character name - first name or surname??????

W

WhereDreamsAreBorn

Carbonite Member
Hi guys, I have an issue with character names that i would like someone to clear up for me. In my script that are about 7 or 8 characters, most of which refer to each other by their surnames.

However, there are occasional moments where they may use each others first names (instead).

Now the characters were all introduced much earlier for the first time.

But in my scene description I refer to them by their first name. (ie, David runs along the street, and by chance, bumps into his friend Daniel).

and then it will read something like....

DANIEL
Hey, Ward, i'm glad i ran into you, what you doing tonight?

DAVID
You know, i'm actually kinda busy tonight Smith. Why?

etc, etc, etc

See what i mean. Now i guess thats easy enough to understand immediately after i first introduce the characters (usinf first and surname). But 50 pages later when i refer to someone with only their first name like 'David' in the scene description (and above his own dialogue), but when other characters refer to him as 'Ward' not everyone reading will remember that WARD is DAVID. Especially as I have 7 or 8 characters alltalking to eacother in different scenes with different people. I think it would get confusing. So what should i do exactly?
 
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Why cannot you list all the characters on the very first page, like they do in theatrical plays?
 
When you introduce them originally, in the description, use their full names.

Remember, though, that a script is not a piece of literature; it's a blueprint from which you build your film, so you need to be as clear as possible so that your people understand it. You can't suddenly switch things up midway through. Pick one or the other and stick to it throughout. In your descriptions and sluglines, that is.
 
As David Jimmerson said. And if later in your script for whatever reason (spy movie where a character is undercover) DAVID is referenced as WARD by other characters, in dialogue you could have

JANE
Ward, blah blah blah.

DAVID (as WARD)
Blah blah blah.
​
so as to make it clear to the reader that DAVID and WARD are one and the same.
 
That clarifies for the reader, but what about the audience? It's much more important that the audience not be confused and be taken out of the moment as they try to figure out why someone's name is suddenly different.

If you were using last names that were distinctively last names -- like Jimerson or Bronkowski -- it would be less confusing. But Ward can be either a first or last name. It's the audience you need to be concerned about over anyone else.
 
Don't you hate those schmucks that go by their surnames...
not-tagged-smiley-13230.gif

DANIEL
Hey, Ward, i'm glad i ran into you, what you doing tonight?

DAVID
You know, i'm actually kinda busy tonight Smith. Why?
Click to expand...
Unless this particular manner of referencing each other is going to be ongoing throughout the script (IE ex-military or fraternity buddies), I simply would go with:

DANIEL
(to David)
Hey, Ward, i'm glad i ran into you, what you doing tonight?

DAVID
You know, i'm actually kinda busy tonight Smith. Why?
 
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