How to Format a Screenplay

A screenplay is a technical document as much as a creative one. Readers, producers and actors expect every page to look the same, so the story is the only thing they have to think about. This guide walks you through standard screenplay format, element by element, with a real example page.

Updated September 2026 · 9 min read

1. The page

Everything in screenplay format starts from one idea: one page equals roughly one minute of screen time. That rule only holds if every writer uses the same page, the same font and the same margins. These are the standard values for a US-format screenplay:

Why Courier? Every letter in Courier is exactly the same width. That makes a page of dialogue and a page of action take up predictable space, which is what makes the page-per-minute estimate work.

2. An example page

Here is a short scene laid out at true proportions. The labels show which element each line is.

Scaled-down US Letter page, 1.5 in left margin, Courier 12 pt.

3. Scene headings

A scene heading (also called a slugline) tells the reader where and when the scene takes place. It is written in capital letters and has three parts:

• Interior or exterior: INT. for inside, EXT. for outside, INT./EXT. when the scene moves between both, such as a moving car.
• Location: as specific as the story needs. KITCHEN, or MARIA'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN.
• Time of day: usually just DAY or NIGHT. Use CONTINUOUS when one scene flows straight into the next, and LATER when time has passed in the same place.

A new scene heading means a new scene. Every time the location or the time changes, write a new one.

4. Action

Action lines describe what we see and hear. They run the full width of the page, from the left margin to the right, and are always written in the present tense.

• Write only what can be seen or heard on screen. "She is sad" cannot be filmed; "She stares at the phone and doesn't pick it up" can.
• Keep paragraphs short. Three or four lines at most. White space makes a script fast to read.
• Capitalize a character's name the first time they appear, usually with their age: LUCIANNO (37). After that, write it normally.

5. Character names

Before each line of dialogue, the speaking character's name appears in capital letters, indented about 3.7 in from the left edge of the page, about 2.2 in past the left margin. Keep the name the same all the way through the script: if she is ANNA on page 1, she should not become DR. HOLT on page 40.

6. Dialogue

Dialogue sits in a narrower column under the character name, starting about 2.5 in from the left edge and roughly 3 to 3.5 in wide. That narrow column is intentional: it lets the eye move quickly and keeps timing close to real speech.

Write dialogue the way people actually talk, with interruptions, half sentences and silences, but keep each speech short enough to be spoken in one breath or two.

7. Parentheticals

A parenthetical is a short direction inside the dialogue block, written in lowercase between parentheses, on its own line under the character name. Use it only when the line would be misread without it:

Don't use parentheticals to direct every line. Actors and directors don't like being told how to say things. If a direction is longer than a few words, it belongs in an action line instead.

8. V.O., O.S. and CONT'D

Extensions go in parentheses right after the character name:

Some writers use (O.C.), off camera, instead of (O.S.). It means the same thing. Pick one and stay consistent.

9. Transitions

Transitions tell the reader how one scene moves to the next. They're written in capital letters, end with a colon, and sit against the right margin: CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO:, SMASH CUT TO:, MATCH CUT TO:.

Modern scripts use them sparingly. A new scene heading already implies a cut, so write a transition only when the way we move between scenes matters to the story. Two exceptions sit on their own: a script opens with FADE IN: at the left margin and closes with FADE OUT. at the right.

10. Common mistakes

• Camera directions. "We see", "close on" and "pan to" belong to the director. Describe the moment; don't shoot it.
• Scene numbers in a spec script. They're added later, in the shooting script.
• Long blocks of action. Anything over four lines should be broken up.
• Wrong font or margins. A script in Times New Roman is spotted on the first page.
• Character names that change. One character, one name.
• A character name at the bottom of a page with their dialogue on the next. Screenwriting software moves the name down automatically; hand-formatted scripts often miss this.

11. Frequently asked questions