The Stage Manager’s Production Script - Dirks Designs 1 Stage Manager’s Production Script The...

Stage Manager’s Production Script

TheStageManager’sProductionScript

Part 2: Forma�ng in MS Word 2010

By Dr. Arthur Dirks (2012)

This tutorial describes how to create a template with

forma�ng specifically designed for the script used by

a theater stage manager. The template described

here can be downloaded as a zip file [see download

info]. ,

Working stage managers develop their own preferred

nota�on prac�ces and reference efficiencies for script

use. By following the tutorial you will know how to

vary the forma�ng choices for your own working

prac�ce.

Se�ng up page formang takes only a few minutes.

Crea�ng a full template with styles may take an hour

or so the first �me. Therea er, any script can be load-

ed into the template and all that is required is the

�me to read through and hot-key the text. It is best to

edit before or a er, not during forma�ng.

Pageformatting

Page forma�ng sets margins and defines a header

and footer, and can be done quickly. If character

names, dialogue, and stage direc�ons are acceptably

easy to find and read quickly, li%le more may be re-

quired. A script can be copied and pasted into the

forma%ed page, and a single readable text style ap-

plied to all. But if character and dialogue are not visu-

ally clear, or if you have a preferred way of seeing

them, paragraph styles are very useful.

Stylesandmacros

In MS Word, you can specify all the characteris�cs of

the text and spacing as paragraph styles. The most

frequently used styles can be assigned to hot keys,

and script forma�ng o en can be done at just over

reading-aloud speed. The styles are set once in the

template (.dotm), which is an empty or sample docu-

ment that can be saved and shared. The text is copied

in and it is saved as a script document (.doc, .docx),

and the forma�ng is applied.

I.Preparation:Settinguptheenvironment.

I recommend that you create a project resources fold-

er in the directory where you save your documents,

whether in My Documents or elsewhere on your

drives. Name it SMScript or something similar. Unless

you are a very busy stage manager, it is unlikely that

you will use this template frequently.

a. Open:

◊ Open Microso Word.

◊ Go to FILE / NEW / Blank Document. Select Create

◊ The New document window opens.

b. First save:

*Immediately save the open document. For File

name: enter SMScript. In the save-as type drop-box

Scroll down and select select Word Macro-Enable

Template (*.dotm). Then select save. It's likely that

Word will offer to save the template with other tem-

plates. The default loca�on will be C:\users\[your

name]\AppData\Roaming\Microso�\Templates or a

comparable user-specific loca�on. This is the working

template loca�on. If you make changes to the tem-

plate you know you will want to keep, save it again.

You may also want to keep a copy in a project re-

sources folder.


c. Op�ons and Se�ngs:

◊ *File / Opons :

In this sec�on, make some note of the original se�ngs

when you change something that you might want to

restore. These se�ngs apply to ALL use of Word, not

just this file. For script forma�ng and this tutorial, we

need to be able to see most of the forma�ng mark-

ers. They are very useful for composing, but can be

annoying for reading. These markers do not print.

A er comple�ng this project you may want to return

to these op�ons to hide non-prin�ng characters.

∗ Select General opons. Review the informa�on

and mark "Enable Live Preview".

∗ Select Display opons.

◊ -Page display opons: Select all three.

◊ -Always show these forma�ng marks: Select Tab

characters, Spaces, Paragraph marks, Object an-

chors and Show all forma�ng marks.

◊ -Prinng opons: check print drawings, update

fields and update linked data.


Select Proofing Op�ons:

*AutoCorrect op�ons:

◊ Check ignore uppercase, words with numbers,

internet and file addresses, and flag repeated

words.

◊ Select the AutoCorrect bu�on to open the Au-

toCorrect English (U.S.) window.

*On the AutoCorrect tab - check all autocorrect sug-

ges�ons.

*On the AutoFormat tab - check all as desired. These

are not required for the script project.

*On the AutoFormat As You Type tab:

◊ Replace as you type: okay to check all.

◊ Apply as you type: Usually not a problem and

can be helpful but I rou�nely uncheck all.

◊ Automa�cally as you type: check all three.

On the Acons tab. Accept all default checks.

∗ Click OK


*Select Advanced Opons:

This is a lengthy list of op�ons addressing many characteris�cs.

Most of the default choices are appropriate, but some selec�ons

are important for this project.

Eding Opons

◊ It is important to mark "Prompt to update style".

◊ Also mark Typing replaces text, allow drag and drop, control-

click to follow a hyperlink, smart paragraph selec�on, smart

cursoring, keep track of forma�ng, click and type, and show

autocomplete sugges�ons.

