Movie scripts still look as if they’ve been written on an old, Smith-Corona typewriter. The draft date is not needed on a speculative script (as opposed to a shooting script), and may be omitted. Insert three blank lines, and then write “ THE END” centered, in ALL CAPS, and underscored (but without the quotes):Ĭontact information should appear at the left margin of the fly page, its last line being an inch from the bottom of the page (i.e. Such matters are usually decided by the director.Įnd the script with the transitional instruction “FADE OUT.” (including the period). These notations are superfluous in a speculative script. In speculative screenplays intended for submission, top and bottom “CONTINUED’s” only clutter up the page.ĭo not indicate where to place the title of the film or where to roll the credits. As is the case with scene numbers, these notations aid the production staff in scheduling the shoot.
They are needed only in shooting scripts. The top “CONTINUED:” and bottom “(CONTINUED)” should be omitted. What’s more, tight spacing will throw off the estimated running time. While word-processing software may permit you to compress the lines to fit more text on a page, closely spaced lines are harder to read. Use the standard pica line spacing of six lines to the inch. View a sample script page, with guidelines for setting your margins. This may also convey the impression your script reads slow. Even worse, a wide swath of dialogue forces the reader to spend more time on each page. Narrower margins make it more difficult to estimate the running time. The standard width of a dialogue element, for example, is 33 characters. Comedies tend to be shorter than dramas.ĭon’t cheat by narrowing your margins in an effort to shorten the page count. (The final draft of Chinatown, for example, was 145 pages.) However, the trend is toward shorter, punchier scripts. Longer screenplays used to be more acceptable. Try to keep it under 120 pages, but no shorter than 100 pages. It takes twice as long to turn a page, which may result in the perception your script reads slow.
Double-sided printing may save paper and make your script appear slimmer, but readers tend to find it awkward and annoying. Print your script on only one side of the page. Underscore for emphasis instead of using bold or italics. (Don’t confuse this with double-spacing the lines, which is done only in three-camera television shows.) Keeping sentences separated by two spaces, not just one, makes the script easier to read. Two spaces should follow the punctuation at the end of each sentence.
The bottom margin varies, according to the rules for where it’s permissible to break a page, but the target is between half an inch to an inch. Younger pilot script.The first line of text should appear on the seventh line from the top of each page.
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