Why layout is checked before the story
Screenplay format looks fussy until you understand what it is for. A script is read by people who handle hundreds of them: producers, agents, competition judges, development staff. Those readers have learned to take in a page at a glance. Headings tell them where they are, names in capitals tell them who is talking, short action paragraphs tell them what happens. When the layout follows the convention, the reader's attention goes to your story. When it does not, their attention goes to the layout.
There is also a practical reason. The format turns a script into a planning document. Scene headings let a production manager group every night scene in the same location into one shooting day. The fixed font and margins mean one page plays as roughly one minute, so a page count becomes a running-time estimate. Character names on their own line make it easy to count who speaks in which scene, which drives casting and scheduling.
This checker reads pasted text and reports every line that breaks the standard layout, with a line number and the specific change to make. It checks layout only. It cannot tell you whether a scene works, whether dialogue sounds natural or whether the story holds together.
What the checker looks for
Each rule below is a convention found in the major screenwriting guides. Where a number is involved, it is a common guideline, not a rule any reader enforces to the line.
| Element | What passes | What gets flagged | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scene heading | INT. or EXT., a location, a dash, a time of day, all in capitals | Missing time, missing location, lower case, or a line that looks like a heading without INT. or EXT. | Error |
| Character name | Capitals on its own line, with the speech on the next line | NAME: speech on one line, or a name with no speech under it | Error |
| Parenthetical | A few lower-case words in brackets, inside or before a speech | More than 6 words, a capital first letter, a full stop, or a parenthetical that ends a speech | Style (ending a speech is an error) |
| Action | Paragraphs of 4 lines or fewer | Paragraphs that wrap past 4 lines at about 60 characters each | Style |
| Dialogue | Speeches of 10 lines or fewer | Longer speeches with no break | Style |
| Camera directions | Rare: about 2 per page or fewer | CLOSE ON, ANGLE ON, WE SEE, PAN and similar used more often | Style |
| Transitions | Used for effect | CUT TO: three or more times and after more than half the scenes | Style |
| Script opening | A scene heading before any action | Action or dialogue before the first heading | Error |
Errors change how the script is read: a missing heading, or a name run into its speech, makes the reader stop and work out what is going on. Style notes are things experienced readers notice and that weaken the read, but they do not break it.
The verdict follows from those counts. A script with no scene heading at all, or with three or more errors, fails. Anything with at least one problem but fewer than three errors gets a warning. A clean pass means no problems found.
Scene headings, line by line
A scene heading opens every scene. It names the place and the time so that a reader, and later a crew, can picture it. The standard pattern is:
INT. MIRA'S KITCHEN - NIGHT
INT. stands for interior and EXT. for exterior. Use INT./EXT. (or I/E.) for scenes that move between the two, such as a conversation in a moving car. The location comes next, as short as it can be while staying specific. A dash separates the location from the time of day.
Time of day
Most scripts use DAY or NIGHT and little else. MORNING, EVENING, DAWN and DUSK are fine when the light matters to the story. CONTINUOUS means the scene follows directly from the previous one, typically a character walking from one room into another. LATER and MOMENTS LATER mark a time jump in the same place. The checker recognises these and a few others; anything unusual, such as a clock time or a word like SOON, is flagged as a style note, not an error.
Locations within locations
For a room inside a larger place, a common pattern is to name the larger place, then a dash, then the room: INT. POLICE STATION - INTERVIEW ROOM - NIGHT. The checker reads the final dash as the separator for the time, so this works as long as the time comes last.
Consistency
Use exactly the same location name every time you return to a place. INT. MIRA'S KITCHEN in one scene and INT. KITCHEN in another look like two different sets on a production schedule. The checker cannot catch this across a whole script, but the habit is worth keeping from the first draft.
Headings that are not quite headings
Writers coming from prose sometimes type "int kitchen night" or "Interior - the kitchen". The checker flags any action paragraph that starts with int, ext, interior or exterior but does not follow the INT. or EXT. pattern, because a reader skimming for scene breaks will miss it.
Character names and dialogue
A dialogue block starts with the speaking character's name in capitals on its own line. The speech goes directly underneath, with no blank line between them. Screenplay software indents the name to roughly the middle of the page and the dialogue in a narrower column; when you paste plain text, indentation usually disappears, so the checker identifies names by their capitals and position instead.
Extensions
A name can carry an extension in brackets after it. The common ones:
- (V.O.), voice-over: the voice is heard over the picture, but the speaker is not in the scene, as with narration or a voice on the radio.
- (O.S.), off-screen: the speaker is in the scene but not visible, such as someone calling from the next room. Some guides use (O.C.), off-camera, for the same purpose.
- (CONT'D), continued: the same character keeps talking after an action line interrupts their speech. Screenplay software usually adds it automatically.
The checker strips these extensions before deciding whether a line is a name.
The colon problem
One of the most common format errors in scripts by first-time screenwriters is writing dialogue like a play or a chat transcript: HALE: Where were you on Friday? It is readable, but it is not screenplay format, and it signals inexperience on the first page. The checker flags any action line that starts with a name and a colon, and tells you to move the name to its own line in capitals.
