Proper Screenplay Format
Proper Screenplay Format
What you need to know about how to format a screenplay
You
have your beautifully written screenplay that you know is going to appeal to
all the right people. But right now it's in a state that only you can
interpret. Using a proper screenplay format will help you
communicate your best ideas in a standard, well-organized manner that will be
recognizable to anyone in the industry who picks it up.
Scene headings
Scene
headings are used when introducing a new location in the script. The screenplay
format for scene headings, or "slug lines," is that they are in all
capital letters. The name of the location comes first, followed by a hyphen
(-), and the words day or night. Scene headings
also use INT. and EXT. to describe whether
the scene takes place in the interior or exterior of the location. Scene
headings begin on the left margin.
EXT. A
PLAYGROUND - DAY
Description
A
description is a short paragraph that sets up the scene for the viewer or
reader. It introduces the setting of a scene and provides a brief description
of the character's appearance and initial actions. The description is almost
always written in an active voice in the present tense. It is important that
the actions described are actions that can be seen by the audience. Extraneous
contextual details should be communicated by the character or eliminated.
Descriptions begin on the left margin in conventional screenplay format.
For
example:
GRANT
leaves the apartment. He grabs an old worn coat from the hook and swings it
over his shoulder.
But
not…
GRANT
leaves the apartment. He grabs his favorite old coat that his grandfather left
him in his will in 1978 and swings it over his shoulder.
Dialogue
In proper
screenplay format the dialogue is indented 2.5" from the left edge of the
page, under the speaking character's name.
Character cues
Character
names are referenced in the screenplay in all capital letters when they are
first introduced, and capitals are always used in dialogue headings. Further
descriptions of what the character looks like or is doing use title case.
Character cues are placed 4.2" from the left edge of the page.
CORA
is riding a bike.
CORA
Where's my cheeseburger?
If a
character has no dialogue, their name does not need to be in capitals.
Sounds
Sounds
heard by the audience are in all caps.
An ice
cream truck CHIMES "Ice Cream Dream Melody."
Sounds
issued by individual characters are not in all caps.
CORA
(Huffs)
Pffft. I'm not chasing you.
Extensions
Extensions
are placed inside parentheses and positioned to the right of the speaker's name
to signify how the viewer hears the voice. There are two main types of
extensions:
O.S. –
off screen
V.O. –
voice over
MOM (O.S.)
(Yelling)
Cora! Dinnertime!
Parentheticals
A
description of how the character looks or talks in a specific instance is put,
in parentheses, below their name in dialogue. These should be used sparingly,
as the character's emotional state can generally be inferred from the text.
Parentheticals indicate action, attitude, and vocal emphasis. Proper screenplay
formatting can help an actor easily find these directions. These cues sit
3.0" from the left edge of the page
Font
The
guideline for regulation font in the film industry is 12-point Courier.
Complying with an industry standard makes it easier to guess the length of time
the film will take. Screenplay formatting conventions estimate one minute of
screen time per page. Most film studios will not accept scripts longer than 120
pages.
Many
of these screenplay formatting standards can be applied by an automated
formatting program, but it is important to understand and comply with these
standards when distributing your screenplay to potential buyers.
A
cleanly formatted script deserves cleanly edited prose. The editors at
Scribendi can help you fine-tune your manuscript. Our script editing services will make
sure that your screenplay is polished, free of formatting mistakes, and ready
to sell.
SCREENWRITING FORMAT
“Screenwriting began in the era of typewriters, and it’s always been
served raw.”
If you’ve read a
few screenplays, then you’ve probably noticed that they look pretty much the
same across the board. There are good reasons for such standardization (which
we’ll get into), but the big takeaway is that if you want your screenplay to
be taken seriously, then it should look like the rest of them.
There’s an old
saying I heard plenty while I was in college and doing internships: “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” If
you’re an intern, don’t show up looking like a clueless college student.
Instead, dress like whoever your superior is. Dress like the person you wish
you were. That way, people above you will be able to envision you in the role
you wish you had and likely will take you more seriously.
There’s another
saying that makes the rounds in the same circles. “Fake it ’til you make it!” This
one means that when you are in a new role or wishing that you were in a more
advanced role but actually have no idea what you’re doing, as long as you act –
on the outside – like you are where you’re supposed to be and are doing what
you’re supposed to be doing, then people will assume that that’s true, and
you’ll be more likely to succeed.
