From your first line to a finished page

The six steps

1. