Here it is. Use it, change it, whatever you want:
(right click and save as) screenplay.dot
Getting Started:
1. Download this and place it in your C:\Documents
and Settings\[yourusername]\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates/.
Change [yourusername]
to your account on your local computer.
2. Close your Microsoft Word if you already have it running. Then
go to your Start menu, go all the way to the top where it says
New Office Document. Select
this.
3. A new dialogue will come up as part of Microsoft Office. Along
with other Microsoft Office icons you should see
screenplay.dot. Choose this.
4. A new page will come up with a screenplay already started.
The new document will be fresh so you can save it and not save
over the template.
Using screenplay.dot
All of the formatting is accomplished through key
combinations. They all are triple key combinations so that I didn't
overwrite any existing ones. They're left-handed based and take
a bit of getting used to. Here they are.
| |
Key Combination |
Example |
| SLUGLINE: |
CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-S |
INT. MARKET - DAY |
| ACTION: |
CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-A |
Slater draws his gun and levels it. |
| CHARACTER: |
CTRL-SHIFT-C |
SLATER |
| DIALOGUE: |
CTRL-SHIFT-D |
You're going to die! |
| WRYLY |
CTRL-SHIFT-W |
(smiling fiercely) |
Modifying screenplay.dot
1. All of this works on Microsoft Word's STYLES.
Want to see how it works? Go to the
Format menu and then scroll down to Style.
This will open up the Style dialogue. In this you can see in the
window on the left all of the styles that make up the formatting.
2. Disagree with my formatting? Click on any of
those styles and then change the font, size, whatever. This is
also the dialogue where you can change the key combination that
calls up these styles. To do this, click on the style and then
click on the Modify button.
3. Inside the next dialogue click on the Shortcut
Key button. This will bring up another dialogue which prompts
you to press the key combiantion you want to bring up that particular
style. Do this and then, if satisfied, click on the
Assign button which movies that key combination into the
field on the bottom right (called "current keys"). If
this is the only key combination you want, then go to the drop
down menu on the bottom right called "Save Changes"
and make sure the menu is selected to choose screenplay.dot. Close
this dialogue. Close the previous one as well.
4. While still in the Stylle dialogue, select Apply.
This will save your changes to that screenplay.dot.
Caveats
One more thing: The correct font to use with a
script is COURIER. If you want your script to look just like a
Final Draft script, look for a font called COURIER FINAL DRAFT.
This is just like Courier in appearance but slightly more slender
so that more words can fit in a page (though you may have the
opposite problem).
Enjoy! This template comes with NO WARRANTIES whatsoever.
It is not designed to do anything bad to your script but just
in case, I will cover myself by saying that I'm not an expert
on using Styles, it is based upon Microsoft Word and this works
for me. By downloading this template you are accepting that risk.