While both of
these idioms have their merits and their… well, points of ridiculousness, I do
think about both of them when I think about the novice screenwriter who has
never written a screenplay before, sitting down to write his or her first
script. You can wear whatever you want while writing, of course. But your script should look the part it wants to be playing – ie., a
script that’s taken seriously, which means a script that’s formatted properly. And
while the brand new screenwriter may not feel totally comfortable saying, “Yes,
hello, I’m a screenwriter,” if he or she has a properly-formatted screenplay to
show, then people will have a harder time dismissing it.
In the words of Stéphanie
Joalland, “Poor script formatting is the first red
flag that they’re reading the work of an amateur, even if they have a good
story to tell. Poor formatting is all the reason they need to
throw your script into the trashcan.” ??♀️
Let’s keep our
scripts out of the trashcan, shall we?
Today, we’ll nail
down the particulars of what it means to be “properly formatted”. We’ll also
talk about why the format exists in the first place, and we’ll explain how it
benefits both the reader of a screenplay and the production team of a film.
What does proper screenplay format look like?
Once upon a time,
a screenwriter had to know how many times to tab on the typewriter to align
dialogue in accordance with tradition. Thankfully, today, we have screenwriting programs to automatically account for
the technicalities of screenplay formatting! WriterDuet and CeltX are two of our favorites here at Lights Film
School, and Final Draft has long been an industry standard.
Even though the tools do a lot of the heavy lifting, it’s important to
understand why you’re doing what you’re
doing.
To start to
understand the method behind the madness, let’s take a look at an example of a
script page we whipped up. We’ll go through it piece-by-piece so that you
understand each part:
Starting from the
top and working our way down:
Fade In
The script begins
with “Fade In.” Strictly speaking, specifying the scene transition isn’t
necessary, but if you want to put “Fade In” here, that’s your prerogative. If
you do, then it should be formatted the way it is on this page.
Scene Heading
Next we see what’s
called a “scene heading”. This is very important. Every scene in your
screenplay must have a scene heading – also known as a “slug line” – at the
top. A scene heading has three major components:
·
INT. or EXT., which translates to “Interior” or
“Exterior.” This note tells us whether the scene is taking place indoors
or outdoors.
·
LOCATION: This tells us where the scene is
happening.
·
DAY or NIGHT: This tells us whether the scene
should be filmed during daylight or after the sun has gone down.
To get a scene
heading, you add 1 + 2 + 3. So for example:

…This tells us
that the scene takes place outdoors in a park during the day.
Producer Gary A.
Lowe says it’s these slug lines that he immediately takes stock of to see if a
screenplay is coming from someone who knows their stuff. In an interview
with The Backstory, asked
what the Number One Thing he looks for to decide whether or not what he’s been
handed is worthwhile, Lowe says:
“It’s the scene
headings (slug lines). When first handed the script I’ll feel the thickness and
know immediately, within 2 or 3, just how many pages it is. Next I’ll flip thru
the pages and look at the end of the slug lines, if I see SAME, MOMENTS LATER,
MORNING, EVENING etc. I know right away that the writer is an amateur and I may
be in for a boring read.
The end of the slug line should be NIGHT or DAY.
It’s all about whether it is dark or light outside. The
most offensive of these is EVENING. At 6PM in the summer it is light out, in
the winter it is dark, so what does EVENING mean? And if the end of the slug
line reads SAME (which I see often) then at some point I have to go back (a big
no no) and find out if it’s still Day or is it Night. To a new writer it may
appear to be overly redundant to have to write NIGHT or DAY at the end of every
slug line, but believe me, it is not.”
Action Description
Action description
always should be written in third-person present tense.
Character’s First Appearance
The first time a
character shows up in the script, their name should be in all caps. This
screenwriting standard helps the reader understand that this is the first time
that they’re seeing the character. Usually, their name is followed by a brief
physical description. After all, since we’re meeting this person for the first
time, we should have some idea of what they’re like!