Cut, copy, and Paste:

◊ Mark Keep bullets and numbers,

◊ Show document content:

◊ Mark Show drawings and text boxes on screen, Show text

boundaries

Display:

◊ Mark Show shortcut keys in ScreenTips, Show the scroll-

bands, and Show vercal ruler in the Print Layout view

Save:

◊ Mark Prompt before saving Normal template and Allow

background saves

General:

◊ Mark Confirm file format conversion on open.

Click OK to close the op�ons window.

Save the file


III.PageSetup

Load a sample text.

Open your captured text file in Notepad

or other non-forma�ng text editor. For

purposes of this tutorial we have a Pro-

ject Gutenberg version of Ibsen’s A Doll’s

House.

To format a script you would copy the en�re text document into Word for for-

ma�ng, but to create the template, you only need a page or two of repre-

senta�ve text.

◊ Copy to clipboard: put the cursor before the first le%er of the source text,

highlight a couple pages of text with dialogue and

stage direc�ons, then Control-C to copy to clip-

board.

◊ -Paste into the template: return to your blank Word

document, place your cursor and press Control-V.

The text appears.

A. Page Layout

The following se�ngs apply only to the document tem-

plate you are crea�ng.

◊ Select the page layout tab

◊ Margins: Select Margins/Custom Margins

◊ Specify margins as: top, bo�om and right 2", Le)

2.25". Then Save.

◊ On the right end of the ribbon, specify distance from the

top and bo�om as 1.5".

This se�ng leaves 4 inches center for text, wide margins for

notes and space for ring binding on the le . Your philosophy

of margins may vary.

This tutorial formats the page for the text on the right and the

blank sheet on the le (le�-bound). Some stage managers

prefer to have the text on the le (right-bound). To bind on

the right, reverse the le and right margins shown.

◊ Return to Home

◊ Delete all but the first two pages of the script to illustrate the template.

◊ Save your template.


B. Page features

1) Page Header

*Select the "Insert" tab on the top menu, and open the

"Header" drop-down from the ribbon. Scroll down to se-

lect the "Contrast (Even Page)" format. This format in-

cludes text from the next act heading, as shown here, but

you have not yet defined it.

*The header appears as a one-row, two-cell

table. Click on the right cell of the table,

and carefully "grab" the boundary between

the cells. Pull it to the right just past mid-

page.

This script page number is not large enough to see clearly

under low-light situa�ons.

*Highlight the le cell and change the font to Verdana

12pt.

Note: The script page number is shown both in the footer

and here in the header. I suggest, however, that you

handwrite the actors’ script page number here in the

header instead.


2) Page Footer

*On the ribbon "Insert" tab, click the "Footer" and

select the "Conserva�ve" op�on.

It appears at the bo%om of the page.

*Streamline the footer. Highlight the word "Page"

and delete it. Or you can leave it.

Improve the visibility of the page number. High-

light the number, and on the Home tab change the

font to Verdana 12.

Save your template.

Check for it under File / New / My Templates

______________________________

This is all that is required for a useful page tem-

plate for a stage manager. A script can be cop-

ied and pasted into the page framework creat-

ed here, and it will have good margins and visi-

ble page numbers.

The text in printed versions of scripts varies

greatly in page format, o en to reduce the

number of pages or to make the script more

scannable for the reader. The whole text can be

selected and enlarged easily, but for produc�on

purposes it is more helpful to separate charac-

ter name, dialogue and stage direc�ons in a

visually clear way. The rest of this tutorial dis-

cusses text forma�ng for the script.


1. *Select Replace, and in Find What type the ascii

characters for 2 line returns: ^p^p . In Replace With

type xxxx. Select Replace All.

2. Then select Replace, again, and in Find What type in

^p and in Replace With type a single empty space.

Select Replace All.

3. *Then select the Replace tab again, and in Find

What type in xxxx. In Replace With type ^p and select

Replace All.

-Check the script. All double-feeds should be replaced

by single feeds, and text lines should wrap.

A bad scan or poor quality image file may have ar�-

facts like page shading or spots that OCR has interpret-

ed as characters. It is important to have as clean a

page as feasible before running OCR. Some�mes image

edi�ng is required to reduce the poten�al of bad OCR.

Check where there may be some consistency in re-

maining ar�facts and try to delete them with Find and

Replace, provided it doesn't delete useful text in the

process. Whatever trash can be deleted saves �me in

edi�ng.

IV.FormattingaScript

A. Preparing the Script

Some�mes there are odd characteris�cs in the cap-

tured text.

