Screenwriting : Screenwriting Tip for Writing a 1st-Person POV Script by Maurice Vaughan

I'm not sure, Rebecca James. I haven't seen Forrest Gump in a long time. I know it's not a full 1st-person POV movie though.

Cloverfield and Hardcore Henry, Rebecca James.

"you could write one of these about being the lone astronaut on Stage 32. The whole world might be AI." That could actually be a movie.

love this Maurice Vaughan

Thanks, Sebastian Tudores. I was writing a 1st-person POV script a while back and realized the audience wouldn't be able to see things I put in the script.

Maurice Vaughan sooo helpful! so it’s like flashbacks, thinking about them narrating/telling a story, so a tip would be thinking about them literally like you, the writer, and no one sees us when they see the movies/films we write. so they won’t see them either.

Yes, exactly, Juliana Philippi. That's a great tip! Thanks for sharing it.

Yes, Maurice Vaughan! Hardcore Henry was so cool. Director Ilya Naishuller then did Nobody and Heads of State which are conventional perspective action movies, I love his style of action.

But back to the point... I think Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer was written with some elements of POV (while the movie wasn't in the POV) in that scene with the protagonists are scripted as "I see…" etc. The script for 2006's Doom (the video game adaptation) has the POV sequence scripted like that, "I go... I see... I shoot" etc while the rest of the script is conventional.

I used the same thing for a few flashback scenes in a sci-fi action script of a character's traumatic memory, the slug lines specifies "POV" and that short scene is written in the first person.

I think some of the people in this thread are interpreting POV differently.

Maurice is talking about literal POV, where you, the audience, is looking out the character’s eyes.

Another, looser, definition is when the story is told from one character’s POV.

I like the idea of using 1st-person POV for a character's traumatic memory, Michael Dzurak. Thanks for the idea. I think an entire Doom movie in 1st-person POV would be great!

Thanks for explaining, Mike Boas. Sorry for any confusion, everyone.

That would be terrifying, Rebecca James. And that reminds me of a script I've been outlining. I put it on the back burner.

Maurice Vaughan A DOOM movie as 1st person POV flick... yeah! Get Ilya Naishuller to do it! A spiritual successor to Hardcore Henry with kickass '90s nostalgia.

I might write a Doom x Hardcore Henry type script, Michael Dzurak.

I have included a few POV scenes in my no-budget films. A good rule of thumb is to use handheld camera, so the image shakes a little, to remind the audience that everything is seen through the eyes of a person. But one must be careful so the image doesn't shake too much.

Great tips, Göran Johansson! Thanks.

Very good to know. I’m not sure if I’ll make any of my second-person stories scripts (I’m thinking comic and prose formats are easiest for me), but I might try one day :)

I think a 2nd-person POV screenplay would be fun to write, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. Maybe challenging too.

I’m writing a script that my character has POV I did added a few follow camera as directions

since is an action feature so will let you know once I submit for feedback to see if it works or not Maurice Vaughan

Hi, Tania Ocasio. If your script is a full 1st-person POV script, you could just put a note at the start saying so. If your script is part 1st-person POV, where's what I do:

INT. HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Blah blah blah

1ST-PERSON POV: Blah blah blah

REGULAR POV: Blah blah blah

1ST-PERSON POV:

Blah blah blah

Blah blah blah

Blah blah blah

REGULAR POV:

Blah blah blah

Blah blah blah

Blah blah blah

Maurice Vaughan I wrote a second-person POV script for my play in college (it's in my loglines as "The Puppeteer" though the script is long since lost lol) and I have no clue if I did it right but it was pretty fun. My teachers all said it was weird but my dramaturg-turned-director did an excellent job, as did my actors. I've rewritten it as a short story and I feel it's more natural this way but I might rewrite it again as a short script just to see how well it flows.

I've been thinking about rewriting my OLD scripts, Banafsheh Esmailzadeh. I don't have them anymore, so I'll have to rewrite them from memory. I like your idea to rewrite scripts as short stories. Plus, movie companies are buying short stories to turn them into films. Thanks for the idea.

Maurice Vaughan No worries~ in terms of rewrites that's me with a lot of ideas I'm thinking of repurposing into scripts lol especially my social satires that I planned as novels (like Metal Garden would 100% work as a feature script, but I'd have to remove a certain joke I'm proud of that only works when you're reading it). The Puppeteer was always meant to be a short story but at the time when I shared the idea with a classmate he said it would be a really cool play so it was that first. It was meant to be told in second person with the titular Puppeteer narrating in addition to being a character so it was really tricky to write as a script lol I'm so glad my classmates understood it even when my teachers didn't (they were blown away though when they got to watch it being acted out).

First person POV in animation: Bill Plympton’s One of Those Days.

https://youtu.be/EtJTIIr5Teg?si=jyC_0ia1x3kBX3hr

Corridor Digital’s Bee POV:

https://youtu.be/OF7PnaGaeQc?si=ueSLIgpBVgc2I6xe

Thanks for the links, Mike Boas.