Mac tutorials › Screenplay
ScreenplayCreate a custom element such as Telephone
Add a paragraph kind of your own, with a look, a shortcut and what Return creates next.
Before you start
- A screenplay is open.
Steps
Choose Screenplay Tools, then Custom Elements….
The sheet says: Extra paragraph kinds for this screenplay, such as a telephone voice or a lower third. Final Draft custom elements arrive here when you import. With none yet it says No custom elements yet. Add custom element opens the form, Done closes the sheet.
Type a Name, for example Telephone.
The form has Name, Looks, Shortcut, Blank lines before, Enter creates, the Capital letters and Italic boxes, and Name in Final Draft files. Add stays grey until the Name is filled.
Open Looks and choose how the line should be laid out.
The choices are Like Action, Centred, Like Character, Like Parenthetical, Like Dialogue, Like Transition (right) and Like Shot.
Open Shortcut and choose a key.
The choices are None and Command-Option-1 to Command-Option-9. Choose Enter creates to set the element Return starts after this one.
Click Add.
A notice reads Added the custom element “Telephone”. The list shows the element with its summary, for example Like Dialogue · Command+Option+1 · Final Draft name TELEPHONE · used 0 times, and the buttons Edit and Delete. Name in Final Draft files is used when you export and import .fdx; empty uses the name in capitals.
Click Done, then open the Element menu in the bar.
Telephone now appears below General note (not printed) in the list.
Choose Telephone for a line in the script, or press its shortcut.
The line is set to the custom element, and the Element menu shows Telephone.
What you get
The custom element is in the Element menu and set on the line.
Watch out for
- Delete on a custom element removes the kind; lines that use it need another element. The summary shows how many times it is used.