Screenwriting : Formatting for social media description by Robert Kelly McAllister

I assume you haven't shown a computer screen in one of your scripts as yet? The bulk of one of my shorts takes place primarily in a chat room via a screen and it's formatted as: A chatroom conversation unfolds on the monitor as unseen fingers tap on the keyboard ON THE MONITOR: “JULES14: the answers NO.” “ROBBO: ??????” “JULES14: that question U asked ages back” You'll need to write it as it appears on the screen, in other words, incorporate text talk if it's meant to be writen that way. You should also consider the fact that you'll need the rights to use existing social media in your movie. You won't be able to show a Snapchat or Twitter screen without the rights which is why you don't really see them in movies, most scripts will simply use a fictitious social media site.

There is no standard format. In fact, I don't think there's a standardized format for much in screenwriting. My new fave S32 quote: "There are no rules, only tools." - William Martell

Thanks to both of you- very helpful- working on pilot for digital series for very big production/management company- really appreciate it.

FYI, I remember watching the pilot episode of THE STRAIN and noting the relatively large number of text msgs on screen. (I know you asked specifically about social media.) On page 44 of the draft dated Oct 30, 2013, here's a sample of how they formatted a text: Eph gets the text: “R U OK DAD :(??” He smiles, exits -- Maybe try to Google a Pretty Little Liars script. They use texts with great regularity. Regardless, I think you can see how easy it is to format a text in your script, which should hopefully also inform the format of a Tweet or Snapchat.