John August

Formatting

Cover page artwork

Formatting, QandA

Is artwork that only appears on the title page of a screenplay frowned upon?

— Darryl McD

Yeah, that’s kind of cheesy. If I had to choose between two scripts in front of me, I’d probably pick the one without the artwork.

That said, if you look in the [Downloads](http://johnaugust.com/site/downloads) section, you’ll see that I used a circle around ‘Go’, largely because the word itself is so small. And the cover page for Prince of Persia has the title in the logo font, but since it’s based on a hugely popular videogame, there’s a good reason for it.

For the other 20 or so scripts I’ve worked on, there hasn’t been any artwork on the cover. I’ll occasionally use a font other than 12pt Courier for title itself, but always something simple.

Formatting a reality show proposal

Formatting, QandA, Television

How should a proposal for a reality show be structured? My research to date suggests that reality shows have been evolving towards a more “scripted” format, although I understand that writers don’t get credited (yet).

I have an idea for a reality show (doesn’t everyone, eh?) – so how should it be presented to a producer? An overall description of the premise, and ideas for several episodes? What level of detail is needed (or not needed)?

— Jedd
New Orleans, LA

There are already too many reality TV shows, which are taking jobs away from writers. So I won’t answer your question.
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Okay, I will. But you have to promise your show will be something inspiring like the [Amazing Race](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race6/) and not soul-destroying like, well, anything that starts with My Big Fat Obnoxious Dot-Dot-Dot.

There’s nothing approaching a standard format for something like a reality TV show, or, surprisingly, a scripted show. In the [Downloads](http://johnaugust.com/library) section, you’ll see my initial write-ups for The Circle. The format seems pretty standard and straightforward, but I wasn’t trying to match any template. I just wrote what I thought needed to be explained.

For your reality show, I think the proposal would need to include:

1. The premise
2. The people (host, contestants, whatever)
3. The tone, including some sample dialogue/narration if appropriate
4. The reward or outcome
5. Structure of a typical episode
6. Future episode descriptions

I think you need to present enough detail so that the producer really understands what the show is, and how it differs from anything else on television. If you have a background in physical production, you might include more detail about shooting days, crew or locations, but if you don’t know, don’t try to fake it.

How many lines per page?

Formatting, QandA

Today’s question isn’t really a question at all, but rather an investigation into how many lines of type should fit on a standard screenwriting page. While this may seem frivolous — a little like “How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin” — almost every screenwriter has tweaked and shuffled, nipped and tucked to get a draft a few pages shorter.

Lines-per-page translates into lines-per-script, which is arguably a better metric than page count for how long a script “really” is. So I applaud Jeff trying to figure it out.

questionmarkI have a seemingly simple formatting question that I cannot find the answer to anywhere: How many lines should fit on a page?

I don’t ask for help with out trying to help myself first, but believe me, this one has got me stumped. My research yields vastly different results and even an interesting (disturbing?) modern trend. (I know it’s a long read for an e-mail, but I’ve done the research and I would really like your thoughts.)

I know all about setting margins and screenwriting software, but even following those suggestions, there appears to be a large discrepancy in the actual number of lines per page from script to script. Here’s how I have counted lines per page for purposes of this research:

Open a screenplay up to any page, start at the first line of screenplay on that page (a scene heading, character name, dialogue, action; not white space or a page number) and count that as ONE. Then, count every line after that (including white space) all the way to the last line of screenplay on that page (not including bottom CONTINUEDs if the script has them). The number you end up with is what I call Screenplay Lines per Page.
[Read more…] about How many lines per page?

Page count and tight formatting

Formatting, General, QandA

questionmarkI have a question regarding page count. I have a screenplay that I’ve completed, which is about 135 pages or so. I brought it down from 143, but I keep hearing about this magic number of 120 pages, and how that’s what Hollywood looks for. I know my story is tight; it’s now to a point where it’s sacrificing what I set out to do.

I’ve actually used the “tight” page layout option in Final Draft to get it down to 125 pages. My question is: Is this something that is easy to spot, or considered bad? Personally I can’t tell very easily that it’s formatted tighter?

And as an aside…any chance of getting my short film mentioned on the site? It’s called [“this moment”](http://www.dimeworth.com) and screened at Sundance this year, as part of Kevin Spacey’s triggerstreet online festival top ten.

— Ayz

I’ve plugged your film, so let’s get to your question.

Yes, everyone can tell when you use the “tight” setting on Final Draft. Yes, it’s cheating. While I know some people who use it, I personally recommend against it. In typographic terms, “tight” reduces the leading between lines, which makes your script fractionally more difficult to read. Anything that makes the reader more likely to give up rather than finish your script is a Bad Thing.

So don’t do it.

I’ve crossed the 120-page barrier on many occasions, and the world hasn’t come crashing down on my head. But 135 is really long. While you may think you’ve trimmed out all the fat, you haven’t. How can I be so sure, without having read your script?

1. This is one of your first scripts, and first scripts are always fat.
2. Please flip to page 73. If you had to cut this scene, would the entire movie fall apart? No. You’d write around it. So cut it and deal with the absence. Repeat as needed.
3. Your short film is good, but it too has fat. If each of the setups were half as long, the film would be more effective.

In case you’re wondering, real working screenwriters do worry about page count and such. I was on a panel last week with [Terry Rossio](http://imdb.com/name/nm0744429/), where we both talked about going through the script page by page, killing off [widows and orphans](http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/14089.html).