Posting pretty scripts using the [script] tag.

This is a rough and ready guide to getting your pretty, properly-formatted script to appear as such when posted to these forums. (See example at end of this post.)

The trick is to use the script tag supported by the forum software. This displays anything between the opening and closing tags using a monospace font—usually Courier or similar.

If you're writing your script in a traditional text editor or word processor, you should be able to just paste the text into your post between the script tags.

However, if you're using a program like Screenwriter 6, you may find that it strips out all the layout information when you copy the script into the clipboard. To get around this:

1. Export your script as a plain text file. This format uses spaces to align the text, instead of tabs and retains the original script layout.

2. Open that script in a basic text editing program, such as Notepad (Windows), or TextEdit (OS X).

3. Switch back to your forum post and, at the point where you want to paste your script, type an opening "script" tag—the word script enclosed in square brackets.

4. Switch back to the text editor program and highlight the part of the script you want to copy into your forum post, select copy, then paste it into the forum post after the opening script tag.

5. Type the closing tag after the last line of the script: this tag is like the opening tag, but with a forward slash before the word script—/script—and also contained in square brackets.

NOTE: If you edit the post, you will need to re-paste the script into it to retain the original layout.

The result should look something like this:

       INT. VICTIM'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

       VICTIM is sitting in an armchair watching TV. He's a 
       middle-aged chap, late thirties or early forties. He hears 
       footsteps behind him and turns towards the sound. We cut to 
       a POV SHOT from his MURDERER.
       The VICTIM looks up, surprised.
                  VICTIM
            Who... who are you?
                  MURDERER (O.S.) 
            I am your worst nightmare.
                  VICTIM 
            Wha-? You don't look anything like 
            my mother!
                  MURDERER
            (sighs) Okay, fine! I'm your 
            second worst nightmare!
       We hear a GUNSHOT. The VICTIM slumps in his chair, his 
       blood slowly pooling from the gunshot wound in his head.
                  MURDERER (O.S., to self) (CONT'D)
            There, my beloved! He shall abuse 
            you no more!

Killer!

'Cept maybe mother-in-law?

Still a killer though!

Mother has more psychological truth.

Quote: stimarco @ September 18 2009, 9:45 PM BST

        MURDERER (O.S.) 
     I am your worst nightmare.

View original

I thought it was gonna be Sly Stallone.

If the victim was Sly Stallone then the mother line would definitely have psychological truth.

I like the joke ( agree with M about Mother in Law)

but I sure as hell ain;t going to be arsed to do all that formating shit myself!

Quote: bigfella @ September 18 2009, 10:47 PM BST

I like the joke ( agree with M about Mother in Law)

View original

The script excerpt is from the one I posted here. Now that I know how to format the effing thing properly, I can post it properly.

but I sure as hell ain;t going to be arsed to do all that formating shit myself!

Once you've got the hang of it, it only takes a few moments. It sounds a lot more work than it is, though it's still a faff.

Quote: stimarco @ September 18 2009, 9:45 PM BST

The forum software used here throws away any tabs, so if you try and post most formatted text into the forum editing box, you'll see everything appear left-aligned. The trick is to get those tabs replaced by spaces.

If you're using a program like Screenwriter 6 (or Final Draft), you need to follow a multi-step process:

1. Export your script as a plain text file. This should replace any tabs with spaces.

2. Open that script in either TextEdit (Mac) or WordPad (Windows).

At this point, you should check that the tabs are indeed all replaced with spaces. You can do this easily by going to an indented line of text and trying to delete the space to its left. If you see the line jumping in large steps, this means you still have tabs. If it deletes a small space at a time, you're ready to go.

View original

Totally unnecessary. The standard [script] tags handle tabs perfectly. If they're not showing up then you need to replace your web browser.

So, clear instructions to get a script excerpt shown in a 'standard' format:

Paste it in between [script] tags.

Like this?

INT. VICTIM'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
VICTIM is sitting in an armchair watching TV. He's a middle-aged chap, late
thirties or early forties. He hears footsteps behind him and turns towards
the sound. We cut to a POV SHOT from his MURDERER.
The VICTIM looks up, surprised.
VICTIM
Who... who are you?
MURDERER (O.S.) 
I am your worst nightmare.
VICTIM 
Wha-? You don't look anything like my mother!

Are you on a Mac?

Quote: Aaron @ September 19 2009, 12:49 AM BST

Are you on a Mac?

View original

Yes.

On further investigation, I think you're right. I've just realised that pasting from Screenwriter 6 into any text editor also fails in the same way. This looks like an actual, genuine bug in SW6's clipboard handling. Time for an email to their tech support, I think.

My apologies for the inaccurate diagnosis. Feel free to delete this thread if you prefer, although mentioning the script tag on the help pages seems like a good idea.

(Incidentally, I haven't touched Final Draft in years, so I don't know if that has the same problem. It may do.)

Well thanks anyway stimarco

Quote: stimarco @ September 19 2009, 1:00 AM BST

Yes.

On further investigation, I think you're right. I've just realised that pasting from Screenwriter 6 into any text editor also fails in the same way. This looks like an actual, genuine bug in SW6's clipboard handling. Time for an email to their tech support, I think.

My apologies for the inaccurate diagnosis. Feel free to delete this thread if you prefer, although mentioning the script tag on the help pages seems like a good idea.

(Incidentally, I haven't touched Final Draft in years, so I don't know if that has the same problem. It may do.)

View original

IIRC, Mac OSes use different new-line and tab indicators from (all? most?) other operating systems, so it could be something to do with that, and how it's transferring to the web.

Just to clarify, multiple spaces and tabs and whatnot are ignored by the web browser when it generates the page to display to you, not stripped out or otherwise modified by the board. For any future reference and that.

Quote: Aaron @ September 19 2009, 1:48 AM BST

IIRC, Mac OSes use different new-line and tab indicators from (all? most?) other operating systems, so it could be something to do with that, and how it's transferring to the web.

View original

I checked this, but the behaviour happens in Windows 7 too, so it's not the line endings. SW6 appears to be stripping out all leading whitespace on each line when copying to the clipboard. I have contacted their tech support about this to find out if this is a deliberate design element. (It feels like a bug to me: I should be able to get the text to paste into Textedit without losing the layout.)

Just to clarify, multiple spaces and tabs and whatnot are ignored by the web browser when it generates the page to display to you, not stripped out or otherwise modified by the board. For any future reference and that.

I'm aware of this. (I've been programming computers since 1981.) However, the fact that the text is appearing entirely left justified when pasted into the forum's text box (and appears identically in Textedit) means the whitespace stripping is happening before the data reaches the browser, let alone the forum software.

I apologise for jumping the gun initially. It's not the forum software's fault. Perhaps renaming or deleting this thread is in order; I've modified the original post to make it clear that SW6 needs the additional steps; MS Word or whathaveyou should work fine.

One final point: when I went back to edit the post, I noticed the script had lost some of its layout. Not all of it, but some of the spaces had been lost, so everything had crept a little to the left. On each subsequent edit, I noticed some more whitespace had gone, so it looks like we need to re-paste the script on each edit at present.