Formatting a screenplay

- Interior, dining room, day. Our hero sits patiently at the dining room, waiting. She thinks to herself how quit and lonely it is, when suddenly, she hears a crashing sound. (crashing) Oh. Our hero calls out. Who's there? And begins to wonder, "Could this be the killer?" - Stop, stop, stop. This is all wrong. You can't tell us what's going on inside a character's head. Show, don't tell. And your formatting's all wrong. And what is that, Comic Sans, seriously? - I just thought it might make the script more fun to read. (upbeat music) So you've got an idea for a movie and you're itching to get to your keyboard to start writing, but before you do, making sure you know how to format your script correctly can pay off majorly down the road. After all, a correctly formatted script can give you a pretty good estimate of your film's final runtime, since one page of a screenplay should equal about one minute of screen time. So let's go over a few tips that will really help you beat the perils of poor formatting. Get it? Beat, like a character beat? I'll just let myself out now. Let's go over the nine basic elements that make up a screen play. First is the scene heading which should always be written in all caps. This let's your reader know the location and time of day the scene takes place. INT represent interior, or inside scenes, while EXT represents exterior, or outside scenes. Second is the subheading which is similar to the scene heading, but can more clearly dictate smaller locations within the broader scene heading location, like different rooms in a house, as illustrated here. Third is action. This is where you get to have all the fun of describing the scene. Just make sure you use present tense, third person and physical descriptions only. Remember, show, not tell what's going on in a character's head. Fourth is character. And this is usually the name of your character. But for smaller parts, it could simply be short descriptions like, boy, doctor, or zombie Uber driver. A character's name should always be in all caps when they are first introduced or when they are speaking. Fifth is dialogue, and this comes below the character's name when speaking. Sixth is parentheticals which is sandwiched between the character's name and dialogue while speaking. These can add a bit of direction on the performance for the actor. Seventh is extensions which comes directly after a character's name. These are most commonly either VO to represent a voice over, or OS, to represent a character as being off screen. Eighth is transitions which help dictate editing decisions. These are always written in all caps. Some common examples are things like fade in or out, cut to or smash cut. And finally, ninth is shots. Shots are usually only found in a final shooting script and help dictate what camera angle is being seen on screen. Okay, so now that you know the basics, let's go over some proper formatting so you can really establish your script. Get it, like establishing shot? Oh, nevermind. Let's start at the beginning, your title page. Your title page should have the title of your film, written by, your name, and any historical or fictional information your script is based on. Also note here, that your font should be 12-point Courier to maintain scriptwriting standards. Next, let's talk about page formatting. Your top, bottom, and right margins should all be one-inch, while your left margin should be 1.5 inches. Fun fact, this allows room for scripts to be hole punched. Next, your character names should be 3.7 inches from the left side of the page. Parentheticals should be 3.1 inches from the left side of the page. And dialogue should be 2.5 inches from, you guessed it, the left side of the page. And finally, transitions should be six inches from the left side of the page. All other elements should align with the left side of the page's margins. And that's pretty much it for the basics of screenplay formatting. No expensive screenwriting software necessary. So get writing and go film it yourself. (curious music) (typewriter clacking) Cool, that formatting does look better. - Totally, back to the top? - Sure. Interior, dining room, day. Our hero sits patiently-- (yells)