Transition
As with “FADE IN,”
you don’t necessarily have to indicate “CUT TO,” “FADE OUT,” or another sort of
transition at the end of each scene. If you do decide to include a transition,
then the text should be right-justified. This is something that screenwriting
software magic will take care of when ordered to.
Note that,
generally speaking, transitions should be used sparingly. They typically aren’t
necessary to tell the story, so inserting them can be interpreted as “directing
from the page,” since it instructs the director and editor as to how the
transition should be handled in the end result onscreen.
Character Name Above Dialogue; Dialogue Itself
Speaker names
always appear above their dialogue, and the dialogue always should be formatted
as it is on our sample page here (another technicality that screenwriting
software will handle for you).
Subheader
A subheader can be
used when a full scene heading isn’t strictly necessary. For example, it could
make sense to do this if you’re writing a scene that happens in adjacent rooms
that you’re cutting between. Something like:

You can see a
subheader in context on our sample page, too – the scene unfolds in different
rooms but in one general place (the apartment).
Parenthetical
This is important.
Throughout my years teaching screenwriting, I’ve seen parentheticals make their
way into a lot of dialogue.
The first thing to
note here is the formatting. A parenthetical should be on its own line beneath
the name of the speaker and above the line of dialogue. The second thing to
discuss is how to go about using parentheticals.
I see these
overused especially by new writers. A parenthetical is intended to
be a very brief note about how a line should be delivered. It
can be tempting to specify one for every line – as the writer, you have an idea
in your head of how the line should be expressed, right? Well, technically,
it’s not the writer’s job to direct the actor. That’s the director’s job!
So traditionally, parentheticals are used sparingly, only
when a line of dialogue needs to be delivered in a very particular way that
contributes to the reader’s understanding of what’s happening in the scene. For
example, a whisper.
Extension
As evidenced by
our sample page, there are a few extensions you’re likely to run into:
·
O.S. means “Off Screen.”
·
O.C. means “Off Camera.”
·
V.O. means “Voice Over.”
These all indicate
that we aren’t seeing the person who’s talking, but the way in which we’re not
seeing them is somewhat different. O.S. and O.C. are very similar. They mean
that the person is physically within earshot of whatever we’re seeing, but we
aren’t watching them speak.
This is in
contrast to voiceover (V.O.), which indicates that someone is speaking but
isn’t necessarily in the scene. For example, when a narrator’s involved, or
when we “hear” a character’s thoughts while we’re watching him or her do
something onscreen.
Mores and Continueds
If dialogue
reaches the bottom of the page and there’s going to be more of it on the next
page, “MORE” is appropriate at the bottom to let the actor know that they need
to keep going. The same goes for “CONTINUED” – if a line of dialogue is broken
up by some action after which the actor resumes speaking, “CONTINUED” is a bit
of a courtesy to give them a heads up that there’s more talking to do before
you move onto the next person.
I’ve seen this
matter a lot during live readings of scripts, particularly when the people
doing the reading are seeing the script for the first time (this is really
common in screenwriting classes, workshops, table reads, and auditions).
Thankfully, Mores and Continueds are handled gracefully automatically by most
screenwriting programs.
A
script supervisor’s lined script and facing page template. Standardized format
is essential to making this happen!
Why do we use this weird screenplay format, anyway?
The screenplay
format was standardized in the 1940s when films moved from silent to sound and
the film industry began to transition out of the studio system that governed
Hollywood’s early days. Producers began to realize that
they needed continuity – an industry standard – for planning and production
purposes. Explains Jacob N. Stuart:
“In the 40’s, when
the ‘Big 6’ lost their power, those outside of the ‘gates’ could now approach
the studios, pitching their ideas and seeking funding. But in order to achieve
this, the indie producer needed a friendly and readable style of script to
convey their story. That’s when the Master Scene Script (Spec) was introduced.
It was imperative that scripts were written and formatted in a way that
everyone in the film-making process, from Executive Producers to Craft Service,
could understand and translate. Once the ‘Master Scene Script’ was ‘greenlit’,
it was then given to the director. The director would add in camera movements,
stage direction, and editorial cuts. This is where we get the ‘Shooting
Script’.
[Also,] the white space on the script allowed
producers and actors to write comments next to action and dialogue. This white
space also didn’t make the initial reading too overwhelming.”
