Formatting your script

Presenting your work appropriately suggests a professional approach and an understanding of the medium and format for which you are writing.

Deciding which format to use will be determined by the type of

script you are writing. Formats are dictated by technology, and there are good reasons for using them. A correctly formatted script makes an executive's life easier and a writer's life simpler - especially during the long process of rewriting.

Task 1: Write a premise/logline

The premise of a film or screenplay is the fundamental concept that drives the plot.

Most premises can be expressed very simply, and many films can be identified simply from a short sentence describing the premise. For example: 

A lonely boy is befriended by an alien; 

A small town is terrorized by a shark; 

A small boy sees dead people.

The best loglines generally contain three elements:

• A protagonist
• An antagonist
• A goal

For example:

A headstrong orphan and his Vulcan nemesis must save the Federation (and themselves) from a revenge-seeking Romulan from the future.

Task 2: Write a Treatment: Your First Sketch

Also primarily a marketing document, treatments give executives an idea of whether the story is worth their money. However, like the logline, it also serves as a helpful tool for the writer, a kind of first sketch of the story.

For most of the history of art, paint was prohibitively expensive, and so before Monet or Picasso would attempt a full scale painting, they would do a “study,” a sketch of their subject (artists do this today, too, of course). If a sketch wasn’t coming together, they might save their paint and not make the painting, or else revise the study until it looked worthwhile.

In the same way, a treatment is like a first sketch of a film. Your treatments need to be one page summaries that break the story into three acts. Here are the three main elements of a treatment:

1. Title of your Film
2. Logline
3. Synopsis

Treatments may include snippets of dialogue and description, but the main focus is on the story.

Write in the present tense and write in chronological order. When you start to write your script you can rearrange events, put the end at the beginning to make a circular narrative etc.

Task 3: Script writing.

See my handouts for Formatting.

See this helpful link on formatting.

12 point Courier New 

Scene Headings: Each time your characters move to a different setting, a new scene heading is required.

INT. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY ROOM - NIGHT

 A small dash (hyphen on your keyboard) separates the location of the scene from the time of day.  Leave a two-line space following the scene heading before writing your scene description.

Scene descriptions are typed across the page from left margin to right margin.

Names of characters are displayed in all capital letters the first time they are used in a description, and these names always use all capital letters in a dialogue heading.

Sounds the audience will hear are capitalized (eg, ROAR or WHISTLE).  Dialogue is centered on the page under the character's name, which is always in all capital letters when used as a dialogue heading. Example:                                                                  DOCTOR                                             I'm sorry… If you describe the way a character looks or speaks before the dialogue begins or as it begins, this is typed below the character's name in parentheses. Example:                                                                  DOCTOR                                                         (apologetically)                                             We did everything possible. Note. If you are creating animation for under 16's there are some elements which are not suitable for your target audience.