Standard Play Script Formats

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In 2023, I took a graduate program on play writing. For the course my mentor wanted the script done in Microsoft Word. I have Final Draft 12 and like it, but MS Word had several advantages for me. First, both my mentor and my wife are fluent Word users. I also have Word of my iPad and iPhone. For full length plays Final Draft is wonderful. It offers many capabilities far beyond MS Word. Most professional movie screen plays are written in Final Draft. For a full length play it makes sense. Short plays on the other hand do not need the advanced features. As most of my writing is short plays now, I mostly use MS Word.

One popular suggestion is Google Docs. Google Docs is wonderful for sharing, multiple people can even work on a document at the same time. The challenge is it does not support styles beyond Headings 1-6. You can manually format a script as you go indenting the character names, actions and such. For a short play, this isn’t that big of a deal.

For MS Word I needed a template. I am comfortable creating templates, so after looking around, I built my own. I tried to put many of the auto formatting features of Final Draft. I created two templates: Stage Format and Book Format.

A book script puts the character name at the beginning of the line followed by a tab, then the dialogue. Its advantage is that it’s very compact. A stage performance script is spread out with the character name centred, then dialogue following on the next line. The Stage format is based on a movie stage play format.

Stage Format Play Script Template

The Stage Format template conforms to strict play script standards: 8.5×11, Courier 12 font, 1″ margins, pages numbered up top and a separate title page that is not part of the page numbering. I live in Canada, so mine is set up for English (Canada) but trivial to change to US, UK or Australia. (Just do a Select All and change language.) Stage format is popular with Short Play Festivals as the rule of thumb is 1 min of play for each page of script.

The title page is not considered part of the script. All author info is included on the title page only. If you are entering a submission where they want a “blind” copy, that is a script without the author identified. Convert the script to PDF, but skip the title page and you have a blind script.

To use this template, download the docx file. Make a copy, naming the file to your play. Load into MS Word and modify to your script. If you make changes to the styles, then when you need your next script, duplicate that file and start again.

I work this way rather than importing it as a template as I regularly tune the styles.

Features

  • Page numbering, play title and length in body only. Not the title page
  • This style conforms to almost all short play festivals
  • Considered 1 minute per page body

MS Word Formatting Styles

  • CHARACTER – Indent name 3″ and all CAPS. When you press enter it will automatically change to Dialogue
  • Dialogue – Left align text. Keep first line of dialogue and character name together. When you press enter it will automatically change to CHARACTER
  • Action – Indent 2″ and in italic
  • SCENE – All CAPS, bold and underlined
  • SOUND – All CAPS and underlined
  • A parenthetical is an action direction in a line of dialogue. It is surrounded by () and often in italic. It never tells of actions to other characters. That would be done with Action format. Don’t state the obvious. Examples: (angry) (whisper)

Book Format Play Script Template

When you look at published plays, they often use book format. The character name is followed by the dialogue on the same line. The font is usually Times New Roman in 12 point. In published plays, the margins are set smaller. In the template sample, the book body is 1.5 pages long while the stage format is 2.5 pages long. This format is popular when publishing a play as it reduces the number of pages therefore the cost to print. It is not popular for performing.

Play Length by Words Per Minute

If I do a word count from the first line of dialogue to the last the sample play is 472 words long. The rule-of-thumb for a play is 180 words per minute so this play is about 2.5 minutes long. This is a very rough. A slow paced play reads slower, a fast paced argument faster. The most recognized guideline is 1 page stage format with 1″ margins and Courier 12 font is a minute. That is why so many festivals ask for 10 page body in standard format.

I found the courier stage format odd at first but it is my default style now. It is easy to read.

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