By Hazel Doolan

Scripts. When you’re in the theatre, acting, film, screenwriting and creative world you most likely have come across numerous of them. Whether you’re in college, an actor, director, producer or in my case have been all four, your shelf, laptop and desk (All the above apply to me, I find scripts in places I didn’t realize I had them!) are full of scripts. So I just wanted to share common things I would’ve seen in scripts and mistakes I’ve made in the layout. 

Title Page and Page Numbering

One of the first things; this is a common mistake I’ve seen and made myself. The joyous concept that is page numbering! The thing is though it is needed. There’s nothing worse than coming into rehearsals to the following: 

Director: Ok let’s start at Act Two! 

Actor: What page is that on? 

Director: …. 

Take this as another example:

Stage Manager: So during that run Ed, you missed a line on (spends next few minutes flicking through the script to find missed line)

It seems like a simple thing but it makes a huge difference in the rehearsal room and it looks professional if you wish to send it to a publisher. Depending on your laptop/software there are simple enough steps. I for example use a Chromebook and Google Docs. In this case you click ‘Insert’, then ‘Page Numbers’, and then sometimes you have options to add a cover page, choose where your numbers will go (bottom or top of the page). It also gives you the option to add a title or cover page so the next page starts at page 1 instead of page 2 (This has given me so many headaches with my own scripts until I figured it out). 

Copyright and Saving

Next and this is something I’ve just picked up in recent years is to make sure that you have copyright details on your script. In the unlikely event that a script should go astray or end up in the wrong hands it can end up being published by someone else. Most people are decent and won’t do that, but it’s still good practice. Some people add this to their cover page, though I read a script recently which had it at the border (top of the page beside page number) which I thought was a great idea. Not only does it look professional, it adds that little bit of extra protection to your script copyright wise.    

Spacing 

This is more personal but if at all possible, I prefer seeing scripts where the last line or stage direction of a scene doesn’t take up one whole page. It’s bad for the environment and a waste of paper. There’s nothing more annoying when I’m writing something, I am almost done, I can almost taste that glass of chardonnay I’ve been saving for after… And then alas, I look up and see the last line/word taking up the next page! The horror! There is a way around this, whether that be altering the type of font you use, the size of your font, the size of spacing (side note: I’d recommend using 1.5 spacing) and or go through your writing. Maybe there’s another way of phrasing a line or stage direction. 

Happy writing! Stay Safe! Oíche Shamhna Shona Daoibh!