Writing a screenplay
Script formats your screenplay as you type. Enter and Tab move between scene headings, action, characters and dialogue, and / opens every element.
Script is the screenplay space of a project. Open it from Project Home or the sidebar. A project’s Script is created the first time you open it.
Screenplay elements
| Element | What it is |
|---|---|
| Scene Heading | Location and time, such as INT. DINER - DAY |
| Action | What happens |
| Character | Who speaks |
| Dialogue | What they say |
| Parenthetical | Brief delivery, such as (quietly) |
| Transition | A cut or transition, such as CUT TO: |
Scriptr lays these out in Courier Prime with standard screenplay margins.
Enter and Tab
Enter starts the element that usually comes next:
- after a Scene Heading, Action;
- after a Character, Dialogue;
- after Dialogue, Action;
- after a Parenthetical, Dialogue;
- after a Transition, a new Scene Heading.
Tab changes the current line’s element: Action becomes Character, Character becomes Parenthetical, Parenthetical becomes Dialogue, and Dialogue becomes Character. Shift Tab goes the other way, for example from Dialogue back to Character, or from Character back to Action.
The insertion menu
Type / at the start of a line, or after a space, to choose any element, start a New Scene, or Ask Co-writer about the scene you are in.
Scenes
A new scene begins only when you deliberately add a Scene Heading or choose New Scene. Changing a heading from INT. to EXT., or renaming its location, keeps it the same scene everywhere in Scriptr, including in Production.
Good to know
- Scriptr saves as you type: see Recovering recent writing and how autosave works.
- Revision marks, scene numbers on exported pages and title page editing are not available yet.
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