John August elaborates, explaining that the font of
choice – Courier 12-point font – grew out of the technology of the day.
Typewriters were the norm, and their look stuck:
“Screenwriting
began in the era of typewriters, and it’s always been served raw. What the
screenwriter pulls out of the typewriter isn’t a manuscript to be sent to the
publisher – it’s the final product.
Over the years,
the tools have changed, with the advent of computers and printers and PDFs. But
we still expect scripts to look like they came out of a typewriter.
Specifically, we
want screenplays to be twelve-point Courier.
The Courier
typeface was designed in 1955 by Howard ‘Bud’ Kettler for IBM. It’s classified
as a monospaced slab serif, with each character taking up the same space and
constructed with even stroke widths. IBM deliberately chose not to seek any
copyright, trademark, or design patent protection on Courier, which is why it’s
royalty free. It was the standard typeface on IBM’s best-selling Selectric II
typewriter, and soon became the default typeface in Hollywood.
By standardizing
around one typeface set at a specific size, we can take advantage of some
rules-of-thumb.
For example, one page of screenplay (roughly,
sometimes) equals one minute of screen time. More importantly, producers can be
assured that a 119-page draft really is shorter than a 140-page draft. Unlike
college freshmen, screenwriters can’t fiddle with the font to change the page
count.”
Basically, the
standardized format of a screenplay means that anyone in
the industry can pick up a script and see how many pages it is and know its
approximate length. One page of screenplay averages out to approximately one
minute of screen time. Plus, producers, directors,
cinematographers, script supervisors –
everyone, really – can extract important, actionable information from the
script in a relatively simple and straightforward way.
Today, production
software like Studio Binder actually
works with the script document to pull key information like locations,
characters, props, costumes, etc. Lowe explains:
“With regard to
‘overall collaboration’ it’s helpful for the writer and his formatting to know
the process the script goes through once it leaves the writer’s hands and most
often the first hurdle is the budget. How much will it cost to produce?
The budget
preparer (usually a UPM or LP) first needs to determine the production
schedule, since the number of shoot days affects the budget. He/She first
breaks down the script scene by scene inputting key elements such as Character,
Night or Day, Set, Stunts, FX, Extras, Etc., on to “break down pages”, 1 page
per scene using the scheduling software. The software then generates “strips”
with information such as Set, N or D, Character, EXT or INT, and scene length
(page count). The preparer, on his monitor sees all the strips and can drag and
drop them in different places to determine the sequence of filming. The
software has a utility that will first group these strips by whatever order the
preparer wishes, i.e. alphabetically by name of set, EXT & INT etc. For
this reason the writer’s formatting has to be standard. The Scene Headings
(slug lines) need to be correct and consistent. E.G. “BILL’S HOUSE” cannot be
changed to just “HOUSE” later in the script. The writer should determine the
name of the SET with its first scene and keep it that way. This is just one
example and there are many more.
If the writer learns standard traditional
formatting from the get go then there’ll be no guessing as to what the budget
preparer needs. If the writer doesn’t use standard formatting
then the budget preparer is stuck with correcting it all. Sometimes this can
take hours. Once the schedule is completed then the budget can be done, knowing
how many shoot days there are and, how many days each actor is working.”
As someone who has
read screenplays in many capacities – as Lights Film School’s screenwriting
teacher, as a contest judge, as an assistant in a high-pressure talent
management office – I can tell you that it matters a lot to
a reader that your screenplay is both formatted correctly and easy-to-read. I
want to get completely drawn into what’s on the page. Non-standard and
inconsistent screenplay formatting, as well as typos, grammatical errors, and
other oversights, work against such immersion.
Remember that
adage, “Dress for the job you want?”
A
properly-formatted, carefully-proofread screenplay looks sharp. It communicates
that you know what you’re doing and that you respect the reader’s time. Do
that, and the reader – be they a studio executive, crew member, friend, or
someone else – will respect your work in turn!
Formatting by Typing
Screenplays were once typed on manual typewriters, and to this day their formatting is that simple. Screenplays are printed in 12-point Courier on US Letter paper. There are only six types of paragraph in a screenplay:
- Scene Heading
- Action
- Character
- Parenthetical
- Dialogue
- Transition
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