I’m currently finishing a short period piece that contains a scene with an ambush between enemy companies. I’m incredibly lost with how to go about writing it. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be written in detail or not. Choreography won’t happen until the script is locked so we don’t know what the characters will be doing specifically.
If someone can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated!
Great question, Sarah!
When it comes to an action fight scene or battle typically it's best to stick with just the highlights. Brief moments really paint the overall scene and allow the fight coordinator to do the rest when it comes to shooting. You can go totally minimal which is what George Lucas would do (i.e. these two characters fight) or my preferred method which is to expand it just a bit as was done in first fight scene between Bane and Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. Go to Page 85 for a nice example on that page. You can find that script and several others in our Screenplay Library but I have added it here as well for convenience. Just be careful not to go too overboard with your fight scene descriptions. You definitely don't want to do a play-by-play. Less is more.
-Geoffrey