First appearances
Separately from dialogue, most guides capitalise a character's name the first time they appear in an action line, usually with a brief description: TOM (40s) steps in, soaked. This helps the production identify every speaking part. The checker does not flag missing capitals here, because it cannot tell a first appearance from a later one in a short sample.
Parentheticals
A parenthetical is a short note in brackets between a character's name and their speech, or inside a speech. It does one of two jobs: it tells the actor how a line is meant when the words alone could be misread, or it notes a small action during the speech. Some readers call them wrylies, after the overused (wryly).
Three conventions apply. Keep them short, a few words at most. Write them in lower case, with no full stop. And never end a speech with one: a parenthetical that comes after the last line of dialogue belongs in an action line instead. The checker flags all three, treating a closing parenthetical as an error because it breaks how the block is read.
Most guides also advise using parentheticals sparingly. Actors and directors tend to find the tone of a line from the scene around it, and a script with a parenthetical under every name reads as though the writer does not trust them.
Long speeches and long action
Speeches
A speech of more than about ten lines in the dialogue column is roughly 60 to 70 words, close to half a minute of uninterrupted talk at an ordinary speaking pace. Long speeches have their place: a confession, a closing argument, a story told at a funeral. But across a whole script they tend to signal that the writer is explaining rather than dramatising. The checker estimates each speech's length at about 35 characters per line and flags anything past ten lines as a style note, not an error.
Action
Action paragraphs describe what we see and hear. Guides commonly advise keeping them to three or four lines, and many writers aim for one image or beat per paragraph so that the page reads almost like a list of shots. A dense block of six or eight lines tends to be skimmed, and the important detail in the middle of it gets missed.
The checker wraps each action paragraph at about 60 characters and flags anything past four lines. Splitting is usually easy: find the point where the camera would naturally move to something new, and start a new paragraph there.
Camera directions
Directions such as CLOSE ON, ANGLE ON, PAN TO, ZOOM IN and WE SEE tell the reader how a moment should be shot. In a shooting script, prepared once a film is in production, the director and crew may add many of them. In a spec script, written to be sold or to win a competition, most guides advise using very few. The reasoning is simple: shot choice is the director's job, and a page full of camera directions reads as the writer directing on paper.
That does not mean they are forbidden. A single INSERT of a note, or a CLOSE ON a ring at the moment the audience must see it, can be the clearest way to make a story point. The checker counts camera phrases, written in capitals as scripts usually write them, along with "we see" and "the camera", and raises a style note when they exceed about two per page.
The better habit is to write the shot without naming it. "The ring glints on her finger" tells the director what to show without telling them how.
Transitions
FADE IN: traditionally opens a screenplay and FADE OUT. closes it. Between scenes, CUT TO: was once standard after almost every scene. Current spec scripts usually leave it out, because a new scene heading already tells the reader the scene has changed. Transitions are kept for moments that need one, such as a MATCH CUT: between two similar images, or a SMASH CUT: for a sudden jump.
The checker counts transitions and flags CUT TO: when it appears three or more times and after more than half of the scenes. It does not flag FADE IN: or FADE OUT., or the occasional deliberate transition.
Page count and running time
The checker estimates pages the same way a screenplay page fills. Each scene heading and transition takes a line plus a blank line. Action wraps at about 60 characters a line, dialogue at about 35, and every block is followed by a blank line. The total is divided by 55, a common figure for the number of usable lines on a page of 12-point Courier.
Because of the fixed font and margins, one page plays as about one minute on screen. It is a rule of thumb that varies with content, since pages of fast dialogue and pages of slow action rarely run exactly sixty seconds, but it holds well enough across a whole script that producers budget and schedule by it. Spec feature scripts are commonly quoted at around 90 to 120 pages; many readers prefer the lower half of that range.
Your screenplay software will give an exact page count, and it is the one to trust. The checker's figure is useful for a quick sense of length while you are pasting in drafts.
Worked example: the police station draft
The second example on this page is a short illustrative draft with the kinds of mistakes prose writers make when they first try script format. Here is how the checker reads it.
Line 1: INT. POLICE STATION. It starts with INT. and names a location, but there is no dash and no time of day. Error: no time of day. Fix: INT. POLICE STATION - NIGHT.
Line 3: Detective Hale reads the file. A normal action line. No problem.
Line 5: HALE: Where were you on Friday? A name, a colon and a speech on one line. Error. Fix: HALE on its own line, the speech on the line below.
Lines 7 to 9: RUIZ, then (Leaning back in his chair and folding his arms slowly.), then At home. The name and speech are fine. The parenthetical has three style problems: it runs 10 words, it starts with a capital letter, and it ends with a full stop. Fix: move the description into an action line ("Ruiz leans back and folds his arms.") and drop the parenthetical, or cut it to (leaning back).
