Windows tutorials › Screenplay
ScreenplayWrite with elements and change an element type
Type scene headings, action, character, dialogue and the other elements, and move between them with the keyboard or the element bar.
Before you start
- A screenplay is open and the cursor is on the page.
Steps
Click a line and type. Read the element bar at the bottom of the page.
The bar names the element of the line you are in and what Enter will make next. A Scene Heading says Enter → Action. Action goes to Character, Character goes to Dialogue, and Dialogue goes back to Action. Press Enter on an empty line to convert it instead of adding a blank one: an empty Action becomes a Scene Heading, an empty Parenthetical becomes Dialogue, and other empty elements become Action.
Click the element bar to open the ELEMENT TYPE menu, then click an element.
The menu lists Scene Heading (Ctrl+1), Action (Ctrl+2), Character (Ctrl+3), Parenthetical (Ctrl+4), Dialogue (Ctrl+5), Transition (Ctrl+6) and Shot (Ctrl+7). Below them are General note (not printed), which adds a note to the script that is left off the printed pages, and Insert page break (Ctrl+Enter).
To change an element without the mouse, press Tab or Shift+Tab, or one of Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+7.
Tab moves to the next element in the menu order and wraps round from Shot to Scene Heading. Shift+Tab goes the other way. A page break and a custom element are left as they are. Ctrl+Enter inserts a page break at the cursor.
Keep typing. Press Enter at the end of a line to start the next element.
A script reads from top to bottom as headings, action and dialogue. Scene numbers show in both margins of the page and are added for you.
What you get
Your lines carry the right element, so the page is laid out like a screenplay.
Watch out for
- If the next element is not the one you want, change it with the element bar or Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+7. The suggestion is only a starting point.
- General note (not printed) is for notes to yourself that sit in the script. It is left off the printed pages and, by default, off exports.