/ Film Class #64 / Understanding the Screenplay Format and How to use MS Word to write Scripts /
writing·@marinauzelac·
0.000 HBD/ Film Class #64 / Understanding the Screenplay Format and How to use MS Word to write Scripts /
<html> <p><img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/53/53254a8ef5.jpeg" width="1000" height="563"/><br> <br> Most filmmakers know scripts follow a very particular format, but do they know why they do?<br> But first, for aspiring screenwriters who wants to understand the screenplay format and/or cannot afford Final Draft but has access to a word processing application like Microsoft Word, Pages, etc.<br> Let's break down how to use it.</p> <h2>The page layout and font</h2> <p>The page layout starts with the page size. You have two options:</p> <ul> <li>US Letter – 8.5” x 11” (215.9 mm x 279.4 mm)</li> <li>A4 – 8.3″ x 11.7″ (210mm x 297mm)</li> </ul> <p>As you can see, they aren’t very different, except A4 is a bit longer:<br> <br> <img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/53/531e0de9ba.jpeg" width="650" height="350"/><br> <br> The first thing you add to your page are the side margins:</p> <ul> <li>Left: 1.5″ (38.1 mm)</li> <li>Right: 1.0″ (25.4 mm)</li> <li>Top Page Number: 0.5″ (12.7 mm)</li> <li>Top: 1.0″ (25.4 mm)</li> <li>Bottom: 0.5″ to 1.5″ (12.7 mm to 38.1 mm)</li> </ul> <p>There’s more space to the left because you’ll be binding or filing your screenplay. Otherwise on average there’s a 1 inch border on all sides.</p> <h3><strong>Font<br> </strong></h3> <p>The font is Courier 12-point 10-pitch.What’s the meaning of point and pitch? Pitch refers to the number of characters per inch horizontally. E.g, one line on A4 can hold 57 characters, while one line on US Letter can hold 60 characters. Courier is a font in which every character uses the same width.One point (in font terms) = 0.3528 mm (0.014″). How many lines should you have? As a rule of thumb, 55 lines makes the ‘one page = one minute of screen time” work. </p> <h3>How to format MS Word for the page layout<br> </h3> <p>I’m going to be using Microsoft Word, but you can do the same with any word processor.Open a new blank document. Go to Layout and choose the paper size – stick to US Letter or A4.Go to Margins and select Custom Margins…:<br> <br> <img src="https://i.imgsafe.org/53/531e1df448.jpeg" width="521" height="465"/></p> <p> <br> Click <strong>OK</strong>. Go to <strong>Insert > Page Numbers</strong> and select Top and Right. Page numbers should be displayed from the first page. Note: Some people shift the page numbers a bit to the right but it doesn’t matter. Start the numbering from 2 (1 is reserved for the title page). Finally, select the Courier 12pt font.That’s it, your main document is ready. Save it on your hard drive before proceeding.</p> <h3>Understanding the Screenplay Format</h3> <p>Screenwriting software like Final Draft, Celtx, and WriterDuet make it easy to not concern yourself with script format too much, but it's still important to learn. You may not have to worry about margins, typeface, or indentations, but you'll still need to know how to write action, dialogue, as well as what a slug line is and why the information included in it is so important. (1)</p> <p>This video from StudioBinder helps demystify many of the basic formatting rules as well as several obscure ones in screenwriting. Check it out below:</p> <p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2uZ7IabVOM<br> <em>source: No film school<br> (1)wolfcrow : Understanding the Screenplay Format and How to use MS Word to write Scripts</em></p> </html>