I am currently working on the pre-production of my movie script. During the pre production or before, you should consider formatting you movie script. A movie script is expected to be a certain amount long and formated in certain ways. The following is information on how you should format your movie script and extra tips.
According to http://www.tameri.com there should be 7500-20,000 words in your movie script. Then it goes on to say that it needs to be 90 to 130 pages long. All of that various depending on dialog though. A rule of movie scripts is that one page should equal one minute. So making the max of the pages instead of the words is more important. There are many ways to extend your writing to get that page count. Which leads to more words as you find new ways to describe/format actions and scenes.
First off, simply make a header and insert a page count on it. Depending how many pages your book is, you will use a line a page to make your book overall bigger slightly. For each page you should have your text the size 12 and a professional looking text type. To increase your overall script by a large amount, you can change the size of the pages indents for before and after text. With the text having a thinner look it looks more professional while extending your pages.
You may have long descriptive paragraphs. Break them into individual ones that would be their own shot in the scene. The more your break up the information to what the scene will be, the more accurate your script will be to one page to one minute rule. After breaking up the information you can add more description to it to increase your word count with everything to do with that shot.
Basic formating and grammar is needed to create the look of the average movie script. Such as putting dialog text centered and almost everything else align left. All names need to be in bold while transitions, locations and other specific descriptions need to be bold too. Some specific descriptions could be Sound, montages, Opening credits, surprise BOOM!, numbered scene and more. Learn these basic formatting skills from studying over well-known screenplays.
In the dialog names and descriptions, the names need to be in capitals. Bold in the dialog names and not bold in capitals in the descriptions. On the first page, make the tittle of the movie in the biggest text. Say who it is written by. Genres of your movie. A short description of your movie. The date of completion of your movie. And label it as a draft. You may even want to put your hand written signature on it if your handing out hard copys to people. The first page should have the most white on page compared to all the other pages.
The extra stuff you can add to you movie script could be not always recommended. Such as adding credits and templates to the script. It is worth doing if you’re doing an independent movie and your mostly in charge. The production company/editor would handle the credits if it had a decent budget, so you would not need to plan it. Your credits will need to be formatted clearly and credit all actors, composers and everyone else involved with the movie. Your choice how to credit each individual.
Nothing is wrong with an independent movie. So having your movie script a little less could be a good thing. It could be open to improvisation. Or if you sell you draft, the other editors may improve it for you. If your still not happy with you ability to proofread your own contend, you can hire people to proofread or edit it on the internet or people in your life.
Was that helpful? I find all this stuff interesting. To get to the 90 page mark you have to develop the concept of your movie to the littlest detail. Such as being descriptive of your scenes. Perfecting all the grammar and a style of formatting that is done well. A movie script of screenplay is instructions how to make the movie. Keep that in mind and do all the research you can and you will be fine. I am still in the process of getting feedback for my screenplay. Getting your movie script to absolute perfection takes time, effort, revision, research and a well-developed story.
Use the links below to help you get a better understanding of your movie script:
https://www.thevoicerealm.com/count-script.php
http://www.edgestudio.com/production/words-to-time-calculator
Click to access How_to_Format_a_Screenplay.pdf
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