Using a different font for the cover page on a script
On your posted drafts of GO and BIG FISH, you have a different font on the cover page for the title of the script. Since you have made it widely known that you use Final Draft, I assume that you used the “export to PDF” feature in Final Draft to do this. When I try to export to PDF using a font other than a standard font for the title (e.g. Courier, Courier New, Times New Roman, Arial, etc.), it saves that particular font as Arial or Times New Roman. How do you go about having those different fonts on the PDF versions of your scripts?
–John Herzog
Gotha, FL
The problem is specific to Final Draft for Windows. On Mac OS X, any program can export to .pdf from the Print dialog box, so What You See really is What You Get. It’s absurdly easy. All of the .pdf’s I make are done that way, rather than with Final Draft’s export command.
Obviously, I don’t know Windows as well as I know the Macintosh, but here are some possible solutions:
- Adobe Acrobat. Making .pdf’s is its job. But it’s not cheap.
- Find a third-party utility for making .pdf’s. Any good Windows shareware/demoware site should have something. Hopefully someone will suggest one in the comments.
- Find a (free?) utility for combining .pdf’s. On the Mac, a good free one is Combine PDFs; Window should have something like it. Generate a cover page in some other program that lets you save .pdfs, then use the combining utility to smack it onto the first page of your screenplay .pdf.
Of course, option four would be to get a Mac. But that’s probably overkill for this situation.
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April 29th, 2004 at 11:47 am
The good news is that Final Draft 7 now produces picture perfect PDF files under windows, including any fancy fonts you want on your title page.
The bad news is that your PDF file will now weigh in at about 8 megs. I’m not kidding. In order for FD to solve their PDF problem, each page of the script is saved as an individual image, inflating the final file size beyond any usefulness.
If you complain to Final Draft, they will tell you to get a third party utility for windows that will allow you to “print” to a PDF file, so you are back where you started with FD 6. (They are also very vague about if or when this problem will be addressed). Why a freebee utility can handle this process better than the program I paid good money for is beyond me.
Here’s the final kick in the pants – because Final Draft prints the cover page as a separate element, you will NEVER get a PDF file complete with title page in one step. You will STILL have combine files to finally get what John does with one easy click on his Mac.
The cheapest utility I have found for accomplishing this is PDF995, which is ad-ware unless you want to kick in $10 for a license. You can download it from http://download.com.com/3000-6675-10209039.html
John, on this topic — is it now accepted practice to use decorative fonts for the title page? Didn’t this use to be the trademark of an amateur, usually accompanied by illustrations and hot-pink, permanently bound covers?
April 29th, 2004 at 8:41 pm
I was just popping into comments to ask about fonts and title pages, but David beat me to it. So I’ll add to his: What are the odds you can pull off an original font on a spec cover page as a writer with representation verses someone without hoping to get a producer’s interest or a agent/mgr’s interest?
April 30th, 2004 at 10:21 am
All the books will tell you it’s unprofessional, but honestly, it’s no big deal to put the title in some font other than 12 pt. Courier, provided it looks appropriate. BIG FISH used a face called Capitals, while GO is in Franklin Gothic Heavy.
In fact, GO was technically a logo done in Freehand and imported. (As for how that logo got imported: GO was written in Microsoft Word, but that’s another conversation.) The word “Go” is so short that it sort of disappeared on the page otherwise.
The option to use a face other than Courier shouldn’t be taken as an invitation to wild graphic excess. No matter how good that dragon illustration, it doesn’t belong on the cover page of your script.
May 5th, 2004 at 8:03 am
Kinko’s have a free PDF conversion thing. It’s called .kdf and makes a Kinko’s-friendly duplicate as well as a PDF of your Final Draft files. You can get the disc for free from Kinko’s; you might have to ask them for it.
PS I am not an employee of Kinko’s.
May 5th, 2004 at 3:17 pm
Adobe lets you make PDFs for free online. You can make 5 with each trial. But you can sign up again with a new email address over and over. I used it about 20 times in the past week for a project.
I have a Mac, but the Print to PDF function makes files that are just too huge for online delivery.
https://createpdf.adobe.com
October 3rd, 2004 at 10:51 am
interesting point…