Recently, someone was asking how to start writing a script. I think they were looking for process advice, but I’m going to stick with the facetious: start with Act 1, Scene 1.
The reason I want to say that is to point out that it ain’t necessarily so. Acts and Scenes are hierarchical. The only point in act and scene headings is to distinguish them from others of the same type. Consequently:-
- If you’re writing a one-act play (one-act in terms of formatting, rather than terms of dramatic structure), then you don’t need the Act 1 heading.
- If your play has two acts, but only a single scene in each act (no changes of time or place within the acts), then you don’t need scene headings
- If Act 1 has multiple scenes, it needs scene headings. However, if Act 2 of the same play has only one scene, it does not need scene headings.
- If your play is a single scene, then you don’t need a Scene heading, because Scene 1 is only relevant if you need to distinguish it from Scene 2.
The last point may look slightly odd. Does the play just start without any headings? Possibly. However, when Lazy Bee Scripts publishes single-scene plays, we will often restate the title before the opening scene-setting direction.
