Hope it's okay to pose a question here. As a filmmaker, when I shoot a script (only shorts thus far), I use the script I wrote or optioned with handwritten notes on the script and a separate shot list/storyboards as a part of my "shooting binder." For me, the "spec script" is what I shoot and my notes/lists are how I shoot. So the question is: Can you highlight and explain by using examples from actual script drafts -- preferably the same script -- the differences between a spec/selling draft and a shooting draft? Maybe I'm finding the exceptions, but whenever I read a first/spec draft of a produced script versus the shooting draft of the same script, the only differences I've noticed are the scene (CONTINUED)s at the bottoms and tops of pages. Basically, I'm not seeing any substantial tech cues in the shooting drafts I've read -- I presume the Newmarket Shooting Script series are shooting scripts -- that weren't/aren't in the spec/selling drafts. Thanks.

^And scene numbers -- (CONTINUED)s and scene numbers.

Love MP XD ...Oh and their pronunciation is not that bad. Some of our crappy folk singers sound way worse than that^^

Zach, let me ask that as a reader question as others may have suggestions. It used to be pretty easy -- I'm talking about 40-70s -- because selling script and shooting script were pretty much the same thing. Check out any Hitchcock script and there it is, shot by shot, described in the script down to MEDIUM SHOT, LONG SHOT, CLOSE UP. Over time, that changed. First, the rise of the spec script. Then the reaction of directors who didn't want writers 'directing' on the page. Then the writers' response which was to strip out directing lingo and jargon, and use a variety of style techniques to do the same thing, such as Shots (Secondary Slugs) or break up paragraphs into one or two lines, each representing a shot. If you read almost any current action spec script that sells nowadays, the latter approach is what you'll see, so that may be of some help to you. But to find actual shooting scripts that have been doctored by directors? Unless you're actively involved in production, not sure how you'd obtain those. As I say, I'll post as a reader question if you'd like.

My main reason for asking was to make sure I'm not looking like a dope when the script I give the cast and crew during production is basically no different than the one they read to join the production. I've worked with actors/crew of varying experience and no one's said anything -- but I don't know if that's because they're trying to be nice or because it's in line with other films they've worked on. Another reason I asked is with awards season in full swing and studios making scripts available for anyone to read, I hear/read in forums of others complaining that they really want to read MOVIE SCRIPT, but they're turned off (and don't read it) because it's a "shooting script" or "production draft." So I take a look at the script and, you know, actually read it, and most often, beyond scene numbers, the script looks and reads like any other script. And even with the scripts I've sold or had optioned, when I ask the directors or producers for a copy of the shooting script, I usually end up getting the exact same script (plus some of their story and character tweaks) that I turned in to them. I've yet to see any of my produced or in production/pre-production scripts have WIDE SHOT or CLOSE-UP or TRACKING added to them. When it comes down to it, I posed the question as way to confirm my suspicions that in this day and age, no matter what level or budget of filmmaking you're working with, there's really not much of a difference between a spec script and a shooting script. But since it's possible that someone out there might have examples to share, I think it'd be worthwhile presenting the question to the GITS readership. And I'm a definite fan of the Secondary Slugs and using breaks in paragraphs to indicate a perspective/shot change -- anything to help the reader see the movie better.