Screenwriting Format: screenplay formatting

The Bare Bone Book of Screenwriting has 1/3rd of it's content related to industry standard screenplay format for feature films, short films, AV and TV scripts.

Writing a professional screenplay can be time consuming and frustrating. Even basic screenplay format throws many beginner screenplay writers off track. Format rules will make or break you if you submit your screenplay to an agency or producer. If your script is formatted wrong, it will make you, the writer, look amateur - thus your script is not read (and perhaps thrown in the garbage).

To understand script formatting, a screenwriter must study format of successful screenplays and movies. Buy the screenplay and read it while you watch the film. By doing this, you'll pick up on screenwriter's tips, rules and tricks that enable them to get words and images from their head to the page.

Scriptwriting formatting software is highly recommended, and it makes life easy. Format software like Final Draft is affordable and educational, allowing the screenwriter to write in pro script format without having to think about it.

Script format really is complicated until you understand the language. We were raised in English class to write properly. Screenwriting is prose (short form, poetry) designed to create a fast read and conjure images and dialogue as the script is read.

One page should read in one minute. One screenplay should be around 110-120 pages.

Format is separate from story, structure, character, theme, etc. Script format helps a screenplay communicate the visual story on paper in a visual medium.