Two very quick script-writing Qs (technical)

[TheJasperCo]

Firstly, how do you write it when someone interrupts another person? I'm using two hyphens (--) for clarity, but know that this is probably a no--no.

E.G.

Person A

I told him it's none of his business, but he kept sticking his--

Person B

--I knew you never liked him! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?

Also, can you use italics in dialogue (very occasionally) for emphasis? In the same way that capitals are used by some writers to highlight key sounds in the stage directions.

E.G. from above

Person B

--I knew you never liked him! Why did you never tell me straight?

 

[Filman]

I do it like this:

Person A
I told him it's none of his business, but he kept sticking his-...

Person B
I knew you never liked him! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?

 

[maz]

The two hyphens (the em dash) is used for interrupted dialogue, while the ellipsis (...) is used for utterances that remain unfinished for other reasons (e.g. just tailing off, losing the train of thought, being too drunk to keep talking, falling asleep etc). I wouldn't put an em dash at the start of the interrupting dialogue though.

 

[time2focus]

For emphasis on a word you would underline it but that's something most would advise you to use sparingly or not at all as the actors should have room for interpretation.

 

[MikeWain]

Your dialogue should read:

Person A
I told him it's none of his business, but he kept sticking his --

Person B
I knew you never liked him! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?

Leave a space between the last interrupted word and the "--", and don't have a "--" on the interrupting line of dialogue.

As for italicizing your dialogue, I would avoid it, and if you have to underline words I would do it sparingly.

 

[maz]

Your dialogue should read:
Leave a space between the last interrupted word and the "--"

This is incorrect, insofar as anything can be deemed to be 'correct' in the nebulous world of global punctuation conventions. The convention is no space before the em dash.

 

[joelhall]

The two hyphens (the em dash) is used for interrupted dialogue, while the ellipsis (...) is used for utterances that remain unfinished for other reasons (e.g. just tailing off, losing the train of thought, being too drunk to keep talking, falling asleep etc). I wouldn't put an em dash at the start of the interrupting dialogue though.

Yep, this.

-- interrupted
... trails off or prevented from continuing.

You can use the em dash at the beginning of the next characters lines, but there's no point as it's already obvious from the previous character's line.