A Film's First Page
This scene, from Senaryo Okulu's Workshop Film, was written to show the techniques you've learned.
Scene
FADE IN:
EXT. TOWN SQUARE - MORNING
An empty Anatolian town square. Shutters down.
A crackly announcement rises from a municipal
loudspeaker; the words can't be made out.
In a corner of the square, a single shop's shutter is
HALF open: "BUTCHER CEMAL - SINCE 1974"
INT. BUTCHER'S SHOP - MORNING
Dim. Clean. Empty.
CEMAL (60s, big hands spotless) stands behind the
counter. In front of him, a single leg of lamb. He
picks up the knife, sharpens it once, looks — puts it
back.
He walks to the window. Straightens the A4 sheet on
the glass:
"FRESH LAMB IN"
The sheet isn't crooked. He straightens it anyway.
Outside, the SOUND OF A TRUCK. Cemal lifts his head.
Across the glass, at the far end of the square: the
skeleton of a giant sign, its tarpaulin just taken
down. On it, a single word can be read:
"OPENING SOON"
Cemal looks for a while. Then he turns back to the
counter, picks up the leg, carries it to the cold
room.
CEMAL
(to no one)
It's Tuesday. There's never
any business on Tuesdays.
The cold room door CLOSES.
Margin notes — craft
- “EXT. TOWN SQUARE - MORNING” 1.3 Slug line — Three parts: WHERE (int/ext) — PLACE — WHEN. Not a camera, an address. Every scene opens with one.
- “the words can't be made out” 1.4 Action line — Only what's SEEN and HEARD is written. If the content of the announcement doesn't matter, the screenwriter doesn't write it — the page is a contract with the screen.
- “CEMAL (60s, big hands spotless)” 1.3 + 1.1 — On first appearance a character gets CAPITALS + age + one visual detail. Not "he was a meticulous and proud man" — his hands tell it.
- “The sheet isn't crooked. He straightens it anyway.” 1.1 Behaviour — A whole character in two short sentences: a need for control, unease, love for his shop. Zero adjectives, full of information.
- “OPENING SOON” 1.4 + visual storytelling — The film's conflict came in on a one-word sign. Nobody said "a competitor is coming" — the square did.
- “(to no one)” 1.5 Parenthetical — A direction under the dialogue, kept short and used sparingly — here it makes clear who the line is said to (himself).
- “It's Tuesday. There's never any business on Tuesdays.” Glossary/Subtext — The first line, and the character is lying to himself. What's said: the calendar. What's meant: fear. The film's whole journey is inside this sentence.
Sample Scenes — more from this shelf
How do you write a screenplay page?
The lessons for this topic are in Chapter 1 · Screenwriting Fundamentals — The language of the screenplay page: format, action line, present tense.