The ever present spector of FORMATTING, trying to remember all of the rules can be a big pain, and you always worry about messing something up and your script getting ditches because you made something look unprofessional, so how do you learn formatting, and what's the best way to make sure you're following all the rules? Well today lets break that down..

 

First of all, here are the basics criteria you have to follow for your page set-up before you do anything else..

 

FONT: 12-point Courier with 10 point pitch. 

PAGE SIZE: 8.5 x 11 standard printer paper, or A4. 

SCENE HEADING: 1.75 inches/4.4 cm or 19 spaces

SCENE DESCRIPTION/ACTION: 1.75 inches/4.4 cm or 19 spaces.

DIALOGUE: 2.75 inches/6.98 cm or 29 spaces.

PARANTHETICAL DIRECTION:  3.5 inches/8.89 cm or 36 spaces.

And here is a sample of some text following these criteria. So what ARE all of these things exactly, and why do they matter? 

 

The Scene Heading: That is the first line in the example, that is where you explain the setting of the scene. It will always begin with either INT. or EXT. for Interior and Exterior. The name of the place (Suburban Bedroom, Grassy Field, Hospital Operating Room, etc.), and then what time of the day it is. This is primarily so that the people who have to set up the lighting and build the sets know what they have to be doing, but ALSO for organizational purposes, so you can break down all the scenes by location, and film all the same things in all the same places. So for instance all the scenes that take place in the main characters bedroom can possibly be filmed in a row, so you don't waste time moving between locations. It's important for setting the scene, and for keeping things organized. 

The Scene Description: This is the next line, this describes both what is happening during the scene, AND what the scene is like. So instead of saying EXT. SUNNY GRASSY FIELD - DAY, you would just say EXT. GRASSY FIELD - DAY and describe it as sunny there. You describe what the characters are doing and where they are, in my example, the main character Dave is digging a hole. When a speaking character is mentioned in the Scene Description for the first time, put their name in all caps. If a character doesn't have a speaking role you don't have to introduce them, like if your character bumps into someone on the street and gets knocked over, you don't have to give that character a name in the description it can just be "man" or "woman" or whoever. Important sounds should also be capitalized. Also, consideration, for spec scripts and drafts keep camera directions out, that is between the Director and the DP. If you're the Director and you're doing a shooting script for yourself, throw all of them that you want in there, but they are usually not included (if at all), until later, or unless the director wrote the script. 

 

CHARACTER'S NAME:  Put that characters name in all caps in the center of the page. Do this for each character before they speak.

 

DIALOGUE:  This is where you type the character's dialogue.

 

DIRECTION:  When you want to make a character do something specific, or say something in a particular way put it in paranthetical direction, for the second one, put the direction between the name and the dialogue so like... 

 

DAVE

(yelling)

GIVE ME THE REMOTE! 

 

You can also use it to make a character keep talking over an interruption or pause like... 

 

DAVE

(whispering)

Hey, what time is it? 

 

PETE

Umm.. 12:3-

DAVE (CONT'D) 

(whispering)

Because I really need to get out of here. 

 

It can also be used to continue dialogue between actions. 

 

DAVE

Stay away from my cat!

 

Dave swings the baseball bat, cracking it upside the Closet Troll's head.

 

DAVE (CONT'D)

NO ONE TOUCHES MY PETS AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!  

 

And that is all you really need to know to get started with formatting your script, get the right font, and get it in these formats, and you'll have something that'll (most of the time), be totally professional looking under most circumstances. Something that I find that REALLY helps is to read professional scripts, and just see and remember how they do it! Looks at how professional scripts are formatted are one of the best ways to learn, if the way they formatted their script worked for them, obviously it'll work for you. 

 

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