Home: Writing for Comic Books: Chapter Five - Writing the Script: Formatting Your Script

Chapter Five
Writing the Script
(cont'd)

FORMATTING YOUR SCRIPT

I've said it before. I'll probably say it again. And again. There is no universal format in which you must write and/or submit your scripts. Generally speaking, comic scripts use a modified screenplay format. What you really need to convey in a full script is:

Page Number

The page number is the story page number, not the physical page number in the comic book/graphic novel or of your manuscript. In the standard 32 page comic book, story page number four often is on page five of the comic. Since you can't always be entirely sure where ads will be placed any given month, you can't anticipate where your story pages will fall. That's why we must provide story page numbers.

(Note: the inconsistent placement of ads makes it really difficult to plan for double page spreads--a thought I will come back to later.)

Panel Number

You number you panels sequentially on each page, starting again with one at the top of each successive page.

PAGE FIFTEEN

PANEL ONE

Description

PANEL TWO

Description

PANEL THREE

Description

PAGE SIXTEEN

PANEL ONE

Description

PANEL TWO

Description

PANEL THREE

Description

I like to give the artist clear cut visual cues in my manuscript to tell when a new page starts. I often use all caps for the page number and indent everything that applies to that page. I also try to make clear visual distinctions for each individual panel, again using caps and indentations. I do this to make the manuscript easier for the artist to work from. (You will note that because of the inherit formatting limitations, I have not applied the identations to all of the sample scripts on this website. It would take to much time to go through and reformat those pages at this time.)

When there is only one panel on the page, it is called a splash page and you indicate as such…

PAGE FIFTEEN

SPLASH PAGE

Description

Description

Here you describe the action that is happening in the panel. You must tell the artist everything he or she needs to know to convey the story. I put the names of any characters who appear in the panel in ALL CAPS. Some writers also put key props in all caps, but I tend not to so it doesn't confuse matters.

At the beginning of each scene, the first panel description should indicate time and place (i.e. Exterior, bank, night; or Interior, Lana's bedroom, mid-afternoon; etc.)

Copy

As I mentioned previously, all text that is placed on the printed comic page is called copy. This includes captions, dialog, thought balloons, signs, sound effects, and anything else that must be lettered.

When indicating dialog, I use the following format...

PAGE SIXTEEN

PANEL ONE

Description
1) SPEAKER: Blah blah blah blah blah.
2) SFX: Boooooom!

(Note that SFX is short for "Sound Effect.")

Sometimes you may find it useful to number the copy elements. It can help you keep track of how many copy elements you have on the page. It can also be a useful shortcut when you get to the point where you are doing balloon placements and preparing the dialog script. You beginning renumbering at 1) with the beginning of each new story page.

MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING

Generally, it is wise to leave one inch margins on top, bottom, left, and right. The inch at the top and bottom may be used for your header and footer. I can't stress how important it is to have the title, manuscript page number, and your contact info on every page, preferably in the header--the upper right hand corner makes it easy to find the info when the pages are printed out. It's also useful to have the date of the draft. That way, if there have been multiple drafts and any questions arise, you can make sure you are all on the same page, literally and figuratively.

Personally, I like to double space my manuscripts. This allows me to make notes and corrections on the hard copy (print out) during the proofreading phase. Double spacing can create issues if you are working by fax, given that it uses twice as much paper as single spacing. It can also lead to horrific phone bills, especially if you are dealing with artists in other countries. Single or double spacing is something to work out with your editor, but being almost everything is being done these days via e-mail and electronic files, recipients can reformat manuscripts at will.

Most writers today work in word processing programs on computers. If you don't have a computer, then get a typewriter or stand-alone word processor. No editor is going to accept handwritten scripts or proposals.

As a general rule of thumb, when working in a word processing program, use a serif font (one with hooks on the edges of letters), preferably a ubiquitous one like Times New Roman. This means that when you e-mail a file to an editor, chance are nearly 100% that they have the same font on their computer. Studies have shown that serif fonts are easier to read than sans serf fonts like Arial, avoiding eye strain and fatigue. (Yes, this website uses a sans serif font for its body text. Studies show that fonts like Arial are easier to read on computer monitors.)

Do not use display or funky fonts in order to make your manuscript look more personal or to indicate odd speech patterns for characters. Chances are excellent that your editor, artist, and letterist don't have the same font collections you do and this create problems when they open your file. And sharing fonts isn't always going to be a solution since Macs and Windows-based PCs map fonts differently. So, avoid the headache and stick to Times New Roman.

One more thought on the subject of submitting your scripts via e-mail or on disk--save your file in RTF (Rich Text Format). I suggest this for several reasons. First and foremost, Microsoft Word documents can contain macros which are virus delivery systems. Sharing a virus with your co-workers is bad form. Second, RTF is a (relatively) universal file format that can be read by (almost) all word processing programs. I used parentheses in the previous sentence because MS Word uses some sort of proprietary formatting even in its RTF files that can sometimes read into other programs oddly. (I discovered this when test driving Open Office/J for Mac OS X. Still, as long as you aren't using tables, frames, or other specialized formatting, RTF is your best bet. Otherwise, go with PDF format, but that is another technical conversation for another website.) RTF is an option under File: Save As. Within this dialog box, you can specify what format in which to save your file.

All right, with all that out of the way, let's look at some nuts and bolts of the scriptwriting process...

How Many Panels Per Page? >>