Formatting Help
If you are at this page, you are in the process of filling out your Option Agreement and may be having trouble formatting your screenplay.Proper Screenplay Format
Your screenplay MUST be submitted in proper, professional Screenplay Format. The reason a screenplay must be in correct format is so the running time of the movie can be estimated. As a rule of thumb, each page of properly formatted screenplay equals one minute of screen time. That's why a typical screenplay is between 85 and 120 pages long.
The most reliable way to format your screenplay is to write it with a dedicated screenplay application such as ScriptWare. These apps will automatically format your screenplay properly and output them to a properly formatted text file (as below discussed). If you are serious about a screenwriting career, you should invest in this writing tool. The cost of the product is worth it and once you get used to writing with an aide, we think you will like it.
Lastly, please set up your title page EXACTLY as in the sample or as explained here:
1) In CAPITAL letters, half way down the first screen and centered, place your ALTERNATE_TITLE (as in the Option Agreement).
2) Two spaces under and centered, writer the word "by".
3) Two spaces under that and centered, write in your PSEUDONYM (as in the Option Agreement)
4) Example:
SCREENPLAY ALTERNATE_TITLE
by
Writer Pseudonym
5) At the bottom of the first page and flush with the left margin of the screenplay, write the copyright data exactly as follows, observing capitals, lower case and spacing:Copyright 2002
by Writer Pseudonym
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
6) place a ------------------------------------- just above the beginning of your screenplay to separate it from the title page.7) Remove any and all other information, such as your name, address, phone, email, WGA number.
8) If you're hopelessly confused as you read these words, check the sample by clicking here.
Proper File FormatBecause of problems using other formats, we are only accepting screenplay files as ASCII TEXT FILES WITH LAYOUT.
MS WORD will allow you to "Save as" a "Text with Layout" or an "MS-DOS Text with Layout" and either is fine and will deliver an "ASCII TEXT FILE WITH LAYOUT," as specified. WordPerfect and Scriptware for Windows also have similar "Save as" selections to convert to ASCII TEXT WITH LAYOUT. Saving as ASCII text with page breaks also seems to work.
Unfortunately, we have been having problems with screenplays written in MS WORD. This application does not properly convert its .doc files to properly-formatted files -- known as TEXT files (having a .txt extension) or an ASCII text file (having a .asc extension). Sometimes however MS WORD does work fine . . . but if you use this, please, after you have converted your screenplay to a text file in MS WORD, check to MAKE SURE your dialog and CHARACTER NAMES are NOT mushed all the way over to the LEFT-hand margin. If this happens, for some reason the file has NOT been converted to a text file format properly. We suspect the cause of this MAY be because the screenplay was not written with the proper TAB settings, but in any case . . .
