Format
Discuss formatting with the story editor. You may be able to download a script template. In
any case you must know technical requirements: whether your script needs to be submitted
on a disk or if you must use a specific word processing program like Microsoft Word. Follow
the format of the sample script exactly. No story editor has the time to make formatting
changes.
Suggested general format guidelines follow. All scripts should be written on 8^1 / 2 ¥
11-inch white, three-hole-punched paper. Use Courier 12-point font, the script standard.
The normal number of lines per page is around fifty-two. If you follow standards, story
editors can correctly estimate the length of your script. For those of you who don’t have
screenwriting software, here are some suggested settings: Adjust the top and bottom
margins to one inch. Set the left margin at one and a half inches and the right at three-
quarters of an inch. The body of the script runs from space fifteen to space seventy-five. (The
body includes FADE IN and FADE OUT, scene headings, and scene descriptions.) Dialogue
extends from space twenty-five to space sixty. Dialogue cues run from space thirty-one to
space fifty-four. Character names start at space thirty-seven. Scene transition cues (except
for FADE IN and FADE OUT) begin at space sixty. A few spaces or lines off one way or
the other is all right. Number your pages in the upper right corner.
A title page should start all scripts. It contains the title (about a third of the way down
and centered in all capitals, and either in bold or underlined), and the episode title if there
is one (two spaces below the main title, centered in upper and lower case, enclosed by quo-
tations). Four spaces below that is the phrase “by (centered and lower case) [your name].”
Contact information is located in a single-spaced block (upper and lower case) in the lower
right corner of the page, typed flush left within the block. Registration notice (copyright or
WGA registration information) is in the lower left block, typed flush left within the block.
Registration notice is for original rather than episodic scripts. Some people feel that a reg-
istration notice makes the work look unprofessional, but your work is not legally protected
without a copyright notice. Use your own judgment. If the script is a script-for-hire, then the
date instead of the contact information is typed in the lower right corner.
Some studios want a cast list or list of speaking characters for recording with brief one-
sentence descriptions about each character on the second page. Check with your story editor.
Not all animation scripts are alike. Feature animation scripts and CGI series resemble
live-action scripts. They’re written in master scenes: INT. THE CASTLE—DAY, just as you’d
write a live-action script without specific camera shots. Prime-time animated TV scripts
resemble their live-action sitcom counterparts.
Animated daytime TV scripts are normally written differently. They average roughly
one and a half pages of script per minute. Ask your story editor exactly how many pages he
wants. Many camera shots are normally included (CLOSE SHOT OF BATMAN or LOW-
ANGLE ON SCOOBY), as if you were directing the episode. A sample TV animation script
follows. It’s reasonably typical, but different studios and different shows at the same studios
have slightly different needs in the use of camera shots, format, pages per minute, scene
numbering, and so forth. Ask your story editor for a sample script of the show you’re writing,
and follow that format exactly.
Here are some more suggestions: Do not break actor dialogue blocks, starting the block
on one page and finishing it on the next. Skip the few lines and start the block fresh on the
202 Animation Writing and Development