1) The first step is to clean the script with Find

and Replace.

a) The Doll's House script has a problem with an un-

necessary underscore. On survey, there seems to be

no use of the underscore that is required, so it can be

eliminated using Find and Replace. Because line re-

turns now show, you also can see there are doubled-

feeds for paragraphs, and line-end single-feeds where

we would prefer that the lines wrap. One line return

can be eliminated throughout the document.

-Press Ctrl-Home to set the cursor at the beginning.

-On the Home tab ribbon at the end is the edi�ng

sec�on with Find and Replace.

-Select Replace, and the Find and Replace dialog

opens with the Replace tab showing.

-In the Find what: type one underscore (capital -/_

key)

-In Replace with: place the cursor in the box, then on

the keyboard hold Ctrl-A and press Delete, together,

whether you see anything in the box or not..

-At the bo%om, select Replace All.

Then check the script page to see if it happened

properly and re-save the file.

b) The line return problem is trickier, because you

want to eliminate single feeds and convert double

feeds to single feeds. The procedure must be done in

this order:

◊ Replace the double feeds first with a place holder

◊ Replace the single feeds with an empty Replace

With entry,

◊ Replace the double feed place holder with a single

feed.


B. Se�ng Up the Styles.

The following se�ngs apply only to the document

template you are crea�ng.

About styles: The term "styles" o en refers both to

the par�cular text features for different line formats,

and for "stylesets" or "stylesheets," collec�ons of such

line formats. Features include fonts, spacing, line spac-

ing, indenta�on, and other characteris�cs. The basic

style upon which other styles are built is called the

Normal style. A change made to the Normal style itself

can affect all other styles built on it.

The Styles sec�on is on the end of the Home ribbon.

*-Select Change Styles, Style Set, and Default (Black

and White). This is a basic style set with simple built-in

styles and minimal use of fancy visual features.

*To show the style set, select the small down-right

arrow on the Styles sec�on of the ribbon. This opens a

pale%e lis�ng all of the styles registered in the basic

Default (Black and White) style set and any others al-

ready in use in the document. At the bo%om of this

styles pale%e select the Show Preview checkbox, if the

styles names are not displayed in the style named.

*On the Styles pale%e, on the bo%om right select Op-

ons. This shows the display op�ons for the Styles

pale%e.

◊ In Select styles to show: All styles.

◊ In Select how list is sorted: Alphabecal

◊ In Select forma�ng to show: Check all three box-

es.

◊ In Select how names are shown: Show next head-

ing. Deselect Hide Built-in name.

◊ At bo%om: Select New documents based on this

template.

◊ Click OK

You will be adding new styles to the list and saving the

whole as new custom styleset in the script template.

**Note: When edi�ng text in Word you may receive a

pop-up asking if you want to “update the style based

on the selec�on.” This is a dangerous op�on because it

defaults to upda�ng the style and it can corrupt your

styleset. ALWAYS SELECT "reapply the forma�ng of

the style to the selecon". NEVER select the default

"update the style to reflect recent changes" UNLESS

you specifically are trying to modify a CUSTOM style

that you have named (see below). Selec�ng the wrong

choice could corrupt the Normal styleset.


C. Using Styles

Typically there are several dis�nct types of statements

in the text that might have different spacing and text

characteris�cs. Styles can be created for each of these

within the SMscript styleset. Some built-in normal

styles can be used as listed, and new styles can be cre-

ated based on the built-in styles.

To use a style: simply highlight the text to be styled,

then select the appropriate style from the styles pal-

e%e. O en you need only place the cursor in the sen-

tence for the whole sentence to be styled, but if some-

thing is highlighted, only the highlighted text will be

styled (the paragraph mark is the control for the style

of the sentence). The most-used styles in forma�ng a

script (Character, Dialog, Stage direc�ons) should be

assigned to hotkeys so they can be applied rapidly.

In crea�ng this template, we will use and modify built-

in styles into new styles, and assign hotkeys.

About hotkeys:

Some keyboards have pre-assigned macros to the

func�on keys (F1 through F12), some applica�ons

make use of the func�on keys, and some key assign-

ments are built into Word. F1 is globally assigned to

Help and F5 is assigned to Search-and-Replace in

Word, but F2, F3 and F4 usually don't have conflic�ng

func�ons. The keyboard assignments in this tutorial

are based on efficient hand and finger movement for

the most-used edi�ng func�ons: styling character

name (F3), dialogue (F4), and stage direc�ons (F2).

These assignments are a ma%er of personal prefer-

ence among the op�ons. The le thumb can hit the

space bar. The right hand can move rapidly among the

Enter and Cursor keys, and the Mouse.

