Dozens of people read a screenplay before an audience sees the film: readers, producers, the director, the cast. All of them expect the same format, because it lets them judge running time and budget from page one. This guide shows how to format a screenplay to the industry standard, with an example of every element, the mistakes readers notice first, and a checklist to run before you hit send.
Why screenplay format matters
Everything rests on one rule: one page of properly formatted screenplay equals roughly one minute of screen time. A producer opens a 95-page file and knows it is a feature of about an hour and a half. The first assistant director breaks it into scenes and locations for the schedule, and actors get their lines without noise. None of that works unless the format is standard.
There is a quieter reason too. A badly formatted script tells a reader the writer does not know the craft yet, and such scripts are often set aside before the second scene. Bad format can hide a strong story from the people who decide its fate.
The standard is the master scene format, sometimes called the American format. It came out of Hollywood and is now used by studios, broadcasters and streamers almost everywhere. If you are still at the idea stage, start with How to Write a Screenplay and come back here when the draft needs to be dressed for the room.
Page setup: Courier 12 and margins
The numbers below are arithmetic, not taste. Courier is monospaced, so every character takes the same width: about 60 characters per line and 55 lines per page. That is where the page-per-minute rule comes from. Swap in Times New Roman and your running time drifts.
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Font | Courier, Courier Prime or Courier New, 12 pt |
| Paper | US Letter (8.5 × 11 in) internationally; A4 is common in Ukraine and Europe |
| Left margin | 1.5 in (3.8 cm), to leave room for binding |
| Right margin | 1 in (2.5 cm) |
| Top and bottom margins | 1 in (2.5 cm) |
| Page numbers | top right, followed by a period; none on the title page |
| Spacing | single, with one blank line between elements |
The dialogue block has its own indents, measured from the left edge of the page: the character name starts at about 3.7 in, the parenthetical at 3.1 in, the dialogue at 2.5 in, and the dialogue column is roughly 3.5 in wide. Transitions sit against the right margin. Body text uses no bold, italics or underlining.
On paper: American studios and international competitions expect Letter, while many Ukrainian and European companies work in A4. Across a hundred pages the difference adds up to a few minutes, so check what the recipient wants. ProfiScenario supports both: the classic Master Scene Format on Letter and a Ukrainian A4 template for sitcoms and TV series.
The elements of a screenplay, with examples
A screenplay is built from a small set of elements in a fixed order. Master them and how to format a screenplay stops being a question.
Scene heading
The scene heading, or slugline, opens every scene. It answers three questions: inside or outside, where exactly, what time of day. Capitals, one line.
INT. OLENA'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT
EXT. SCHOOLYARD - DAY
INT. means interior, EXT. means exterior. The location runs from general to specific, separated by hyphens. Time of day is DAY or NIGHT; MORNING, EVENING and DAWN are fine when light or story depend on them, and LATER marks a short jump inside the same location. A clock time like "2:30 PM" goes in the action, not the heading. Every change of place or time gets a new heading, because headings are how the production counts shooting days and locations.
Action lines
Action lines tell the reader what the audience sees and hears. Present tense only, and only what can be filmed. Paragraphs of three or four lines at most; one paragraph is one beat.
OLENA (34), in a stretched-out T-shirt, stands at the stove scrolling her phone. Eggs are burning in the pan.
Smoke climbs to the ceiling. The smoke alarm SHRIEKS.
Three rules. A character's first appearance is capitalized and followed by an age; after that the name is written normally. Important sounds and key props can be capitalized, within reason. Inner states are not described: "Olena thinks about the divorce" cannot be filmed, while "Olena looks at her wedding ring and takes it off" can.
Character name
The character name sits above the dialogue, in capitals, and never changes. If she is OLENA in scene one, she cannot become MOM in scene twenty; breakdown software and actors will read that as two people. An extension in parentheses next to the name explains where the voice comes from.
| Extension | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (V.O.) | voice-over: a voice not physically in the scene, such as a narrator, thoughts, or a phone call |
| (O.S.) | off-screen: the character is in the scene but out of frame |
| (CONT'D) | the same character keeps speaking after a line of action or a page break |
If you write in Ukrainian, conventions vary: most studios use (ЗК) for both cases, some distinguish (ГЗК) for voice-over from (ЗК) or (О.С.) for off-screen. Ask the project's script editor or keep the English extensions.
OLENA
Ihor. The stove.
IHOR (O.S.)
What?
Parenthetical
The parenthetical sits on its own line between the name and the dialogue: lowercase, in parentheses, one line. Its only job is to explain how a line is delivered when that is not obvious.
OLENA
(without looking up)
Ihor. The stove.
It is not a place for action: "(walks to the window, opens it, stares at the street)" belongs in an action paragraph. And resist directing every line; "(angrily)" and "(sighing)" on every other cue annoy both the reader and the actor.
Dialogue
Dialogue sits under the name in a narrower column. Short, conversational, to the point; a half-page block is almost always a sign the scene needs a rewrite. Numbers are usually spelled out so the actor knows how to say them. When a speech does not fit on the page, (MORE) goes at the bottom and the name is repeated overleaf with (CONT'D); screenwriting software does this for you.
