Mac tutorials › Screenplay
ScreenplayChoose the kind of line with the Element menu
Change a line to Scene Heading, Action, Character, Dialogue and the other elements.
Before you start
- A screenplay with at least one line is open.
Steps
Click a line, then click the Element menu. The button shows the kind of the current line, for example Dialogue.
The menu lists Scene Heading, Action, Character, Parenthetical, Dialogue, Transition, Shot and General note (not printed), then Insert Page Break below a divider. Choose a kind to turn the line you are on into that kind.
Look at the menu when the cursor is on an Action line.
The same list opens. General note (not printed) is for a line that stays on the screen and is left off the printed page. Insert Page Break forces a new page at the cursor.
Use the keyboard instead: press Command-1 to Command-7 for Scene Heading, Action, Character, Parenthetical, Dialogue, Transition and Shot, and Command-Return for a page break.
These are the shortcuts of the Element menu. Press F7 to jump to the next spelling mistake, and Option-Down or Option-Up to go to the next or previous scene.
What you get
The line has the kind you chose and the page lays it out for you.
Watch out for
- A General note is not printed and does not appear in an exported script. Use it for reminders to yourself on the page.