Stage Play Scripts Formatting

Question

I’m writing a stafe play and just need info on how to format it.  I need to be able to put the character’s name on the left, then tab over to write the lines, and have the lines indented in line with the tab to the right of the character’s name.

xxxxxx       xxxxcx

                  xxxxxxxx

                  xxxxxxxxx

Answer 1

The problem turned out to be that Carol had put all the cast names and descriptions in a single row of a two-column table. The solution was to give each character a separate row.

Answer 2

Risking more confusion, there is another alternative for scripting plays and that is using a custom built numbered list where the numbers are replaced by the speakers' names.

Here is a link to detailed instructions I provided a playwright on another forum.

Create a Multi-Character Text Bullet

Answer 3

Let's try something simpler.

Put a two column one row table on the page

Drag the column borders to make the first column wide enough for the names and the second column the remaining width of the page. Leave the cursor in the table.

Using the context sensitive Layout tab, ensure View Gridlines is selected

Using the context sensitive Design tab remove all the table borders.

You can then type the name in the first column and the dialog in the second. Press Tab at the end of the second column to create a new one

Answer 4

Hi Carol,

Thank you for posting back.

To make sure lines in the two columns to line up horizontally, you may need to select your lines and then manually customize the indent space number. As shown below:

Before:

After:

If your issue persists, welcome to post back. And I will keep on working with it.

Best Regards,

May

Answer 5

When you use a hanging indent, you do not press Enter at the end of a line or tab at the beginning of one; that is the whole point!