So you’ve got a great idea for a movie – awesome! But before you can produce, direct or sell your movie, you have to write the screenplay in the correct entertainment industry format. Final Draft can help you figure out how to format a screenplay so you can focus on what’s important – crafting a great story.
There are a few fundamental rules about formatting a screenplay that you should know before you get started. Once you understand these formatting rules, Final Draft can take over and do the rest!
No matter who you are, you have a story to tell – and there has never been a better time to tell it. Hollywood alone produces 700 movies per year, and this number is increasing due to the advent of streaming technology. There are thousands of professional screenwriting opportunities every single year for storytellers just like you, and Final Draft will be the most important tool in your writing arsenal. But what does a screenplay actually look like? Let’s break it down for you!
Screenplays written with a regular word-processing program or a free web-based screenplay template can’t be used in professional film productions. They often must be retyped or have to go through a complicated conversion process to get them ready for production. Screenplays written in Final Draft and saved in the FDX format are ready for professional use, and it’s not just screenplays you can write with Final Draft: you can also write stage plays, musicals, sitcoms, TV dramas, novels, and even graphic novels.
Final Draft isn’t just for Hollywood either. Final Draft screenwriting software is used professionally all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and over 60 other countries. There are dictionaries in English (U.S., Canada, and British), Catalan, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Swiss-German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian and European), Spanish, and Swedish. So whatever country you’re in, if you’re using Final Draft, you know you’re using the industry standard.
In this guide, we’ll be showing you examples from scripts for feature films. TV scripts build on this same basic formatting, but also include additional information that varies by genre, studio, or production company. Although there are few rigid rules about formatting a screenplay, there are generally accepted guidelines that you need to know.
The first page of your screenplay is called the Title Page. This page shows the title of the screenplay and who the screenplay is written by in the center of the page. The writer’s contact details appear at the bottom of the page in the lower left hand corner. If you’ve registered your screenplay with the Writers Guild, that information can be listed as well.
Final Draft lets you get creative with the Title Page. You can use different fonts to make your title really stand out, and you can even add a picture to set the mood.
Here are some guidelines regarding page margins for your screenplay. Remember – Final Draft automatically formats your margins for you, so you don’t have to worry about doing it yourself. But if you’re interested in what the guidelines are, this information will be helpful. The top margin needs to be one inch. The bottom margin, and your right- or outside – margin can vary from that by up to a quarter-inch. The left, or inside, margin needs to allow space for the three-hole punch binding for when your screenplay is printed, so that should be about one-and-a-half inches.
The font is another one of those rigid rules. It must be the Courier font and 12 points. This font is an entertainment industry standard. It makes it easier to estimate screen time from the number of pages. Try to get fancy, with any other font, and your script looks amateurish.
The top of the page—or header—is also lean and clean. All you should have there is the page number, flush right, about a half-inch from the top of the page, and followed by a period. The exception is the first page which shouldn’t have a page number on it at all.
A screenplay is comprised of a number of different scenes, and every scene starts with a scene heading, also known as a slug line.
A scene heading contains three elements:
Whether the scene takes place inside (INT., short for INTERIOR) or outside (EXT., short for EXTERIOR); The location where the scene takes place (a house, the beach, a cafe etc.); What time of day it is (DAY, NIGHT, MORNING, AFTERNOON, EVENING, ETC.)
Here is an example of a scene heading:
EXT. KEVIN’S HOUSE – DAY
This scene heading tells us that the scene is taking place outside, that we are at the character Kevin’s House, and the scene takes place during the day.
It is good to be very specific with your scene heading, so the reader knows exactly where they are. When writing a scene set inside, you can be very exact about what room the scene is taking place in by adding the room to the scene heading followed by a comma. Example:
INT. BATHROOM, KEVIN’S HOUSE – MORNING
This scene heading tells us that we are in the bathroom in Kevin’s house, and it is morning.
A scene in a screenplay is composed of action and dialogue. Action tells you what is happening in the scene, and dialogue indicates what each character is saying. After you write your scene heading, you should always start with a few lines of action to get the reader situated in your story. For example:
A car pulls into the driveway. KEVIN (30s) steps out, heads to the trunk and opens it. He pulls out a BAG OF GROCERIES.
