How to set your film screenplay to match Bill Craig's recommended format.

At http://www.screenwritinghelp.com/z-dreadedformat.html [Link], Bill Craig and others have published a specification of Film Screenplay format for Hollywood. In the UK, I don't think that the flm producers are so fussy, provided that the format is approximately like a film script, I think it will be read & judged on its own merits.

My template Film4.dot does not exactly match Bill Craig's recommendations, so if you are submitting to Hollywood producers, you might wish to change your formating. This is how to do it. Sorry it is rather long, you may find it easier to follow if you print out this webpage.

These instructions apply to Microsoft Word 2000.

FIRST SAVE A COPY OF YOUR SCRIPT ELSEWHERE, such as on a floppy, in case you do this wrong.

With your script on-screen in MS word

1.
(a) drop down the Tools menu and select Options
(b) click the General Tab
(c) check that the Measurement Units are inches not centimetres
(d) if not set it to Inches
(e) Click OK to close the options box.

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2.
(a) Drop down the File menu and select Page Setup.
(b) Change the Left margin to 1.5"
(c) Change the Right margin to 1.0 inches if you use USA Letter size paper
or 0.77 inches if you use UK A4 size paper.
(d) Click OK to close the Page Setup box.

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3.
(a) Drop down the Format Menu and select Style...
(b) Slide down the list of styles at left and highlight "Scene"
(c) Click the Modify... button
(d) Click the Format V button and select Font...
(e) Change the Font Style at centre to "Regular" to remove the Bold state.
(f) Click OK to close the Font box, then another OK to close the Modify Style box.

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4.
(a) In the Style box find "Parenthesis" in the Styles list and highlight it.
(b) Click the Modify button
(c) Click the Format button and select Font..
(d) Set the Font style to Regular to remove the italic state.
(e) Click OK to close the Font box.
(f) Drop down the Format... button and select Paragraph..
(g) On the Indents and spacing tab of the Paragraph box, change the Alignment to Left
(h) just below that set the Indentation Left to 2.5 inches
(i) Click OK to close the Paragraph box and another OK to close the Modify Style box.

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5.
(a) In the Style box find "Name" in the Styles list and highlight it.
(b) Click the Modify button
(c) Click the Format button and select Font..
(d) Set the Font style to Regular to remove the Bold state.
(e) Click OK to close the Font box.
(f) Drop down the Format... button and select Paragraph..
(g) On the Indents and spacing tab of the Paragraph box, change the Alignment to Left
(h) just below that set the Indentation Left to 3.0 inches
(i) just below that set the Indentation Right to 0 inches
(j) Click OK to close the Paragraph box and another OK to close the Modify Style box.

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6.
(a) In the Style box find "Dialogue" in the Styles list and highlight it.
(b) Click the Modify button
(f) Drop down the Format... button and select Paragraph..
(g) On the Indents and spacing tab of the Paragraph box, check the Alignment is Left
(h) just below that set the Indentation Left to 1.5 inches
(i) just below that set the Indentation Right to 1.5 inches
(j) Click OK to close the Paragraph box and another OK to close the Modify Style box.

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7.
(a) In the Style box find "Fade" in the Styles list and highlight it.
(b) Click the Modify button
(c) Click the Format button and select Font..
(d) Set the Font style to Regular to remove the Bold state.
(e) Click OK to close the Font box.

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8.
(a) Click the CLOSE button to close the Style box, avoid clicking the Apply button..
Your script should re-format itself at this point.

(b) Save your script, do not overwrite your floppy backup copy.

9. When your script is ready to print.
(a) Save it to disk.
(b) Drop down the Edit menu annd choose Select All. The whole script will be highlighted.
Take care.. pressing a key while it is all highlighted might wipe the whole script and substitute that single keystroke.
[if this happens, immediately press CTRL+Z to Undo it]
(c) Drop down the Format menu and select Font..
(d) On the Font tab, drop down the Font Colour list and select the top left one which is BLACK.
(e) Click OK to close the Fonts box.
(f) Press CTRL+HOME to jump to the front of the whole document.
(g) Click the mouse just the the left of the very first letter of the document (usually the C of "Crib Sheet") this will remove the highlighting of the whole document.

Bill

Revised by - Bill Williams on 21 Aug 2003 at 02:01:32