Make your title page
Fill in the boxes and the page beside them changes as you type. When it looks right, print it or save it as a PDF, or take it away as Fountain to paste above your script. What you type stays in this page: nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is kept once you close it.
To save a PDF, choose Save as PDF as the printer, and turn off headers and footers if your browser adds them.
The choices in the boxes
- Credit. Written by is right for most scripts you wrote from your own idea. Screenplay by goes with an adaptation, above a Based on line. Teleplay by and Story by are television and Guild credit forms; on a spec, Written by nearly always fits.
- Writers. An ampersand joins writers who worked together as a team. The word "and" means something else in a Guild credit (writers who worked separately), so don't use it for a partnership.
- Based on. Only for an adaptation, or a script about a real person's life: Based on the novel by, Based on the play by, Based on the life of.
- Contact details. Your name, an email address and a phone number are enough. Once you have an agent or a manager, their details go here instead.
The layout is the usual one: the title about a third of the way down, the credit a few lines under it, and the contact block at the bottom left, all in Courier. Everything is 12 point except the title, which Larger title sets at 20; untick it and the title matches the rest. Our guide to the title page explains each choice in more detail, with four examples.
Putting it in front of your script
- As a PDF. Save the title page as a PDF and join it to your script's PDF, title page first. Most PDF readers can combine two files, and so can a free online merge.
- In a screenwriting program. Most programs build the title page from fields you fill in. Copy your choices across; the layout will match.
- In a Fountain file. The downloaded file holds only the title page block. Paste it at the very top of your script's Fountain file, above the first scene.
In ScriptopusEdit cover page, just above the first page of the script, opens the title page for editing. Its first design, Industry Standard, puts everything where this maker does, and the exported PDF prints it in front of the script, in the script's own font.
Questions
Is anything I type saved or sent?
No. The page draws the preview in your browser and keeps nothing. Close the tab and it is gone, so print or download before you leave.
Why is there no date or draft number box?
Because a script you are sending out shouldn't carry them. Dates and drafts belong to scripts in production.
Can I use a different font for the title?
The convention is Courier throughout. A decorative title font draws attention to the page rather than the script, so most writers avoid it.
The printed page has a date and an address on it.
Those are your browser's own headers and footers. Turn them off in the print window, usually under More settings, before you save the PDF.
Write it formatted from the first line
Scriptopus sets every line as you type, keeps the beat board and the treatment beside the script, and exports the PDF and Final Draft file you will need. The editor is free on Mac and Windows.
- Every element in its place, with Tab, Enter and Ctrl+1 to 6.
- Beat Board, Treatment and Synopsis in the same project as the script.
- Six title page layouts, Industry Standard first.
- PDF, Final Draft, Fountain and Celtx exports.