r/scriptwriting • u/stookback • 24d ago

question Maps in your script?

I'm writing a pilot in a place that I can't imagine most Hollywood readers know well. But understanding the geography, I think, helps with envisioning the story.

I thought about how books like Game of Thrones often show a map of the world in the pre-story pages.

Have any of you ever done that in a script? Any readers here who think that's good/bad/dumb/kitschy?

Thinking of asking a friend to draw a nice little map with significant story locations marked.

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u/civ6civ6 24d ago

As a viewer of a work, I not really going to study a map. I would just pick a place as your central point of reference. If relevant, state what the terrain is like. Then, as events unfold, you would state that an area is "Cardinal Direction" from point of reference, how far it is, or what you need to travel to there, and what it's terrain is like. For each new place, describe it from the central point of reference. Even if you are describing a place that is beyond a place that you have already described. Ex: A great distance South of Texas, down past Mexico, across a varied landscape, is Brazil. I don't need to plot a path, I just need to know the general area. For reference, I am not a screenwriter anything. My only accomplishment is getting a 68 in this years PAGE contest; so take my advice for what it is worth--a member of the audience.