Screenwriting : Car chase scripting by Gav Elias

Gav Elias

Car chase scripting

I have never written a car chase into any story I have ever written. I am working on a script at the moment and need a car chase scene. Anyone got any good pointers on wriing a car chase as i have it in my head, including the details, but unsure how to best write it out. Is the normal protocoto write it out as a series of actions?

Danny Manus

Yes, just make it clear, write out each action or beat as one line. Look at scripts like Fast and Furious or Die Hard 3/5, or that Denzel/Ryan Reynolds movie last year, etc. see how they did it. build your scene full of moments - plot out each major beat of your sequence - then just write out what we see.

William Martell

Here's a blog entry that has the script pages from a film I wrote, the clip of how it looked on screen, then reasons why I wrote it as I did. http://sex-in-a-sub.blogspot.com/2013/05/script-to-screen-black-thunder-...

Roberto França

Read William Martell and others. But the thing is: action (the evil guy hit the car in the good guy)/reaction (the good get hitted but don't move)/new action (the bad guy get the gun and aim the good guy)/new reaction (the good guy stop the car when the bad guy shoot). Think about escalate conflict/running gags/sweet things/surprise/dark moment (the moment seems to be all lost/change in power (like the last battle between Neo and Smith) and so on. Read James Cameron scripts. Especially Terminator 1 and 2. See how the masters do it.

Roberto França

It depends of your budget. It depends of your intention/genre and so on. But basically, think about action/reaction.

Gav Elias

Budget is low as it is a script I am writing to flesh out an idea. However, I don't intend it to be an all out sfx type car chase, but rather a more realistic portrayal that will be prematurely ended by events. It is also the script's opening scene, but also the bit before the 'final battle' type ending as the script is going to be intertwined stories that jump back and forth.

Roberto França

In this case, you don't want them to hit right?

JC Young

When I wrote Boost, I originally was going for a lower budget in my head. There are several car sequences in it but I tried to keep the vehicle damage to a minimum. Even then, budgets will have to consider stunt drivers and background vehicles too, so at the very least avoid freeway scenes. I'm happy with how the sequences came out. The version that got optioned is posted on my profile, have a read - let me know what you think.

Gav Elias

The scene is basically someone making what seems like a getaway (but later discover it is not quite as initially thought). It is based on a quiet road on the outskirt or a city, possibly LA. The car speeds past a policeman car pulled up in a patrol bay and the cop car pulls out and chases. However, it is simply to draw in the audience, make them intrigued as to what and who he was running away from and it doesn't last long at all as it pauses before reverting into a kind of flashback that throws it into a different scene.

Gav Elias

Will have a look JC! Thanks!

Dave McCrea

Make it visceral. Use some go-to verbs like "fishtails" and "careens" as well as words like "KERRRASSHH!" and put us, the reader, behind the wheel, e.g. I would use action lines like "The lights are turning red - he has to stop! But he floors it!" ("he has to stop!" is not strictly a visual action but it conveys the energy of the moment)

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