Note that Kevin’s BAG OF GROCERIES is written in ALL CAPS. This is a technique you can use to highlight important props, sounds and character movements in your scenes. This technique should be used sparingly as too much capitalization means aspects of the script you want to highlight for importance may be lost.
Next we move on to dialogue. Dialogue is indented and is close to the center of the page. Final Draft sets the proper indents for you – the left indent is between an inch and one-and-a-half inches from the left margin, and a right indent of about an inch and a half.
Above the block of dialogue is the name of the character speaking. This is called a CHARACTER CUE and is indented approximately an inch more than the dialogue. Example:
EXT. KEVIN’S HOUSE – DAY A car pulls into the driveway. KEVIN (30s) steps out, heads to the trunk and opens it. He pulls out a BAG OF GROCERIES.
KEVIN Wow. These groceries are heavy.
Sometimes your dialogue might continue over a page break. Final Draft automatically handles this issue for you, but it’s helpful to know what the program is doing and why.
On the bottom of a page where a block of dialogue begins you will see the word MORE in upper case letters, parentheses, and centered. This tells the reader there’s more dialogue to come on the following page from the same character. Dialogue will be broken for a page break only at the end of a sentence, so don’t worry about it cutting your sentences in half. At the top of the following page, the character cue ends with a CONT’D to let the reader know that the dialogue begins on the previous page. Once again, Final Draft will do all of this for you automatically, so all you need to do is keep typing!
There is also a third dialogue element that you should use sparingly. It’s called PARENTHETICAL direction, because it’s inside of parentheses marks underneath the character cue. It tells the actor how the dialogue should be delivered. A parenthetical should be used when the dialogue doesn’t exactly convey how the actor might deliver the dialogue, or for emphasis. It can also illustrate who the character is talking to if this is unclear. Example:
EXT. KEVIN’S HOUSE – DAYA car pulls into the driveway. KEVIN (30s) steps out, heads to the trunk and opens it. He pulls out a BAG OF GROCERIES.
KEVIN (to self) Wow. These groceries are heavy.
A parenthetical can also be used BESIDE the character cue in very specific circumstances: if your character is speaking OFF SCREEN (O.S.) or as a VOICE OVER (V.O.). Example:
EXT. KEVIN’S HOUSE – DAY A car pulls into the driveway. KEVIN (30s) steps out, heads to the trunk and opens it. He pulls out a BAG OF GROCERIES.
KEVIN (V.O.) Wow. These groceries are heavy.
You don’t need to include a transition between scenes, as it’s understood that one scene naturally flows into the next. However, sometimes you might want to use a specific transition as a stylistic choice, such as a SMASH CUT or FADE TO BLACK. Final Draft has many different transition options, and will format the transition flush right according to industry standards.
So now we’ve gone through the elements that make up a script: a scene heading, action, and dialogue. Keep writing those elements for 90 to 120 pages, and you will have succeeded in writing your screenplay. Don’t forget, Final Draft automatically formats scene headings, action and dialogue for the writer. All you need to do is input your story and creativity!
There is no better way to learn how to write screenplays than to read actual scripts. Thanks to the Internet, it’s very easy to find scripts online for all your favorite movies. It only takes reading a few pages of a screenplay for the formatting rules to become clear, and by seeking out great screenplays you can learn tips and tricks from Hollywood’s most successful writers. Once you become more comfortable with writing screenplays you may even find yourself wanting to be more experimental with your writing, and subverting some of the rules to make your screenplay a more unique experience for the reader. But remember what a wise person once said: you need to know the rules before you break them.
In addition to the formatting guidelines outlined in this article, Final Draft also comes loaded with TEMPLATES for all your needs. Whether you’re writing a feature film, TV show, play or graphic novel, Final Draft comes with files already formatted for these very purposes.
Once you purchase Final Draft and become a registered user, you also gain access to world-class technical support. Got a formatting question? Final Draft staff is on hand via phone, email or chat to assist you with all your writing needs. Final Draft’s blog and social media also contains all the tips, tricks and techniques you need to get started in your career, as well as industry news, reviews and interviews with famous filmmakers. It’s never been easier to write your screenplay,
So there you have it! Everything you need to get inspired, start writing, and send your screenplay out into the world. Final Draft is your one-stop shop for all your screenwriting needs, and we are here to assist you every step of the way on your writing journey. Bring your creativity, and we’ll do the rest. Happy writing!
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