Line 11: CLOSE ON the file. WE SEE a photo. ANGLE ON Hale. CLOSE ON Ruiz. Four camera phrases in one short paragraph. On a page this short, the limit is two, so this is a style note. Fix: "A photo is clipped inside the file. Hale studies Ruiz."
That gives 2 errors and 4 style notes: no time of day, the colon line, three parenthetical notes and the camera directions. Two errors is below the fail line of three, and there is a scene heading, so the verdict is a warning.
The page estimate works like this:
- The heading takes 2 lines.
- "Detective Hale reads the file." is 30 characters: 1 line plus a blank, 2 lines.
- The colon line is read as action: 31 characters, 2 lines.
- The RUIZ block is the name, the parenthetical, one line of speech and a blank: 4 lines.
- The camera paragraph is 64 characters, so it wraps to 2 lines, plus a blank: 3 lines.
- Total: 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 3 = 13 lines. Divided by 55, that is 0.24, shown as 0.2 pages, or about 14 seconds.
Corrected, the scene might read:
INT. POLICE STATION - INTERVIEW ROOM - NIGHT
DETECTIVE HALE (50s) reads a file. A photo is clipped inside it.
HALE Where were you on Friday?
RUIZ (30s) leans back and folds his arms.
RUIZ At home.
Run that through the checker and it passes with no problems.
Spec scripts, shooting scripts and television
The rules above describe a spec screenplay for a feature film, which is what most writers adapting a novel will write first. Two variations are worth knowing about.
A shooting script is the version prepared for production. It adds scene numbers down both margins, and later revisions are often tracked with dated, coloured pages. Do not add scene numbers to a spec script; they are added when a film goes into production.
Television formats differ by show type. One-hour dramas and single-camera comedies look much like a feature screenplay, with act breaks added. Multi-camera sitcoms, filmed before a studio audience, traditionally use a different layout with double-spaced dialogue and action in capitals. If you are writing for an existing show, the best guide is a produced script from that show.
The checker is built for the feature and single-camera layout. Multi-camera scripts will produce false warnings.
Getting a clean paste
The checker works on plain text, so how you copy matters.
- From screenplay software: export or copy as plain text. Most programs keep the blank lines between elements, which is what the checker needs.
- From a word processor: paste with formatting removed. Check that each element is separated by a blank line and that names sit directly above their speech.
- From a PDF: copying often merges lines or breaks words. Paste a page at a time and look at the result before checking.
Indentation does not matter. Blank lines do: one between each element, and none between a character name and the speech under it. The checker reads up to 12,000 characters, about six pages, per run.
Habits that keep a draft clean
Most format errors come from a handful of habits formed in the first few pages. Fixing them early saves hours of clean-up later.
- Write every heading in full, every time. Even when you return to the same kitchen five minutes later in the story, the new scene needs its own INT., location and time. Shorthand such as "BACK TO KITCHEN" confuses the schedule.
- Press return twice between elements. One blank line between a heading, an action paragraph and a dialogue block is what lets any reader, human or software, tell them apart.
- Never press return between a name and its speech. A blank line there separates the speaker from the words.
- Start a new action paragraph whenever the picture changes. A new person enters, the focus moves to an object, the light changes: each is a fresh paragraph.
- Decide each parenthetical twice. Write it if you need it, then on the rewrite ask whether the line would be misread without it. If not, delete it.
- Describe the image instead of the shot. "Her hand shakes as she signs" gives the director the close-up without ordering it.
- Keep transitions for effect. If you find yourself typing CUT TO: by reflex, stop typing it at all, then add back only the ones that mean something.
Screenplay software enforces several of these automatically, which is the main reason to use it once a draft is under way. A plain document is fine for early drafts; run a few pages through the checker whenever you paste from one into the other.
What the checker does not catch
No layout tool replaces a careful read. The checker does not know whether a location name is spelled the same way throughout the script, whether a character's first appearance is capitalised, whether a scene has a purpose, or whether the dialogue sounds like people talking. It may misread unusual layouts, such as song lyrics, text messages shown on screen, or montages written as lists. Treat its output as a list of things to look at, not a score.
When the checker passes your pages, the next step is to read them aloud. Format gets a script read; the story and the dialogue get it made.
Sources and rules this page relies on
- Christopher Riley, The Hollywood Standard (Michael Wiese Productions). A detailed reference for feature and television screenplay format, including scene headings, extensions, parentheticals and transitions.
- David Trottier, The Screenwriter's Bible (Silman-James Press). Covers spec script conventions, including advice on camera directions, parentheticals and action paragraph length.
- BBC Writersroom script formatting guidance (BBC). Free layout guidance and templates for film, television drama and comedy scripts.
- The one-page-per-minute rule and the 90 to 120 page range for spec features are industry rules of thumb, not published standards. The 55-lines-per-page figure and the 60 and 35 character line widths are approximations for 12-point Courier at standard margins.
- Competition and studio requirements vary and change. Before you submit a script, check the current rules of the competition, fellowship, broadcaster or company you are sending it to, including page limits and file format.