Format by the Numbers

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > FORMAT > NUMBERS >

'Usually, the faster I write, the better it is, so I was probably writing five or six hours a day . . . I can write about five pages an hour when I'm going good. The original script was about 180 pages long, but when we ended up doing the play it was reduced to around 90 pages. So I cut about half the original script.'

-- Tom Noonan

Dialogue Pages Format

• Top Margin: 0.75" - 1.0"

• Bottom Margin: 1.0" - 1.5"

• Character Names & Opening Stage Directions:
  • Left Margin: About Center of page - 4.25"
  • Right Margin: 1.0"

• Dialogue:
  • Left Margin: 1.5" - 2.0"
  • Right Margin: 1.0"

• General Stage Directions & Character s.d.
  • Left Margin: 3.5"
  • Right Margin: 1.0"

Note: If you print out the Dialogue Page Example, it won't measure up exactly to what these By the Numbers will give you [for boring technical Web browser reasons]. But either one is close enough for theatre. What matters in stage play Format is the general appearance -- the physical relationship between character names, dialogue, and stage directions on the page -- not the exact fractions of an inch.

Preliminary Pages Format

• Character Page & Setting & Time Page
  • Left Margin: 1.5" - 2.0"
  • Right Margin: 1.0"

• Title Page
  • Center: Title & your name.
  • Left Margin [for Copyright notice]: 1.5" - 2.0"
  • Right Margin: 1.0"