What font and margins does a screenplay use?

12-point Courier on US Letter, with a roughly 1.5-inch left margin, 1-inch right and bottom, and dialogue indented within set margins. The fixed-width font is what makes one page approximate one minute of screen time.

Why does one page equal one minute?

Standard Courier formatting produces a consistent density of action and dialogue, so a properly formatted page runs about a minute on screen. That is why a feature script is typically 90 to 120 pages, and why off-standard formatting misleads readers about runtime.

What are the main screenplay elements?

Scene headings (sluglines), action (present-tense description), character cues, dialogue, parentheticals, and transitions. Each has its own indentation and capitalization rules that readers expect on sight.

Do I need screenwriting software to format correctly?

Software handles the margins and indents automatically, which saves time and prevents errors, but format is a set of rules, not a product. You can match the standard in any editor; software just makes it effortless.

Does formatting actually affect whether a script sells?

Indirectly but really. Off-standard format signals an amateur before page one and gives a busy reader a reason to pass. Correct format does not sell a script, but incorrect format gets it rejected unread.

How to Format a Screenplay: The Industry Standard

Why Screenplay Format Exists

When a reader opens your screenplay, they make a judgment about your professionalism before they read a single line of dialogue. That judgment comes from format. Correct screenplay format does not make a bad script good, but incorrect format gives a busy reader permission to stop, and most of them take it. Learning how to format a screenplay is the cheapest credibility you will ever buy: it costs nothing but attention, and skipping it costs you readers you cannot afford to lose.

Format is not arbitrary fussiness. It evolved to do two practical jobs. First, it makes a script readable at speed by everyone in a production, from the director to the line producer to the actor flipping to their scenes. Second, it makes a page predict screen time, so a producer can glance at a page count and know roughly what they are financing. Once you understand those two purposes, the rules stop feeling like bureaucracy and start feeling like tools.

The Page Setup: Font, Size, and Margins

Screenplays are written in 12-point Courier, a fixed-width font, on US Letter paper. The fixed width is the entire point. Because every character occupies the same horizontal space, a properly formatted page holds a consistent amount of action and dialogue, which is what makes the page-per-minute estimate reliable.

The margins are specific. The left margin runs wider than usual, around an inch and a half, to leave room for the brass brads that bind a script and for notes. The right and bottom margins sit at about an inch. Page numbers go in the top right. The first page carries no number.

You do not need to memorize fractions of an inch. Any screenwriting application sets these defaults automatically. But you should understand that these numbers are the reason a feature script runs ninety to one hundred twenty pages, and why a script formatted in something other than standard Courier will misrepresent its own runtime.

The Page-Per-Minute Rule

One properly formatted page equals roughly one minute of screen time. This is the single most important consequence of standard format, because it turns your page count into a budget signal.

A ninety-page script reads as a tight, lower-budget feature. A one-hundred-twenty-page script reads as a full-length drama. A one-hundred-fifty-page script reads as a writer who does not understand production economics, regardless of how good the writing is. Readers internalize this so deeply that an off-length script raises a flag before they reach the story.

This rule is also why padding format to inflate or shrink page count backfires. Experienced readers feel manipulated density immediately. Write the script the story needs, then cut, rather than gaming the margins.

Scene Headings

A scene heading, also called a slugline, begins every scene and tells the reader three things in capital letters: whether the scene is interior or exterior, the location, and the time of day.

The form is fixed: INT. or EXT., then the specific location, then a dash and the time, usually DAY or NIGHT. INT. DETECTIVE'S OFFICE - NIGHT. Keep locations consistent so a production can group scenes by setting; if it is the same office, name it the same way every time. Sluglines exist so a first assistant director can break the script into a shooting schedule, which is why precision matters more than variety.

Action Lines

Action, also called description, is written in the present tense and the active voice. It describes only what the audience can see and hear, never what a character thinks unless that thought is visible on screen.

Good action is lean. Long gray blocks of description are the most common amateur tell, because they slow the read and usually contain novelistic detail a camera cannot capture. Break description into short paragraphs, often just a line or two. Capitalize a character's name on first appearance and capitalize significant sounds and on-screen text. The discipline of writing only what is filmable is itself part of the craft; it forces you to externalize everything.

Character Cues and Dialogue

When a character speaks, their name appears in capitals, indented to a set position above the line, with the dialogue centered in a narrower column beneath it. The indentation is standardized so the eye can track who speaks without reading every cue.

Parentheticals, the small bracketed directions under a character cue, should be rare. Use them only when delivery is not obvious from context and matters to the scene. A parenthetical that tells an actor to speak "angrily" when the line is plainly angry insults the reader and the eventual performer. When two characters speak at once, dual dialogue can be set side by side, but use it sparingly.

Transitions and Special Cases

Transitions like CUT TO: or DISSOLVE TO: sit at the right margin. Modern scripts use them sparingly, because a cut is the default and stating the obvious clutters the page. Reserve transitions for moments where the cut itself carries meaning.

A few special cases recur. Montages and intercuts have their own conventions for grouping shots. Phone conversations across two locations use intercut headings. Voiceover and off-screen lines are marked with (V.O.) and (O.S.) after the character cue. Flashbacks are signaled in the slugline. Learn these as you need them rather than front-loading every rule.

Do You Need Screenwriting Software

You do not strictly need dedicated software, because format is a set of rules rather than a product, and you can reproduce it in any text editor with enough patience. But software handles the indentation, capitalization, and element switching automatically, which removes a class of errors and lets you keep your attention on the writing. For anyone writing more than one script, the time saved is worth it. The tool does not make you professional; matching the standard does.

The Bottom Line on Format

Format is a solved problem. The rules are stable, widely documented, and enforced by every piece of screenwriting software, so there is no excuse for getting them wrong. Treat correct format as the baseline that earns you a real read, then put your energy where it actually counts, into the story the format is carrying.

:::insight{title="The quick version"} 12-point Courier, US Letter, standard margins, sluglines in caps, lean present-tense action, indented dialogue, rare parentheticals, sparing transitions, and a page count that respects the one-page-per-minute rule. Get these right and a reader judges your story, not your formatting. :::