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Introduction
The KD Screenwriting System consists of the Screenwriting Template, Screenwriting Macros, and Screenwriting Glossary.
Screenwriting Template: A Nisus stationery document with pre-set title page, margins, header, and defined styles for all the standard script elements: slug lines, action, character, dialogue, parentheticals, and transitions. These styles are referred to as auto styles because they have the next style defined. The template also contains the draft style, and some other formatting styles and rulers.
Screenwriting Macros: A set of macros for automatic insertion of slug lines and transitions, selection of scenes, formatting and printing of scripts, and creation of character lists.
Screenwriting Glossary: A small glossary containing three standard boilerplate items: Voice Over, Off Screen, and Close Up. Writers differ in their preferences regarding such items, so the Glossary is provided for inspiration and convenience only, it is not meant to be comprehensive.
Constructing a Screenplay
To create a new script, open a new file from the Screenwriting Template. Fill the placeholders for the script title and your contact details on the title page. (Do not apply any styles here, just type the text.) Then save the file to disk.
* Add the Template to the Essential Files under the File menu for quick access.
* Alter the Template itself with your name and contact details, so that when you start a new script, you only have to enter its title. Because Nisus Writer saves the state of selection in files, select the script title placeholder before saving the Template as Nisus Stationery.
Scroll down to the beginning of the second page, which is page 1 of the script. The first line on this page (FADE IN:) should be left as is—it’s just a convention for how scripts start. The next is a slug line; change it as required. Do not delete these first two lines—they contain the page number header.
Move the cursor to the end of the second line and press Return to continue writing. The KD Screenwriting System allows you to write in two modes: auto and draft. The difference is in the styles you use.
Styles
1) Auto styles: These are the screenplay formatting styles that have a next style defined. They format your script as you work: whenever you press Return, the next style is automatically chosen.
The auto styles are:
• Transition - next style is Slug Line
• Character - next style is Dialogue
• Dialogue - next style is Character
• Action - next style is Character
• Parenthetical - next style is Dialogue
• Slug Line - next style is Action
The benefits of the auto styles: they are useful if you like to edit in WYSIWYG mode. For instance, after you type a character name in the Character style and press Return, the Dialogue style is automatically chosen for you on the new line.
The styles add their own line spacing—you do not need to use empty paragraphs for spacing. (Neither would you want to, considering that the styles have a next style defined.)
The disadvantages:
1) You will often want to change from the automatically assigned styles, and this can be laborious, particularly when editing a previously finished script.
* Assign keyboard shortcuts to the styles or, if using Nisus Writer 5.1, use the Screenwriting Tools palette.
2) Nisus Writer makes it very easy to make formatting changes—too easy for screenwriting purposes. To complicate matters further, the program’s formatting features work differently from other wordprocessors. To work in auto mode, you should fully understand how styles and rulers work in Nisus Writer. That takes some learning, and the knowledge will only make you better appreciate why you should not be using the auto mode.
On the other hand, the auto mode can be used, and its pitfalls will not arise if you are typing new text or doing light editing that does not involve cutting and pasting of whole paragraphs. And, when things do go wrong, it’s only a matter of re-applying the styles to correct them.
2) Draft style: This is the style in which you can write without thinking about the screenplay format. You then use the Format Screenplay macro to convert draft text to screenplay format. This macro works on draft text interspersed with pre-formatted text, so you can use the Draft style to edit previously finished work.
The benefits of writing in draft mode: it lets you concentrate on the story and helps you avoid the formatting annoyances you may otherwise experience. You will find that working in draft mode is easier, and the macros run faster.
The disadvantages: your script must be formatted with the Format Screenplay macro which requires that the draft text be entered in a certain way. However, the rules are logical and simple:
• “Int.” and “Ext.” must be whole words at the beginning of slug line paragraphs. The case of the text (UPPER or lower) and punctuation do not matter. “Int”, “int”, or “INT.” are all fine.
