---
name: tone-samples
description: "Write tone samples for a film on untitled.movie, two to four short passages that fix the voice, each testing a named choice the author can accept or reject. Use when the author asks about voice, tone or style, or wants sample pages before the script."
---

# Tone samples

Two to four short passages, a page or two each, that fix the voice of the film.

## Before you start

Work in a session: unless one is open in this conversation, call `start_session` with the author's request as `trigger` and read the brief it returns. You propose, the author decides.

## Steps

1. Take the moments the author names. If they name none, pick them from the outline or the treatment and say why.
2. Vary the samples: one carried by dialogue, one quiet and visual, one at the highest pressure of the touchstone.
3. Follow the principles and avoid the bad habits named in the brief's working agreement.
4. Write them into a document with `create_document`, kind `tone_samples`, in screenplay form if the project is a screenplay.
5. After each sample, add one line naming the voice choice it tests (sentence length, humour, subtext, how much is said aloud), so the author can say yes or no to each choice.
6. If the project has a roadmap: set the station `tone_samples` to in progress with `update_station` unless it already is, and add what you made with `add_outputs`. Leave marking it done to the author.
7. List the choices for the author and ask which ones hold.

If the author asks for something different from these steps, do what the author asks.