Scott, if you follow through with the proposed series about genres (and my fingers are crossed), I hope you'll consider looking at set piece conventions for each genre, too. And a question: those fantastic monologues in Paddy Chayevky's scripts, like the iconic meltdown in Network--would you consider that a kind of drama set piece?

Shaula, I am going to do the genre series starting tomorrow with Action. Re set pieces: You raise an interesting point. Set pieces, like I would think everything else in a screenplay is scalable to the type of story being written. So if it's a BIG action movie, then the set pieces need to be BIG on action. However if it's an INTIMATE character story, then the set pieces can be things like an argument... a small, but hugely significant act... or a monologue. So the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" speech qualifies as a set piece. If you go back and watch it, you'll see, it's not just Howard pontificating. The action cuts to Max in his apartment with his family. The daughter opens the window. Lots of people have gone outside or opened windows and are screaming. There is a lightning and thunderstorm. Also cuts to Diana racing around the building checking to see what the reaction is in various TV markets. Plus, too, Howard gets up from behind his desk and starts marching toward the TV camera and there is that POV as well: Howard on TV. So even though the story is a drama, writer Chayefsky and director Lumet maximize the impact of this scene by dressing it up as a set piece. You can go here to see the entire scene. But again to your point, yes, set pieces are scalable to the type of story being written.