Zerdly

Screenplay Formatting Engine

Type a title page, your scene headings and action, and each line of dialogue with its character and an optional parenthetical. The builder sets everything in Courier Prime 12 pt at six lines an inch, with scene headings and action at 1.5 inches from the left edge, the character cue at 3.7 inches, parentheticals at 3.1 inches and dialogue at 2.5 inches, on US Letter or A4.

Pages break the way a script should: a character name never sits alone at the foot of a page, a scene heading is kept with what follows it, and a speech that runs over a page ends with (MORE) and carries on under the name with (CONT'D). The Word file uses the same indents and names Courier Prime as its font; if Courier Prime is not installed on your computer, Word shows a substitute font and the page breaks can move.

Downloads: PDF, Project file, Word

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How to use the Screenplay Formatting Engine

  1. Pick a template: Compact professional (a spec script), Spacious professional (more space before each scene, bold scene headings) or Section-led editorial (a shooting script with scene numbers in both margins).
  2. Enter the title, the writer's name, a revision note and the page size.
  3. Add your scenes in order with a heading such as INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT, the action, and optionally a duration in seconds and a reference image.
  4. Add the dialogue: choose the scene, type the character, the speech and any parenthetical. Lines print in the order you enter them within their scene.
  5. Choose Create document, check every page in the viewer, then download the PDF or the Word file, and save the project file to keep working later.

Example

The five-scene sample, The Seed Bank Night Shift, makes a title page with an estimated running time of 4 min 26 s from the scene durations, then two US Letter script pages in Courier Prime with the page number 2. top right on the second.

What it does not do

  • Your own writing only: there is no library of screenplays, and the sample is a short original scene set.
  • Within a scene, the action prints first and the dialogue follows in row order; transitions such as CUT TO: are not a separate element (type them as action).
  • The running time is the sum of the durations you enter, not a prediction; scenes without a duration are left out and named.
  • Reference images print after the script, two a page, never inside the script pages. The Word file lists them by scene but does not include the pictures.
  • The Word file keeps the indents, the 12 pt line pitch and the page numbers, but Word decides its own page breaks, so it has no (MORE) or (CONT'D) lines; the shooting-script scene number is printed before the heading only.
  • No formatting is checked against a particular studio, competition or software house standard.
  • Up to 250 pages and 500 entries in any list.

Documents are made in your browser and are not uploaded or stored by Zerdly. Check the finished document before you use it.

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