Action lines
지문
한국어로 읽기Action lines are everything in a script that is not dialogue: what characters do and what the camera sees, written briefly in the present tense.
Also written as: 지시문 · 행동 지문 · action · description lines · 무대 지시
Meaning
Action lines are everything in a script that is not dialogue: what a character does, their expression, what is in the room, what can be heard. They resemble narration and description in fiction but differ in two ways. They are written in the present tense (enters, looks), and they contain only what the camera can see or the microphone can hear. "She was sad" is not an action line. "Yuri closes the bankbook. Her hand stays on it a long time" is. In Korean scripts action lines sit further left than dialogue, which is indented after the character name, and HWP users separate them with the Ctrl+1 (action) / Ctrl+2 (dialogue) styles.
Why it matters
Action lines are working instructions read by the director, actors and camera crew. If they run long they go unread on set; if they explain emotion, the actor has nothing left to play. Good action conveys emotion through one act and puts one action per line. When a novel is adapted into a script, action is where the most is cut. A novel's interior narration ("he thought of his father") cannot be filmed, so it cannot be action. Instead you find the behavior that shows it (turning his father's photo face down). That is exactly what SparkLore's novel-to-script conversion does.
Example
Novel: Doyun was afraid to enter that room. He had not been back since his partner died three years ago. He hesitated at the door a long time.
Action lines:
S#31. Corridor outside the old records room, police station (N) Doyun stops at the door. Does not touch the handle. A worn nameplate on the door: "Violent Crimes Unit 2 – Kang Doyun · Park Taesu" Doyun looks at it. Raises a hand and wipes the dust off "Park Taesu." Turns the handle.
"Afraid" and "hesitated" are gone; wiping dust off the nameplate takes their place. The actor now has something to play.
Common mistakes
- Writing emotion. "Sadly", "angrily" are acting notes, not action. Convert them to behavior.
- Writing at novel length. One action per line. Past three lines, split it.
- Writing what the camera cannot film. Memories, inner thoughts and smells cannot be action. Move them into flashback, dialogue or behavior.