• Character and its dialogue must be in the same paragraph, separated by a tab or three spaces or more . Do not use tabs or more than two spaces anywhere else.
• Parenthetical material must either immediately follow the tab or the spaces after the character speaking, or, if appearing within dialogue, must be preceded by only one or two spaces. In either case, it must be followed by one or two spaces.
• It does not matter whether transitions are followed by a colon or not.
The Draft style adds its own line spacing for clearer visual layout, so there is no need to use empty paragraphs.
Here is a comprehensive sample of text in draft style that contains all the elements of a screenplay:
fade in:
int. writer’s room - day
Description of the scene
character Dialogue.
another character (mumbling) dialogue
description of action or whatever
cut to
ext writer’s house - day
Character (shouting) Dialogue. (to another) More dialogue.
Action again.
Character Dialogue.
The draft mode is designed for ease of writing, and you should have no difficulty with it. You are strongly encouraged to use it.
You can freely switch between draft and auto modes (by choosing either the Draft style or any of the auto styles).
You can change the font, size and styling of the Draft style to your own preferences, but you must not set its font to Courier. You can also change the “draft” ruler settings. Be careful not to make changes to any other styles or rulers.
3) Miscellaneous styles and rulers: These are the End style and the “title page” and “address” rulers, used to format the end caption and the cover page. The only one of these you need ever use is the End style—when you have finished you screenplay. When entering the title page information, no styling is required, just replace the placeholders with relevant text.
Macros
1) Slug Lines/Transitions: Eight macros for easy insertion of slug lines and transitions. Their names are self-explanatory. One point worth noting is that the macros are style-sensitive: if working in auto mode they enter formatted text, in draft more they enter draft text. The slug line macros select the location part of the slug line so you can start typing the location straight away.
2) List Characters: A macro that creates a list of characters in your script, for a treatment perhaps. It gives you the option of listing either in alphabetical order or in order of appearance. The command is also useful for spotting any inconsistencies in the naming of characters.
3) Select Scene: This macro selects the scene containing the cursor.
If you will be selecting scenes to move them elsewhere in your script, note that this command should not be used in auto mode. This is because Nisus Writer cannot be programmed to correctly select the rulers with the scene. To select a scene in auto mode, you must do it manually, and with the rulers showing: select from the beginning of the scene’s slug line, not including its ruler, down to the beginning of the next scene’s slug line, including its ruler. If you then cut & paste or drag & drop the scene to just in front of another slug line, the scene will move correctly. If you do it any other way, the rulers of the first line of the moved scene and of the line where it was inserted will change, resulting in incorrect formatting. All the more reason to use draft mode.
4) Selection to Draft: Converts selected text to draft mode. This is useful if you are going to do extensive editing on previously formatted text.
5) Format Screenplay: This macro will format the script automatically. Run this macro when you are finished with the current draft of your script.
As indicated in the Draft style section, this macro will tolerate inconsistent punctuation and capitalization, but will not correct it. (There is good reason for not correcting: punctuation standards are subject to change, and capitalization is irrelevant when text is formatted as ALL CAPS.)
* Use the powerful Find/Replace features of Nisus Writer to carry out corrections, perhaps creating your own custom macros for this.
6) Print Screenplay: This macro will print your script for delivery. More details are in the “Printing the Screenplay” section. For private, in-progress printouts, use the normal Print command in the File menu.
Working with macro dialogs: where a macro presents a dialog with an editable entry field, you can cancel the macro by returning the dialog empty (press Delete) or entering a period. For “Yes”/“No” prompts in dialogs, “y” or “n” are enough to set you answer.
Glossary
Use the Glossary to insert boilerplate text in scripts. Create your own abbreviations for character names, locations, etc. Change the names of the default items provided, i.e. “Voice Over” to “vo”. Then you can type “vo” and the expanding shortcut -\ to get “(V.O.)”.
* Assign a keyboard shortcut to the New Abbreviation command. Then you can create new abbreviations by selecting boilerplate text, pressing the shortcut, and entering the abbreviation name.
