What My Outlines Look Like

The title kind of says it all here. I like to see how others approach their work and in the event that a like minded individual ever comes across this blog I thought I'd post this.

From my scrapped Chuck spec:

1. INT. DUPLEX, LIVING ROOM - DAY.

Ellie and Awesome sit on the couch discussing the trip. In the background, Chuck is in and out; loading up the truck.

2. INT. CHUCK'S ROOM - CONT.

Morgan is playing on the computer as Chuck enters to take down more luggage. He guilts Morgan into helping him carry stuff down in turn for coming along. We get exposition of why Chuck is in charge of the trip through the course of the exchange.

3. INT. BUY-MORE - LATER.

Lester and Jeff are taking note of a fuming Anna. She is obviously filled with anger and scaring customers. She finally enters the bosses office and declares that she is taking a sick day. He is wise enough not to argue.

Okay, that's a pretty standard snippet. As you can see, I like to use a slug to help me keep track of my scenes and then just write the briefest of descriptions.

I also number the scenes here (but not in my script) for the sake of keeping things under control. I generally have a pre-planned average number of scenes that I shoot for based on the show. If I get too far under or overshoot by a significant margin, I'll rework it until it's closer to a produced draft.

It should also be noted that these descriptions and the descriptions I use in my scripts are two entirely different animals. With an outline I'm not worrying about a reader's flow so much as bare bone content. Generally speaking, I'm looking more at what's going on in the scene visually at this point.

So...yeah. Anytime I'm working with someone else, or if I'm ever hired on a show - knock on wood - I'll give it more of a polish. As it stands now, this is for my eyes only (usually) so I'm allowed to be a bit of a slob.