Anybody have that awkward moment where a word from a line of dialogue, a scene heading or a line of action gets pushed down onto the top of the next page by itself? Any tricks as to how to avoid that? It always looks sloppy and unprofessional to me.
Screenwriting : Awkward Formatting by Christopher Binder
Awkward Formatting
Other topics in Screenwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
1 person likes this
It depends a lot on the formatting software you are using.
1 person likes this
As Doug said, it's the software you're using. Decent screenwriting software shouldn't do that and I've seen examples where people have used something like Studio Binder, Google Docs or MS Word, and they will do that sort of thing.
There is a setting in most software to keep things together.
Or go a page before and rewrite some action. you can pull things back with shorter action.
1 person likes this
You might consider investing in a good screenwriting software. I think there might even be some free ones that might work for you.
Rewrite? Hard page return.
John Day - yes it does.
1 person likes this
One of those things that software does automatically.
1 person likes this
As mentioned, proper screenwriting software shouldn't let this happen and there's plenty of free options out there now. Regardless, orphans look messy and take up valuable page space.
Yeah, good screenwriting software should fix that.
All screenplay software are the same; the page margins are preset. Any unusual formatting is on writers. Probably reading too many “shooting screenplays” online and think formatting is whatever
You can (I have in FD) extend a line margin by a space or two to recover orphans. Just don't make a habit of it.
1 person likes this
Most screenwriting software has a help manual but not many of us have time to study it and ingest elongated info. "Paying" for a screenwriting software package does not guarantee an asshole free zone with regard execution. I am not talking about people here but format gremlins. On final draft 10, I get a problem where the continued slogan appears for no apparent reason, I can be on a roll writing and suddenly CONT appears. I also have found that with final draft 11 version when I save some pages they reappear as original. Having said that I tried a lot of free stuff that was not as good as final draft. Horses for courses and as a last resort I know some writers who "tailor" Word app to do screenwriting format tasks, a longer more cumbersome route. @Christopher Yep "They're here" and you're not the only one they get when you hit your keyboard ! LOL.