* Also consider the spell checker as an alternative, faster way of expanding abbreviations. If you have a character named “Alec” and you instead use “ac”, the spell checker will treat this as an error, letting you change it to “Alec” throughout the document.
Printing the Screenplay
Before you print the screenplay, be sure that it is properly formatted. If you are not sure, run the Format Screenplay command. If you have been using draft mode then running this command is essential.
To print the finished screenplay, run the Print Screenplay macro. This formats the script still further, taking care of orphans, characters and parentheticals separated from dialogue by page breaks, and the “continueds”. Before running, the macro also gives you the option of numbering scenes—this should be done on production scripts only.
The macro adds “continueds” in the form of CHARACTER NAME (CONT'D) where a chunk of dialogue or parenthetical would otherwise appear by itself at the top of a page. The character name is that of the character that spoke last on the previous page.
If you edited your script after running the Print Screenplay macro, you could end up with rogue “continueds” where they should not be (because the text could re-paginate). For this reason, the macro will ask you to save your document before running, then it will save it as another document, appending “.pnt” to its name, and move it to Trash. This way you are prevented from inadvertently saving the changes the printing macro makes to your script. When the script is printed, close the “.pnt” file to discard it, and you can then continue working with your original. Don’t worry if this seems confusing right now, dialogs will prompt you during operation. If for some reason you wish to recover the temporary “.pnt” file, you can—it will be in the Trash.
* By the way, Nisus Writer’s Catalog feature lets you work with files that are in the Trash, something that you cannot do from the Finder.
Hints and Tips
• Do not use transitions just because the software allows you to—they seem to be going out of fashion.
• Use parentheticals as seldom as possible and keep them short.
• Remember that the first time a character is mentioned in descriptive text (Action style) the name should be in ALL CAPS. Essential sound effects and camera directions should also be in all caps. Users of Nisus Writer 5.1 can help themselves with additional macros provided for this purpose in the “Nisus Macros.KDSS” file.
• Try not to use camera directions at all.
• Make the most of Nisus Writer features: use Marking and Find/Replace Summary (in NW 5.1) to navigate your script, Nisus Macros to perform routine tasks, and the Catalog to manage your files. Don’t forget there’s excellent help in the Help menu.
Troubleshooting
If something does not work as it should, try these steps:
• If text looks wrongly formatted, it’s possible its style has got “untied” from its ruler. Check that both the appropriate ruler name appears in the Text Bar and the style name is checked in the Style menu. You can avoid them getting untied: when wishing to un-apply a style from some text, do not choose that style from the menu to uncheck it, apply another style instead. In other words, applying a style twice consecutively will “untie” the style from its ruler. But applying the style again will correct this.
• Make sure you do not make formatting changes to the title page or header/footer; in particular, do not apply the screenwriting styles there. If a macro fails and you see the header/footer window open, this is the reason.
• If you use the ten editable clipboards in Nisus Writer as temporary notepads, take note that the macros use clipboards 4, 5, and 6 for their own processing, leaving other clipboards untouched. The macros revert to clipboard 0 (the default clipboard) when done.
• In Nisus Writer 5.1, clear all memory—perhaps create a macro that runs all three commands in the Memory submenu of the Edit menu.
• Restart Nisus Writer.
• Assign a bigger memory partition to the program, especially if it crashes during macro execution. Users of Nisus Writer 5.1 should consider 6MB as the bare minimum, though 7MB is more realistic.
If all fails, you may have found a bug. If a macro does something wrong then the bug is with KDSS, if something else is wrong, the fault is with the application. Please report KDSS bugs to me—I will release a fix promptly.
A great resource for all Nisus users is the Nisus Mailing List. Visit the Nisus Software site for details (you can go there from the Help menu).
If you are using Nisus Writer 5.1, don’t forget to read the Read Me file in the “For Nisus Writer 5.1 Users” folder.
