Formats for specific shows

As I've mentioned throughout this book, some shows have specific formats that they use which are variations on the formatting information presented here. They do this for three reasons. The first involve reasons that sound totally logical to the show's producers (and sometimes are).

The second is because everyone in Hollywood likes to be unique, and having your own specific format is a way to do that.

And the third is that unique formats weed out the pros from the amateurs. If you submit a script written for a particular show and it isn't in the format they use, the producers will think that you don't care about their show or your professionalism enough to find out what format they use and use it.

Don't let format be a reason to reject your script. If you're writing a Friends episode, make sure it looks like a Friends episode. If you're writing a script for Universal Studios, make sure it looks like scripts produced by Universal Studios.

For more information about finding specific script formats, see Give 'em what they want.

If you're using Scriptware, you can save different formats for the different shows. Then you can reformat any script to that show's format with just a mouse click!