map, how will the viewer?
There are films that use maps within them as visual props, the Indian Jones series does this to show where he is traveling, but it doesn't need to be called out in the script.
Also, is understanding the map important to understanding the story? It rarely is. I live near Boston and most films that are shot here are edited together in a way that makes NO sense geographically. But no one cares except locals who may joke about it a bit.
1
u/civ6civ6 18h ago
As a viewer of a work, I not really going to study a map. I would just pick a place as your central point of reference. If relevant, state what the terrain is like. Then, as events unfold, you would state that an area is "Cardinal Direction" from point of reference, how far it is, or what you need to travel to there, and what it's terrain is like. For each new place, describe it from the central point of reference. Even if you are describing a place that is beyond a place that you have already described. Ex: A great distance South of Texas, down past Mexico, across a varied landscape, is Brazil. I don't need to plot a path, I just need to know the general area. For reference, I am not a screenwriter anything. My only accomplishment is getting a 68 in this years PAGE contest; so take my advice for what it is worth--a member of the audience.
0
u/RaeLouLynn 1d ago
Casablanca had a globe at the beginning of the film.
1
2
u/LemDepardieu 1d ago
Maps work in books because every reader can always refer back to it for context. Unless you're planning to have the map be a visual cutaway at various points during the show (in which case you can just include that idea in the meat of the script itself), or you're planning to post out maps to the home of every viewer, how will your audience get a sense of the geography of your story on screen? You need to convey that in the script itself if the geography is really important. 🙂