Are you planning to write the script to your new masterpiece – movie?
A screenplay has some rules on how to layout and format your writing. When following these rules your script will immediately look better and more professional. In this series of articles, we will focusing on the different parts of formatting your screenplays. In this first article, we will take a look at font, title page, and scene headings!

FONT
When writing a screenplay the standard font to use is “Courier New” with 12pt as the text size. The font “Courier New” does look a bit like an old type writer font, and that´s cool! But the main reason we use this font is because it is mono spaced, witch means that all the characters take up the same amount of space, and that is why this is the standard font. You should always use this font in 12pt, and never use bold or italics.

TITLE PAGE
All scrips should start with a title page. The title page shows the title of the script, the author and contact information.
Your title should be centered with capital letters 1/3 down from the top.
On the next line you write “by”, and on the next line you write the name of the author, or the authors.
Put your contact information, at the bottom right corner. Write your address, phone number and e-mail address.

SCENE HEADINGS

Now its time to start writing the actual script! All screenplays consists of scenes, and all scenes consists of scene descriptions, action, and dialog.
All scenes start with a scene heading. A scene heading consist of several elements.

The first thing you write in a scene heading is either “INT.” or “EXT.” witch is short for “Interior” and “Exterior.” If your scene takes place outside write “EXT.” and if its taking place indoors, write “INT.”

Then you write where your scene is taking place. for instance “Old castle”, “living room”, “Large wear house” or “Forest” to give some examples.

The last thing is telling what time of the day the scene is taking place in. For instance you can write “Day”, “Night”, “Dawn” etc. You write all your scene headings with capital letters.

Example: This would be the scene heading for a scene taking place in an old factory in the night:

So thats it for this time,In the next article in this series we will take a look, at action,dialogue and transitions!

Tags: Guide, screenwriting