The template does not require hotkeys - the styles can

be applied by selec�ng them in the styles pale%e with

the mouse. It is slower than using a hotkey, but quite

rapid nevertheless.

SUMMARY OF STYLE USE:

The specific style characteris�cs suggested in this tuto-

rial are created in Word, but they are simulated be-

low:

P�� T�� B � T��

AUTHOR use Body Text

DRAMATISPERSONAEuseHeading3 Character use List

Character use List

ACTuseHeading1

Scene1useHeading3 Subscene or sec�on use Heading 7

Stage direc�ons—create a new style StageDir

(F2 hotkey). When the text includes useful

stage direc�on within lines of dialogue, set it

off with returns to place it on a separate line,

allowing the eye to dis�nguish it easily from

dialog. It also is easier to delete if it becomes

clear it is irrelevant.

Character name— create a new style Character

(F3 hotkey). Dialog style follows.

Dialogue—Create a new style Dialog

(F4 hotkey) No hyphenation.

SongTitle—createanewstyle.

Lyric line—create new style

with indented wrap.

The template Footer and Header described above use

modified built-in styles, placing large page numbers

top and bo%om center, with the Act number on the

top.

Other useful styles are built-in to the default set and

can be used as they are.


D. Crea ng and Applying Styles

◊ *Return to the saved file. Delete the non-script

header content.

In the following steps, the whole text to be styled is

highlighted for clarity. Simply placing the cursor in the

line to styled is sufficient, and the selected style should

apply to all text to the next hard return.

◊ *Place the cursor somewhere in the �tle. On the

styles pale%e select Book Title style, and the text

changes to the style indicated. If you get a window

asking if you want to update the style - always

definitely cancel.

◊ Place the cursor in the author line. On styles pal-

e%e select Body Text style, and the text changes.

◊ Drama�s Personae -

select Heading 3

style.

◊ Characters - Select

List. The cleaning of

returns may have

destroyed the list

form. Put in returns

before each character

name and select List

style.

◊ -ACT I -Select Heading 1 style.

1) FORMATTING STAGE DIRECTIONS

◊ Place the cursor in "(SCENE--A room fur-

nished....)."

◊ Select - Comment Text style. The selected text

formats.

◊ *With the cursor in

the text, right click and

select paragraph. In the

window that opens, on

the indents and spacing

tab, set the indenta�on as

le) .5" and click OK.


◊ *With the cursor in the text, right click and select

Styles, and Save Selecon as a New Quick Style.

In the dialog that opens, type in StageDir in

name.

◊ *Set the margins for the stage direc�ons to

match the width of the Dialog style to be

set. Highlight the text and right-click, then

select Paragraph and increase the le mar-

gin to .5.”

At the bo%om click the Format drop-down

menu and select Shortcut key. A dialog instructs

“Press new shortcut key”. You can press the F2

key on the keyboard or type in F2. A note con-

firming to "save changes in" should read

ScriptTplt.dotm at the bo%om. Click Assign,

close, and OK.

Test the forma�ng on the second paragraph

of the stage descrip�on. Place the cursor in

the second paragraph, and press the F2

shortcut key. On the Styles pale%e, the

StageDir style should be highlighted and the

text should format to match the first para-

graph.


2) FORMATTING DIALOGUE

Put in

returns to

separate

the actual

lines of

dialogue

from the

character

name and

stage di-

rec�ons.

Then put

the cursor

in the line

"hide the Christmas tree."

◊ Right click, and select paragraph.

◊ *On the Indents and Spacing tab - set indenta-

�on le� .5", line spacing at 1.5 lines, a�er space

at 10 pt, and select the box Don't add space be-

tween paragraphs.

◊ *On the Line and

Page Breaks tab

select Widow/

Orphan control and

Don't hyphenate.

Click Ok.

◊ *Highlight the

styled line of dia-

logue including the

return. Right-click,

select Styles, and

then Save as a New

Quick Style.

◊ *In the first window, enter the style name Dialog

(purposely misspelled here), and set the text for-

mat font as Verdana 10pt (or 11pt for larger

text). On the bo%om mark Add to Quick Style list

and New documents based on this template.

◊ At the bo%om click on Format. On the drop-

down, select Shortcut key, which opens the Cus-

tomize Keyboard with the Dialog style name high-

lighted. The text cursor should be in the Press

new shortcut key box, and Save changes in

should read SMtplt.dotm (or your template file-

name). Press the F4 func�on key on the key-

board, and Assign at bo%om, then Close, OK.

This gives an easily readable, well spaced

line for dialog. You may choose to specify

line spacing at 1.75 or 2 if you require more

space for in-line marking and nota�on.


