Template
Screenplay Template
Industry-standard screenplay format, element by element, with the margins and rules that make a script read as professional. Plus why one page still roughly equals one minute.
What is screenplay format?
Screenplay format is the standardised layout for film scripts — 12pt Courier, specific margins for each element, and a strict set of components: scene headings, action, character cues, dialogue, parentheticals and transitions. The convention exists so that one formatted page approximates one minute of screen time.
The template, field by field
Script elements
| Field | What it's for | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Scene heading (slugline) | INT. or EXT., the location, then DAY or NIGHT. Always uppercase. e.g. INT. KITCHEN — NIGHT. | Required |
| Action | Present tense, describing only what is seen and heard. Left margin, full width. Never internal thoughts. | Required |
| Character cue | The speaker's name in uppercase, indented roughly 3.7 inches from the left edge. | Required |
| Dialogue | What the character says, indented about 2.5 inches with a narrower measure than action. | Required |
| Parenthetical | A brief delivery or action note under the character cue, in lowercase brackets. Use sparingly. | Optional |
| Extension | (V.O.) for voice-over, (O.S.) for off-screen, (CONT'D) for continued dialogue. Appended to the character cue. | Optional |
| Transition | CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO:, right-aligned. Modern scripts use these sparingly. | Optional |
| Shot | ANGLE ON, CLOSE ON. Direction the writer should generally leave to the director. | Optional |
Page setup
| Field | What it's for | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Font | 12pt Courier or Courier New. Non-negotiable — the timing convention depends on it. | Required |
| Page size | US Letter in the US; A4 commonly elsewhere. Be consistent within a script. | Required |
| Left margin | 1.5 inches, allowing room for three-hole punch and binding. | Required |
| Right margin | 1 inch. | Required |
| Top and bottom margins | 1 inch each. | Required |
| Page numbers | Top right, followed by a full stop. The first page is not numbered. | Required |
| Title page | Title, 'written by', author name, and contact details bottom left. No page number. | Required |
Production revisions
| Field | What it's for | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Revision colours | White, blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon, cherry — in that order, cycling if needed. | Optional |
| Revision marks | An asterisk in the right margin marks each changed line. | Optional |
| Locked pages | Once a script is locked for production, page numbers freeze and inserts become 12A, 12B rather than renumbering. | Optional |
| Scene numbers | Added at lock, appearing on both sides of the slugline. Never renumbered afterwards. | Optional |
How to format a screenplay
- 1
Use a tool that formats for you
Setting margins manually in a word processor is a waste of effort and will drift. Any screenplay editor, or the Fountain plain-text format, handles this automatically.
- 2
Open each scene with a slugline
INT. or EXT., location, DAY or NIGHT. Every scene, without exception, in uppercase.
- 3
Write action in present tense
Describe only what an audience can see or hear. A character cannot 'remember' something on screen unless you show it.
- 4
Keep action paragraphs short
Three to four lines maximum. Dense blocks of action are the fastest way to signal an amateur script to a reader.
- 5
Use parentheticals sparingly
Actors and directors resent being told how to deliver every line. Reserve them for genuine ambiguity.
- 6
Cut transitions unless they earn it
Modern scripts assume a cut between scenes. CUT TO: on every scene break adds pages and nothing else.
- 7
Check the page count against your intent
One page is roughly one minute. A feature at 150 pages is a problem you want to know about before anyone reads it.
Hard-won tips
- One page roughly equals one minute of screen time. Features generally run 90–120 pages; anything much beyond that needs justifying.
- Write only what can be seen or heard. Internal thoughts on the page are the most common beginner mistake.
- Short action paragraphs. Three to four lines. White space reads fast and readers reward it.
- Do not direct on the page. Camera angles are the director's job and clutter the read.
- Never renumber scenes after a production lock — inserts become 12A and 12B. Renumbering breaks the breakdown, the schedule and every call sheet.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- What font is a screenplay written in?
- 12pt Courier or Courier New. The convention exists because it produces the roughly one-page-per-minute timing that scheduling and budgeting rely on.
- How long should a screenplay be?
- Features typically run 90–120 pages, at roughly one minute per page. Comedies tend shorter, dramas and epics longer, but very long specs are rarely read to the end.
- What is a slugline?
- The scene heading — INT. or EXT., the location, and DAY or NIGHT, in uppercase. It opens every scene and is what the breakdown and schedule key off.
- What are the screenplay revision colours?
- White, blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon and cherry, in that order, cycling back to double blue if a production runs through them. Each revision reissues only changed pages on the new colour.
- What does (V.O.) mean?
- Voice-over — the character is heard but not present in the scene. (O.S.) means off-screen, where the character is in the scene but not visible.
- Do I need special software?
- Not strictly. Fountain is a plain-text format that produces correct output from any text editor, and it is what ScenePaper stores scripts in — so your work stays portable.
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