Screenplay Format Template and Example: Every Element on the Page
The exact indent for every screenplay element, plus a short formatted scene example, the Courier 12 font rule, the margins and where the page numbers sit.
Where every element sits on the page
A screenplay is typed in 12 point Courier on US Letter paper with a 1.5 inch left margin, and six elements sit at fixed positions across the page: scene heading and action at 1.5 inches, dialogue at 2.5, parenthetical at 3.1, character cue at 3.7, transition at 6. Every position in the table below is measured from the left edge of the paper, not from the margin. Get the shape wrong and a reader knows something about you before your first scene heading lands.
Element | Left indent from page edge | Width | Capitalisation |
|---|---|---|---|
Scene heading | 1.5" | 6.0", runs to 7.5" | ALL CAPS |
Action | 1.5" | 6.0", runs to 7.5" | Sentence case |
Character cue | 3.7" | runs to 7.5" | ALL CAPS |
Parenthetical | 3.1" | 2.5", runs to about 5.6" | lower case |
Dialogue | 2.5" | 3.5", runs to 6.0" | Sentence case |
Transition | 6.0", or right-aligned to 7.5" | to 7.5" | ALL CAPS |
Page number | flush right at 7.5", 0.5" from the top edge | one line | number then a full stop |
Full disclosure, we make a writing studio called Skrib, which means we argue about tenths of an inch more than is healthy. Every measurement above was checked against a published standard rather than remembered.
A screenplay format example
Here is the shape those numbers make: scene heading, action, character cue, parenthetical, dialogue, in the order they occur. Read the left edge of the block as the 1.5 inch margin.
Notice what is not in that block: a single measurement. In a Skrib Screenplay project the indent belongs to the element type, so Tab and Enter walk you from Character to Dialogue to Action and the ruler never comes out.
How to format a screenplay: the font, the margins and the page
The screenplay font is Courier at 12 point, and the size is not negotiable. Courier 12 gives you 10 characters to the horizontal inch and six lines to the vertical inch, which is the only reason a page count means anything: 3.5 inches of dialogue width is exactly 35 characters, every time. Change the font and you have broken the measuring instrument that produces the 90 to 120 page feature. Courier Prime, released free in 2013 and now the default in several apps, keeps those metrics and fixes the ugly italics.
Screenplay margins run 1.5 inches left, 1 inch right and top, and half an inch to an inch at the bottom. A full page holds about 55 lines of text. Numbering starts on page two.
That measuring instrument is worth nothing unless something is counting while you write. The footer of a Skrib Draft carries a live scene, page and word count as you type, so the number you quote is the number that prints.
Frequently Asked Questions
What font and font size is a screenplay written in?
12 point Courier. Courier Prime and Courier Final Draft are the two variants you will meet, and both are accepted everywhere.
What are the correct screenplay margins?
1.5 inches left, 1 inch right, 1 inch top, and half an inch to an inch at the bottom. The left margin is wide because printed scripts get three-hole punched and bound with brads. Never shave one to hide a page count.
What is a slugline?
A slugline is the scene heading: INT. or EXT., the location in caps, then the time of day. What a spec submission needs around those pages is covered in how to format a spec script.
Set the Page Once in Skrib
Format is constant, and constant is the problem. Set the project type to Screenplay and the Draft carries the spec above. The Board sits one toggle from the page, or beside it in split screen, so the structure you decided in January is open next to the scene that fell apart tonight, and old drafts stay searchable in the Library. Skrib does not produce coloured production revisions or locked pages, so a script in prep still ends up elsewhere.
Learn the spec once, then stop carrying it.
