How To Format Dialogue In A Film Script
Writing a good script is one thing - but writing a professional-looking script is another. However good your ideas are, you'll never make it to Hollywood unless you master the basics of formatting and laying out your dialogue properly. Watch this VideoJug film for our handy guide to the basics or formatting dialogue in a film script.
Step 1: Introducing a character
When a character first appears in your script, their name should appear in capitals in the narrative text. From then on, they can be written in normal lower case text, except when their name appears as a cue for dialogue.
Step 2: Character cues
When a character speaks, you must write their name in capitals approximately 4.2 inches from the left-hand edge of the page. Do not centre it. Most characters will have names, but if a character you are introducing is a functional extra, they will be called something like POLICEMAN or SHOP ASSISTANT to reflect their role.
Step 3: Actor's Direction
Directions for the actors are also known as 'parantheticals' as they appear in brackets. The main purpose of actor direction is to help the actors interpret the script as they read through. They are frequently used if the tone of the delivery is in contrast to how it's written. They are also useful to indicate to whom a line is being delivered.
They are written in lower case, in brackets and are often positioned between the character cue and the dialogue. Sometimes they also appear within a portion of dialogue. They should be placed half an inch to the left of the character cue, so they remain distinct from what is to be spoken, should be 1.5 inches wide and wrap to the next line where necessary.
Step 4: Setting out dialogue
Dialogue fits into a column 3 inches wide, which begins 3 inches in from the left-hand edge of the page. Dialogue is placed beneath the name of the character that is speaking, and should be single-spaced.
If you want to denote a pause between words within dialogue, use the word 'beat' (in brackets) for a short pause and 'double beat' for a longer pause. There are two ways of doing this:
1. Leave a line and write (beat).
2. Embed the (beat) within the text.
Step 5: Don't split words or lines across pages
Never split a sentence of dialogue across two pages, and never split a word across two lines by using a hyphen (unless the word is naturally hyphenated) - it makes your lines hard to read. If a line looks set to over-run the end of the page, end that page with the sentence before and begin on a new page with the next line.
If a section of dialogue spoken by a single character crosses from page to the next, many writers like to indicate this by using (MORE) at the foot of the lines on one page, and the name of the character speaking followed by (CONT'D) on the next.
Step 6: Combining action and dialogue
If a description of action breaks up a character's dialogue, leave a blank line, then write the action taking place. Then skip another line, and continue the character's dialogue. If the description is shorter than one line then you don't need to repeat the character's name, unless you feel that clarity is threatened.
Remember to start your action description 1.5 inches in from the left hand edge of the page, as it's part of the narrative, or scene direction.
Step 7: Unusual dialogue
Don't worry - you don't need to be multilingual to include foreign languages in your script from time to time - write the line in English, but indicate the language to be spoken as a parenthetical beneath the character cue. You can also use parentheticals to indicate voices filtered by a phone or radio.
