This has been such a helpful forum so far, so I'm hoping you guys can help me out. I know parenthetical directions on how a line is to be spoken are frowned on, but what about indicating emphases within a line? Is that okay occasionally or another thing to be avoided?

If it's sort of okay, how do you indicate it in the formatting? I've been using italics, like:

Nice-but-incompetent-one: I'll help!
Leader glares at competent-but-unhelpful-one.
Leader: Thank you for volunteering, but I think I'd better do it.

(sigh) clearly html formatting eludes me. I meant to only italicize "you" in the above example.

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As long as we draw breath, there'll be some things worse than death.

Anything is OK occasionally, it's when it becomes the norm that directors and actors tend to go frosty on it.

I've seen all the standard empahses, bold, italics, and underlines in scripts I've read.

If you're still having trouble with html formatting, put the < then / then the i then another > (let's hope that shows on the post and doesn't format) at the end of the italics (after the you in your example)

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SF08: Gethsemane - Thriller
SF08: Shooting - Comedy

Good luck to you all.

In the final script, the emphasis will be italicized (most of the time), but I've heard when submitting novels you should underline instead of using italics (it's easier to see; it also helps you, the writer, see how many times you've added emphasis, and can let you know if you've done it too much. It helps me out a lot!)

I agree with Manchester - you can do it, just don't do it too often. Trust that your words will convey the meaning clearly enough where the actor and director will know how you want the line read. (I think it's fine in the above example.)

:)

Criss, la Reina
www.crisswrites.com
www.xanga.com/reinacristina