Transitions
Transitions describe the cut between scenes. Capitals, right-aligned, ending with a colon except for fades.
FADE IN:
INT. OLENA'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT
...
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. SCHOOLYARD - DAY
...
FADE OUT.
FADE IN: opens the script and FADE OUT. closes it; CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO: and SMASH CUT TO: are the common ones between. Use them sparingly: every new scene heading already implies a cut.
Shot
A shot looks like a heading without INT./EXT. and points at a detail: CLOSE ON OLENA'S HANDS, INSERT - PHONE SCREEN. A spec script should have almost none; "Her hands are shaking" already puts a close-up in the reader's head.
Dual dialogue
When two characters speak at once, their lines go in two side-by-side columns.
OLENA IHOR
You left the stove on! I was in the shower!
In a word processor that means a hand-built table; in ProfiScenario you mark the second speech as dual dialogue and the columns align themselves. Use it once or twice per script.
The title page
The title page is plain: the title centered in capitals, "written by" and the author's name underneath, and for an adaptation "based on the novel by". At the bottom, contact details on one side and the draft number and date on the other. No logos, artwork or page number.
KITCHEN AT THREE A.M.
written by
Olena Koval
Draft 2 [email protected]
10 Sep 2026 +380 __ ___ __ __
Common screenplay format mistakes
- Camera directions in the action. "CAMERA PUSHES IN", "PAN ACROSS THE ROOM". Shot design belongs to the director and cinematographer; describe what we see and let them choose the lens.
- Novelistic prose. Long paragraphs, memories, interior monologue, past tense. "She remembered how her mother used to..." cannot be shot; if the memory matters, it is a flashback scene with its own heading.
- Overlong parentheticals. Anything longer than one line inside parentheses is action and gets its own paragraph.
- Numbering scenes in a spec script. Numbers are added in pre-production. In a writer's draft they clutter the page.
- Wrong tense. "Olena walked to the window" instead of "Olena walks to the window".
- Different names for the same character. OLENA, MOM, MRS. KOVAL. Pick one and keep it.
Checklist before you send it
- Courier 12 throughout, no bold or italics; Letter or A4, whichever the studio asks for.
- Title page with title, author, contact details, draft number and date.
- Page numbers top right; none on the title page.
- Every scene heading has INT. or EXT., a location and a time of day.
- Action in present tense, paragraphs no longer than four lines.
- Each character's first appearance in capitals with an age; names never change.
- Parentheticals short, lowercase, with no action inside.
- No scene numbers and no camera directions.
- Transitions only where they carry meaning.
- Exported to PDF, named like "Title_Surname_Draft2.pdf".
A screenplay template: one page that passes any reader
Put the elements together and you get a page you can show any producer.
FADE IN:
INT. OLENA'S APARTMENT - KITCHEN - NIGHT
OLENA (34), in a stretched-out T-shirt, stands at the stove scrolling her phone. Eggs are burning in the pan.
Smoke climbs to the ceiling. The smoke alarm SHRIEKS.
OLENA
(without looking up)
Ihor. The stove.
Running water from the bathroom.
IHOR (O.S.)
What?
OLENA
Nothing.
She turns off the burner. Looks at the blackened eggs. Then at the phone. On the screen, a message: "Ihor: I changed my mind."
FADE OUT.
Notice how much is left unsaid: no explanation of why Olena does not look up, no close-up on the phone, no music cue. The reader assembles the picture, and that is what separates a screenplay from prose.
How ProfiScenario formats your screenplay for you
All of the above can be done by hand in a word processor, but every paragraph needs its own style and every edit breaks the indents. ProfiScenario takes that work away.
The editor formats elements automatically: after a scene heading, Enter opens an action line, after a character name it moves to dialogue, and Tab switches element types. Scenes are numbered automatically when you need a shooting draft. The classic Master Scene Format and the Ukrainian A4 sitcom (multi-camera) template are built in, and dual dialogue is a single command.
PDF and Fountain export are free on every plan. Pro, at ₴299 per month with a 7-day free trial, adds Word (.docx) and Final Draft (.fdx) export plus actor sides, so each performer gets only their own scenes. Several people can co-write the same script in real time and see each other's changes instantly.
Plan details are on the pricing page. To see your own text in proper format, there is one step: Try it for free.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really have to use Courier?
Yes, if the script is going to a studio, a producer or a competition: Courier is what makes the page-per-minute ratio hold. Courier Prime and Courier New are accepted substitutes. Drafts can use any font, but the final file needs to be Courier 12.
How long should a screenplay be?
A feature usually runs 90 to 120 pages, comedies near the low end and dramas near the high end. An hour-long TV episode is 45 to 60 pages, a sitcom episode 22 to 35. A short rarely exceeds 15 pages. None of this is law, but big deviations need a reason.
Should I number my scenes?
Not in a spec script. Numbers are added in pre-production, when the production needs them for scheduling, breakdowns and sides. If a studio asks for a numbered draft, that is one click in the editor.
Can I format a screenplay in Word?
You can, but it is the long way round: a style for every element, constant attention to indents and page breaks, tables for dual dialogue. Screenwriting editors do all of that automatically. Format is a tool, not the goal; do not spend more time on it than on the writing.