Scriptwriting - Scriptwriting In Scrivener

Scrivener isn't just a tool for writing novels it can be a writing environment for academic essays research projects and has a dedicated script writing mode allowing you to write in established script writing formats for stage plays film and TV or even radio plays and comic scripts Scrivener can also import from or export to the format used by other screenwriting software such as final draft allowing you to move your scripts into and out of Scrivener with ease a Scrivener project can be switched to script writing mode by clicking in the editor and going to format script writing script mode or using the keyboard shortcut command 8 this can be done in any project any time even if you already have written prose in the document when you do this you'll notice the document icon changes to a script icon to indicate a script writing mode is enabled note that this isn't ties to whether or not the document contains any script text just whether or not script writing mode is enabled in that document script mode uses screenplay formatting by default but there are a number of built-in formats to choose from these are listed in the script writing menu and each actually has a project template associated with it but we will cover that aspect later in this video if I start typing in screenplay format you'll see that everything I type appears in all camps the footer bar has changed so it no longer shows a word camped instead it shows me which script element I'm currently typing in this box on the far right and just to the left of that shows hints on how to quickly switch elements as he writes at the moment I'm typing a scene heading which is typically the first element when you start a script establishing where the scene takes place if you want to jump to a different element instead you can click on the box in the right of the footer bar to change element or use the menu in format script writing anyone who's used other popular script writing apps will find scriveners script writing mode works in much the same way when I start typing a scene heading if I type the letter I suggestions will automatically pop up for int shorthand for interior and I can use the keyboard to select one of the options and hit enter then I type the location hit tab to insert a - automatically and type the time of day again suggestions will appear and I can select one using the keyboard now if I hit return you'll notice the script element has changed we are now writing action I can type a description of the scene and hit return again when I'm done typically action can take place over multiple paragraphs so we're still in the action element but I can hit tab to tab in word which switches the script element to character and I can type the character's name hitting return after a character's name will automatically switch the element to dialogue where I can enter some spoken lines for this character the next return brings us back to action but once again I can hit tab to enter another character's name if I want them to respond straight away without any action happening first this time I'll hit tab to add a parenthetical indicating how the character feels or offering some direction on how the lines should be delivered then hit return to type more dialogue if the first character follows that with a response right away I'll hit tab again and notice this time when I start typing the character's name the name pops up as a suggestion this happens for both character names and locations allowing you to consistently name characters or settings as you write you can edit the list of character names and locations Scrivener will automatically suggest to you by going to project project settings autocomplete list where the plus and minus buttons can also be used to add or remove items you aren't limited to the script formats built into Scrivener it's possible to create your own script format by going to format script writing script settings there are a whole host of settings here that allow you to set elements for your script and how each one is formatted along with behaviors for which elements to switch to if you hit tab or return auto-completion and so forth once you've set up a custom script format here if you want to use it in other projects click to open the manage menu and choose save for use with other projects you will be asked to enter a name for your script format and from that point forward it will appear in the list of available script formats when you enter the script writing menu if you plan to write a script there are a bunch of project templates to get you started when you create a new project click on the script writing category here you will find a number of templates with example structures for screenwriting stage plays comics scripts and more that's all we can to cover in this video if you want to learn more about script writing mode we suggest taking a look at the script writing section of the Scrivener manual thanks for watching and happy writing

Channel: scrivenerapp

Views: 36,101

Keywords: Scrivener, scriptwriting, scripts, Final Draft

Id: BlF2CZsFfqU

Length: 5min 44sec (344 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 28 2019