Thread: Do we have to give the car's brand a character is driving in a spec script?

Hi, the title says everything.

The car's brand, model isn't relevant at all to the story. It seems to me that it's not an interesting info at this point of the project. However, in shooting scripts, the info is almost always given, and often in spec scripts.

What about, simply, this:

INT. JOE'S CAR - PARKED - DAY

Joe is waiting for someone.

Should I say if this character's car is a classy one, and that that character's car is a rusty one? Is it even necessary?

INT. JOE'S CAR - PARKED - DAY

Joe, seated in a rusty car, is waiting for someone.

Regards,

-jj.

I wouldn't worry about brands, but I do like the car description of "RUSTY." That tells us Joe drives a junker... which tells us alot about Joe. Same thing if it was covered in fast food wrappers and 6 air fresheners...

Maybe some people put in the specifics if maybe they really envision THAT car... or they want to show they know something about cars... or they're shooting an independant film and the car specifically listed is a friend's which they're going to use for the shoot .

So, yeah, rusty is good... but make and models aren't too necessary unless the car is important to the script. (Imagine Knight Rider in a VW bug... Tee Hee...)

Smokey and the Bandit in a station wagon lol

I don't care what brand of car a person drives. To me, there are only a few "brands" anyway. Sports cars (you could say Ferrari, Porche, Lamborghini or something like that, but it's not interesting it it's a Ferrari Enzo or Ferrari F50), regular cars in decent condition average people drive and old cars average people drive (likea rusty car etc).

Like character description, the car description should only include that which is necessary for the story.

Most times, a car is just a car. Sometimes the idea that it is an expensive luxury sedan or embarassing jalopy is important. Sometimes you just want something like "late model sedan" or "offroad vehicle" or some such.