Kurt Busiek: I wrote comics scripts in FinalDraft -- I used to write them in MSWord, but having FinalDraft switch the tabs and margins back and forth automatically as I write is so convenient. I did customize the format so it looks more like my old Word format than a screenplay, but that's just shoving...

Deleted.

LibreOffice for documents, Final Draft for scripts.

Is Final Draft still being actively supported? My dad used it for scriptwriting when I was younger, and he loved that program so much that when he tried a different one (celtx as I recall) he went back after a few months. I thought he'd changed because FD was losing dev support, but I might be wrong

It's now at Final Draft version 13, and every screenwriter I know uses it. It certainly appears to be actively supported. www.finaldraft.com

Screenwriting Software | Final Draft®www.finaldraft.com Final Draft is the choice screenwriting software of studios and production companies worldwide. Streamlined screenwriting and editing while collaborating. Try Final Draft 13 Today!

Would you recommend this for writing comic scripts also, or is a Google doc template, or something similar sufficient for most comic projects?

I think anything you're comfortable with is good for Comics scripts. @kurtbusiek.bsky.social will know more than me though.

I wrote comics scripts in FinalDraft -- I used to write them in MSWord, but having FinalDraft switch the tabs and margins back and forth automatically as I write is so convenient. I did customize the format so it looks more like my old Word format than a screenplay, but that's just shoving...

...margins around and picking fonts. My scripts look like this these days:

But there is no one required script format; as long as it's clear and simple, it works. Nat Gertler edited a book, PANEL ONE, that collects sample scripts from various writers (and a sequel, PANEL TWO, with more), and it's available through Amazon, and shows a range of possibilities.

That’s my favorite book on writing comics.

I would have found it very useful, if it had existed in 1982. I worked then from a format sketched out for me by a friend who had seen a full script for a Julie Schwartz-edited comic at a convention once. So I wrote 80 pages of sample scripts in that format, and one of the first editors I spoke...

...to about them was Julie, and his first question was why I had written my scripts in such a silly-ass format? He told me no one who ever wrote for him had ever used that format, so...go figure. But I started writing pro scripts in the format he showed me that day, and over the first few years...

...I was writing, I collected copies of scripts from editors, from Steve Englehart, Alan Moore, Mike W. Barr and others, and the most useful was a script by Frank Miller. But I added (or subtracted) format bits based on what looked good, and how artists reacted, until I would up with a...

Sometimes seems there are as many script formats as there are writers. I've worked many different ways over the years, depending on the artist and our mutual respect/trust.

Yeah. Unlike screenplays, you’re not writing a document that’ll be used by an army of people. Just a small group.

Though I have seen one or two screenplays written in oddball formats, done by writer/directors who already had financing, when they only wanted to show their closest collaborators (DP, lead actor, etc.). I imagine in prepro, some typist converted it to proper format for the production personnel.

I'll never forget when I first started working for Marvel, and I asked the editor how he wanted me to format scripts, and he gave a big pause and answered, "Huh? What's that matter? Any way you want."

But when I'm working with artists I know well...and we have a creative relationship where we really trust each other...the whole idea of "formats" often flies out the window.

Same for me. My format can change according to artists. And then my lettering scripts can change according to letterers. I just want to make sure I'm presenting it all in the best way for my teammates!

When I started at DC, there was a very specific script format and it's pretty much the format I still follow.

@nat.gertler.com is here!

Always and forever. “You rang??”

(He probably already went to bed.)

Thanks for the recommendation Kurt. I’ll definitely be picking this up

Here's a page of Frank Miller script, in the format I was mostly adapting. The reason the panel descriptions have one set of margins and the SFX and word balloons (and captions, if there were any) have another is to make it instantly clear which parts are panel description and which part is...

...the words that'll go on the page. That's also presumably why that panel descriptions are ALL CAPS and the dialogue, etc. is in mixed case. These days I still do panel descriptions in all-caps. Since I'm working on a computer rather than a typewriter, I can also put the descriptions in a...

...serif font and the dialogue in a san serif font, which makes it clear enough that I should be able to do it all in mixed-case, but hey, tradition. Miller also uses all-caps to indicate bold words. Don't do that. It works fine for hand letterers, since they redraw all the letters by hand (duh)...

...but computer letterers will be copying and pasting the text from the script, and all-caps lettering can fuck that up.* You might be tempted to indicate bold words by making them bold, but when scripts get e-mailed around, different operating systems can make formats like bolds drop out, so I...

...indicate bold words by underlining them. It tends to be more clear. *using all-caps to indicate bold means you can't tell if the word "I" or "S.H.I.E.L.D." is meant to be bold or not. And in some fonts, a capital I will translate to a crossbar-I (with serifs) and a lower-case I becomes a...

Me reading this thread and consciously taking notes:

Im sitting at my desk sketching, and my brain is still melting from getting caught in this thread. I STG, the phrase “Automated Taco Stand” echoes through my head 3x a week & there are currently TWO signed @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com books on my nightstand from The Golden Notebook back in October 😂

Fascinating to see this, thank you. Although not a professional, I write scripts in what I fondly imagine is the 2000AD-style. Seems broadly similar to yours except it's mixed case for the descriptions and upper case for the captions / dialogue.

All caps for the dialogue would cause trouble for modern lettering, as noted.

*wrote = write

I found an amazing macro for scriptwriting in Word, like, 25 years ago, that had automatic formatting and other shortcuts, but it broke in some MS Office update somewhere along the line. 😩

Once upon a time I created custom styles in Word. Even assigned the same keyboard shortcuts FD uses. Looked/worked almost identically. Maybe FD is better now but it was a buggy/crashy POS back in the day.

Similar, but for Excel -- I had an add-in that was hugely valuable for simplifying a format conversion workflow that broke around 10 years ago. Solutions since haven't *quite* worked as well... ...so now I keep a virtual machine with an old copy of Windows and Excel alive just for that.

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