So again, the rejoinder, before you delve through my missive, is that there is no single, go-to standard script format standard.
Ms word center text on page cover how to#
The seminar teaser:įor everyone that’s wanted to learn best practices for preparing your script in theatrical format, this is the seminar for you! Sam Graber will show you how to create styles and templates so that your script has that look. Fun and laughs included. During November 2014 I first shared my assembled answer to what standard script format is supposed to look like at the Playwrights’ Center, as part of their ongoing seminar series. I would like to try and assemble those standards pieces for you here. So here comes the chief culprit of theatrical mischief (me) to assail your cold-shocked minds with some warming news, which is that while there isn’t a universal, inviolable pronouncement of proper script format governing theater, there are various format standardswhich have become generally accepted. Now that the Minneapolis weather has turned from a scorching positive fifteen to a balmy ten below in the shade, it’s time to huddle together and posit the great question no doubt rattling the mind of all grant-seeking playwrights…the ever-present question being…Ĭan someone please tell me what standard script format is supposed to look like?!?!?! This basic template created in Microsoft Word can be used as a starting point for your next script. Click to insert it just like you would one of Word’s built-in cover pages.Originally published Decemon. Now when you open the “Cover Page” drop-down menu in the future, you’ll see your new cover page template in the “General” section. In the window that opens, give your cover page a name and fill out a brief description if you want. This time, choose the “Save Selection to Cover Page Gallery” command from the drop-down menu. Next, head back to the “Insert” tab and then click that “Cover Page” button again.
Now that we’ve got our cover page the way we want it, it’s time to create a cover page template out of it.įirst, select everything in the document (that’s why we recommend starting this in a blank document) by pressing Ctrl+A. It’s not the prettiest cover page around, but it’s a good working example. Here, we’ve centered them on the page, applied the Title style to the title, shifted things down on the page a bit, and inserted a filigree illustration for a little flair. They’re super plain to start with, but you can treat them like any other text in Word by applying styles and formatting, centering them on the page-whatever. When you insert your cover page into a document later on, those fields are populated with the actual properties from the document (and you can also edit them on the fly if you want). When you’re done, you’ll have several fields on your page. Go ahead and insert whichever properties you want to appear on your title page. On the drop-down menu, point to the “Document Property” submenu, and you’ll see a bunch of different properties you can insert into your document: author, title, company, publish date, and so on. To do that, switch over to the “Insert” tab and then click the “Quick Parts” button. Instead, you can use Word’s Quick Parts feature to add document properties to the document.
You can just type the text you want, but that wouldn’t make it much of a template unless you want the same text on the cover page every time you use it. When it comes to content, you have a couple of options. You can also position those elements how you want and even apply Word’s text wrapping tools to them. You can add a background color, picture, or texture. You can create your cover page using pretty much any of Word’s tools.