I'm in the trenches with this right now. It's on an indie and I'm writer-director, but right now I'm editing my first feature, which is very music dependent. The two main characters are an indie radio DJ and a pop star. In our script, we mentioned one big pop song that was important to the story. It's mentioned in the dialogue. It needs to be played. It's not just about tone or type of song. We needed to secure the rights before we shot or find something else. One major indie band is mentioned, and we say a specific song of theirs is played in the script, but we were ready to be flexible if it had to be another song for money reasons. But again, this needed to be secured in advance. In many other cases, we referred to the tone, genre, or volume of a song. Most scripts reflect tone and mood--ultimately that's what the music is for, too. We had plenty of ideas for the rest of the music, but here's what's important: Unless you're the director, you don't know what the director's going to find fitting. If you *are* the director, you still might not know until you're in the editing room. And unless you're a music supervisor, you have no idea how the money factors in (a deep cut from the indie band cost more than the major, major pop hit). My writing partner is also serving as music supervisor, and even he has been surprised at some songs that have worked and some that haven't. Also, what if you talk about current music but the movie doesn't get made for five years? All of which is to say, the most important thing in my eyes is blue printing. If a song is integral to the script, production *has to* secure it. If a song is perfect for the script, production *should* secure it. And if it's neither of those things, I'd say write around the specifics, while still conveying the mood (e.g. "They shout their conversation over ANGRY HARDCORE PUNK MUSIC blaring from the bar's speakers.") Or to be more concise about my two cents--which are probably worth less than two cents--pick your battles. Mentioning one song is less likely to get you ignored than trying to curate the whole soundtrack on the page.

If one watched the many video segments for (500) Days of Summer, they caught the writers essentially saying "what the hell - why not?" with throwing specific songs into their script - though I don't recall seeing anything in the draft I read. They did bring up the topic though and it seems to me the Hall & Oates tune was one they were surprised they got - and they came this close (use your imagination, or better yet think of the word I used earlier today: perineum) to having Daryl and John in the movie.

Thanks Scott, and thanks Pliny, Amos, and TBBB. What I'm taking away so far is this: 1. If you're writing a spec for a story like Sister Act about performers who change an original work, where that's integral part of the story, go ahead and include the new, original lyrics. (I'd probably still say: they sing to the melody of a song like "My Guy".) And then prepare to be flexible. 2. If you're writing a story like Privilege about an imaginary band, go ahead and write your own lyrics IF THAT MOVES THE STORY FORWARD. 3. If you're writing about a story like The Commitments about a cover band, where the story requires the band actually perform, do two things: 1) in an effort not to annoy readers, write "they sing a song like X"; and 2) prepare to be flexible if one day a producer is trying to secure rights to the music for it. In the third instance (a movie like The Commitments), I don't see how you avoid getting around including at least suggestions for multiple songs, which makes me think that sort of story might be a better project for an established writer who has the credibility to get past the "amateur"-knee jerk reaction. Music was so integral to "The Full Monty": I wonder how that script handled it. Has anyone ever read the script? (I've looked for some time but haven't found a copy.)

Blues Brothers is a good example of this - the screenplay just references the song they are playing (Blues Brothers sing the "Theme From Rawhide") and then move on to the next scene. The whole screenplay is 55 pages long.

REALLY? So are there two action sequences simply written as "They're chased by the cops for 25 minutes"?

There may well be, Amos. (I have a copy of the script somewhere, but can't put my hands on it at the moment.) Keep in mind that Belushi and Ackroyd had established the characters and schtick already on Saturday Night Live. As I understand it, this was NOT a spec script: first it was decided that the act could be made into a movie by Universal Studios, and then Ackroyd and sat down to write the script. Ron Gwynne is credited as a story consultant on the film, and I don't know exactly what he did, but Ackroyd's first draft was 324 pages (he had never written a screenplay before).

Thanks, Amos, for a perspective from the front lines. How goes post?

I just checked the copy of the script I have and it is, indeed, 52 pages long. There must have been more than 52 car crashes in the actual movie, so more metallic carnage than script pages!

So far so good. I like the rough cut, but of course agonize over things no one will ever notice. It's amazing how my editor and I go through the whole movie every two or three days and still notice new things in every scene. I learned a lot about writing while shooting and am learning still more during editing.

I always have trouble with this as a writer and director, and knowing what it takes to produce a soundtrack. You can see this if you're interested http://youtu.be/4T8ckfWWg2Y I think it's pretty ridiculous for readers to dismiss song cues as a mark of being an "amateur." So you can invent the whole world of the script, characters, exotic locations, massive set pieces or big action but a writer CAN'T tell production what music he / she envisions? It's a dumb rule IMHO and disrespectful to writers. I usually have a whole soundtrack in my head when I'm writing. I resist putting cues in for the reasons stated above. I recently wrote a spec set in the rap and hip-hop world, and it's been hard to get it made for two reasons - one of the biggest - WITHOUT the music (like Eminem's movie, or 50 Cent's film) people can't grasp what it will sound like. B) A whole other problem of trying to get something made which has an all black cast.

Lately I've been hearing from a lot of TV folks who apparently now love songs referenced in scripts, so I've started dropped a few in my specs. Nayan1875 said it perfectly, it will help establish the world you're creating. And, if reading a script is supposed to mirror the experience of seeing the movie, shouldn't music be a part of that experience?

Ben, that's an example of where story trumps supposed 'rules.' Never let the fear of doing something wrong from a style perspective squash the value of doing something right from an aesthetic point-of-view. If it works and the story really needs it, feel free to do it. And if true re TV folks and love songs: This is an example of how screenplay and teleplay style is an organic thing, not rigid, ever evolving. So the very idea of 'rules' is itself artificial.