comics Scriptwriting template

What is this? This is a template for writing comics scripts, based on Fred Van Lente’s script format. You can find the original at fredvanlente.com/comix.html and discover why letterer Nate Piekos loves it at blambot.com/comicscript.shtml.

Why did you decide to change it? Because I like Word’s Multilevel List function and I thought it would make Fred’s template easier to use.

What are hell are Multilevel Lists and why should I care? A Multilevel List is a way of automatically numbering sections in a document. A comics script has many numbered pages, panels, and word balloons. Typing numbers is boring, and there’s always a chance you’ll make a mistake. Plus, if you cut a page or a panel and paste it elsewhere in your script, you’ll have to renumber everything manually. Arghhh! Multilevel Lists solve these problems, because the numbering is automatically generated by Word.

Sounds complicated. Do I have to learn anything new to use this? Nope. If you’ve read the last paragraph (in fact, even if you haven’t), you already know everything you need to know about Multilevel Lists. If you’re familiar with Styles, you’re good to go.

I’m not familiar with Styles. No problem! Select the Home tab in the ribbon (the menu at the top of the Word window). See the Styles group? See those white boxes? They’re Quick Styles. Well, if you click one of those Quick Styles, your text will take on a new style. This script template uses different styles for page numbers, panel descriptions, dialogue, etc. When you want to type text in a particular style, select the style you want. No more manually setting bold, italics, font size, indentation, line breaks, etc, not to mention page and panel numbers. Easy!

Easy?! Don’t worry, I’ll take you through it step by step in an example script below.

Who are you? I’m Rob Marland. I’m working on a script for a comic about Oscar Wilde. You can find me at oscarwildecomics.com or tweet me @RobertMarland.

So you’re not a pro comics writer like Fred Van Lente? Why should I listen to you? This is Fred’s format, not mine. I’ve not changed how it looks. I’ve only tried to make it easier to use. Besides, I would never advise anyone to listen to me. I’m just some berk with an internet connection.

– This is the “heading 1” style. the page number is automatically generated

This is the “Normal” style, for panel numbers and description. Pressing Enter in the “Heading 1” style begins this style. You don’t need to type Panel #: as it appears automatically.

CHARACTER:	This is the “Comics dialogue” style. Pressing Enter in the “Normal” style begins this style. Again, the number appears automatically. Type the character name in CAPITALS, then press Tab to begin writing dialogue.

CHARACTER 2:	Pressing Enter in the “Comics dialogue” style begins a new line of dialogue. The balloon number automatically increases by one.

CAPTION (CHARACTER):	For emphasis, use bold and italics.

When you want to begin a new panel, press Enter after your last line of dialogue and select the “Normal” style.

It’s a good idea to keep panel descriptions as short as possible, but if you want to write another paragraph of description, select the “Plain text” style. That way, your paragraph won’t begin with an unwanted panel number.

CHARACTER (OFF):	Notice that the word balloon number doesn’t reset to 1 in each new panel.

Your script will be read by the editor, artists, and letterer. So, even if there’s no dialogue in a panel, to avoid confusion, you will want to write “NO COPY” under the panel description. To save you having to write this yourself, set the style of a new paragraph to “No copy”. The words “NO COPY” appear automatically!

Pressing Enter in the “No copy” style starts a new panel.

CHARACTER:	When you want to start a new page, press Enter and select the “Heading 1” style.

– when you begin a new page of your comic, the number appears on a new document page. it automatically increases by one.

The panel and word balloon numbering starts again from 1 on each new page.

CHARACTER:	If you were to copy and paste this page, panel, or line of dialogue anywhere else in the script, the numbers would update automatically. Now you can forget about formatting and get back to doing what you do best: writing!