ur-grue Scene Writer
What This Skill Does
Writes a screenplay scene in industry-standard format — slugline, action lines, and dialogue — from a scene brief and character notes, ready to drop into a draft.
When To Use This Skill
- You know what a scene needs to accomplish dramatically but are struggling to find the entry point or the specific exchange
- You need a first draft of a scene written to a specific brief before you revise it in your own voice
- You are working on an outline or beat sheet and want to test whether a scene concept holds up when rendered in actual pages
- You have multiple scenes to draft and need to move quickly through the structural spine before refining
What You Need To Provide
Required: Scene location and time of day (INT./EXT., setting, DAY/NIGHT); what must happen in the scene (the dramatic function — what changes, what is established, what is seeded); the characters present and what each one wants in this scene Optional: Character voice notes (register, verbal habits, what they will not say); where this scene falls in the story (act and beat); the preceding scene (what the audience has just seen) and following scene (where this needs to land); target length in pages; the writer's specific concerns about the scene
How the Assistant Approaches This
- Identifies the scene's dramatic function: what must change between FADE IN and FADE OUT of this scene — a relationship shift, a revelation, a decision, a new piece of information that reframes what came before
- Determines the scene's opening image (where are we, who are we watching, what is the behavioral tell that tells us where this character is emotionally without stating it) and the closing moment (the last line or action that carries the audience into the next scene)
- Writes the scene in proper screenplay format: slugline in standard form, action lines in present tense, economical and visual (what a camera would see), dialogue with each character's name centered and in caps, parentheticals only where the reading is genuinely ambiguous
- Aims for the oblique rather than the direct — characters behaving around the thing rather than at it, surface conversation running alongside subtext
Output Format
Industry-standard screenplay format throughout. Slugline (INT./EXT. LOCATION — DAY/NIGHT), action lines in present tense, character names centered in caps above dialogue, dialogue in sentence case. Parentheticals used sparingly — maximum one per character per scene unless essential. Target length: 1–3 pages (approximately 55–165 lines of formatted text) unless otherwise specified. No title, no page numbers, no header — scene text only, ready to paste into a screenplay document.
Quality Criteria
- Slugline is correctly formatted (INT./EXT., location, time of day)
- Action lines are present tense, visual, and describe only what can be seen or heard — no internal states
- Dialogue is in sentence case; character names are in caps
- The scene has a clear opening condition and a clear closing condition — something changes
- No character states their emotion, motivation, or the scene's theme directly (on-the-nose test)
- The scene is self-contained — readable without surrounding context — while clearly belonging to a larger story
Example
Input
Location: INT. SOLICITOR'S OFFICE — DAY Scene function: First meeting between Elliot and Daniel (half-brothers). Both believe the other is the obstacle. Neither is prepared to see themselves in the other person. By the end of the scene, the audience should see the resemblance even if the characters don't. Characters:
- Elliot, 42: Came here expecting a hostile stranger. Now seeing someone who could be a younger version of himself. Will not admit this. Verbal habit: asks factual questions to avoid emotional ones.
- Daniel, 28: Came here ready to fight. Not ready for Elliot to be a real person. Verbal habit: speaks formally when he's unsure of himself, drops the formality when he gets angry.
- Solicitor (Brennan), 60s: Has done this many times. Keeps things procedural. Slightly more sympathetic to Elliot but is professional enough not to show it. Story position: End of Act One. The audience knows about the second family; Elliot has known for three days. Preceding scene: Elliot sitting in his car outside the office. Following scene: Elliot calling his sister from the car park. Target length: 2 pages
Output
INT. SOLICITOR'S OFFICE — DAY
A conference table. Legal pads, water glasses. BRENNAN, 60s, sits at the head of it. He has done this before.
ELLIOT, 42, enters first. Suit, no tie. He takes the chair nearest the door without looking around for a better one.
A beat. Then DANIEL, 28, enters. He stops when he sees Elliot.
They look at each other. Both of them do a version of the same thing: take in the face, file it, look away.
BRENNAN Thank you both for coming. I know this is—
DANIEL I have representation.
BRENNAN Of course.
DANIEL I wanted you to know that before we start. I'm not coming in here without options.
BRENNAN Understood.
ELLIOT (to Daniel) How old were you when you found out.
DANIEL I'm sorry?
ELLIOT About him. When did you know?
A beat. Brennan doesn't intervene.
DANIEL I always knew. My mother told me when I was seven. Why?
ELLIOT Seven.
DANIEL Is that relevant to the estate?
ELLIOT I found out eleven days ago.
DANIEL (beat) That's not my fault.
ELLIOT I know.
Silence. Brennan opens a folder.
BRENNAN The estate comprises the property at—
DANIEL Why are you looking at me like that?
ELLIOT I'm not looking at you any particular way.
DANIEL You are. You're doing this—
He stops. Presses his mouth closed. Goes formal again.
DANIEL (CONT'D) I'd like to proceed with the valuation.
BRENNAN Of course. The property at Lakeside Road has been assessed at—
ELLIOT You look like him.
The room goes quiet. Daniel doesn't answer immediately. When he does, his voice is careful.
DANIEL So do you.
Brennan finds something in his folder that requires his full attention.
Known Limitations
- Scene-writing output reflects craft principles (subtext, behavioral action, oblique dialogue) that are associated with contemporary naturalistic drama; genre scenes with different conventions (screwball comedy, heightened thriller action, stylized genre dialogue) should specify the tone explicitly and include a brief description of the register, or the output will default to naturalistic drama
- The skill writes scenes to a brief but cannot access the full screenplay; it cannot guarantee that the scene is the right length, tone, or level of explicitness for where it falls in the specific draft — only the writer with the full document can make that judgment
- First-draft scenes are starting points; the skill is designed to give the writer a functional draft to revise in their own voice, not a finished page — expect to revise, particularly for dialogue rhythm and voice specificity