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Script formatting

September 10, 2003 Formatting, QandA

Could you please refer me to a website that gives detailed information regarding the proper format that a film script is to be written before being passed around.

–Pat Meehan

If you’re using either Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter, you can rest assured that the standard formatting these programs recommend is fine.

If you’re not using either of these, I suspect you’re consulting one of the many screenwriting books out there, all of which will point you in the right direction in terms of margins and spacing.

But the best advice I can give you is to do what I did: find a properly formatted script and copy it exactly. Not only will looking at real scripts show you how they’re formatted, but it will also give you a sense of how standardized the format truly is, for better or worse.

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