3) FORMATTING CHARACTER NAME

-Highlight Nora and the return. Right-click, select

Styles, and then Save as new Quick Style. When the

Create New Style from Forma�ng window opens,

1. Select Modify on the bo%om. Make the following

selec�ons:

◊ Name - Character

◊ Style for following paragraph: Dialog

◊ Forma�ng: Calibri (Body), 11, Bold

◊ At the bo%om mark Add to Quick Style list and

New documents based on this template.

At the bo%om select the Format drop-down bu%on:

◊ Paragraph - Indents & Spacing tab: Spacing 6 pt,

1.5 lines, don't add space

◊ Line & Page Breaks tab: mark Widow/Orphan con-

trol, Keep with next, Keep lines together, Don't

hyphenate.

Click OK.

2. Click Shortcut key to open the Customize Keyboard

window, perhaps with the Character style name high-

lighted. The text cursor should be in the Press new

shortcut key box, and Save changes in should read

SMtplt.dotm (or your template filename). Press the F3

func�on key on the keyboard, and Assign at bo%om,

then Close, OK.

These se�ngs give a bold, clearly readable character

name, set to the le of the dialogue. It is linked so that

the name must appear on the same page as the follow-

ing dialogue.

Note: If the character is singing, you will need to

change the following style manually to Song Title or

Song Lyric. Simply highlight the song lyric or �tle that

has automa�cally been styled as dialogue, and select

the correct style from the style list.

4) FORMATTING THE SONG LYRICS

This script has no songs, so we must put one in:

◊ A er a couple lines of dialogue, enter the sentenc-

es:

This is a song �tle [return]

This is a song lyric [return]

Another lyric line [return]

As with the dialogue and name, the song lyric must be

styled before the song tle.

◊ Highlight song lyrics:

◊ Select the Dialog style created above.

◊ *On the Word forma�ng ribbon, increase the

indent 1 (added to the Dialog indent).

◊ Right click, select styles, Save as new quick style,

enter Song Lyric


5) FORMATTING THE SONG TITLE

◊ *Highlight the Song Title.

◊ Select

Heading 3,

and on the

ribbon

increase

the indent

1 (to ap-

pear at the

Dialog

level),

◊ *Right-click, select Paragraph, on the Lines and

Breaks tab, mark Widow/Orphan control, Keep

with next, and Keep lines together. This keeps the

�tle with

the lyrics.

Click OK.

◊ *Right-

click, select

Modify

Style, spec-

ify “Style

for follow-

ing para-

graph” as

Song Lyric

in the

dropdown.

◊ *Right-click

again and

select Save

Selecon

as new

quick style,

enter Song

Title.

6) FORMATTING VERDANA NORMAL

Verdana is a more open typeface than the default

Calibri, and can be useful for included notes that need

to be read easily. This is the Dialog style without the

Dialog spacing.

◊ Select a sec�on of remaining unindented descrip-

�on:

◊ *On styles pale%e select Normal

◊ on Home tab, in the text font dropbox, select Ver-

dana, and in the size drop box select 10.

◊ With the styled text select, right click and select

Styles, Save as a new Quick Style, and enter

NormVerdana in the style name.

7) FINALLY

Delete unnecessary text and provide useful reminder

labels in the document text to iden�fy the various

styles in use.

Save the en�re docu-

ment as

SMTplt.dotm.

A er making all ad-

justments and modifi-

ca�ons, save again as

a quick style set

(.dotx) both in the

default user/

roaming/Microso�/quickstyles folder, and in the di-

rectory where you save your script edi�ng work.


When you begin a script forma�ng project, you may

find the SMScript styleset is not available in the op-

�ons in the Change Styles drop-down list on the Home

ribbon. You may need to navigate to the template and

open it, then save it as your script document. All of

the included styles will be available in the Styles pal-

e%e as if you had opened the styleset.

It is unlikely you will be forma�ng scripts o en and

you may wish to restore some of the global se�ngs,

such as turning off the non-prin�ng

characters. Most other se�ngs will be

good for any use of Word. The SMScript

document template you created can be

transferred and archived. The hotkeys

may or may not func�on in a transferred

template, but all other features and

fonts used are generic and should work

well with any Office installa�on.

I have not tested it, but some or many of

the forma�ng opera�ons may transfer

directly to other word processing appli-

ca�ons that a%empt to communicate

with MSWord documents. If your pri-

mary work environment is Star Office,

Lotus Smartsuite, or another full fea-

tured office applica�on, it likely has

comparable forma�ng features that can

be adapted to your personal needs.

Good Stage Managing!

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