Dialogue Spacing & Margins

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > FORMAT > FORMAT EXAMPLE > DIALOGUE SPACING

Don't try saving a tree by using a narrow left margin -- that kind of economy loses dialogue in the "gutter" of the manuscript when you put it all together with a cover. And that makes it a pain to read.


				LARKIN
	Everyone who matters in this is dead.  Or nearly so.  
	At least we accomplished that much by doing nothing. 

				JOAN
	That's good?

Left Margin: Minimum width = 1.5". Maximum = 2.0"

There was a brief flurry of interest at the end of the last century in moving to 1.5 spaces per line for dialogue instead of single-spacing. Fortunately, the whole idea went up in smoke along with the dot.com craze, so hardly anybody bothers with this anymore -- or wants to see it in a script. The old single-spaced dialogue format shown in the Format Page Example is still what's widely used by contemporary playwrights.

And here's the whole Format By The Numbers.

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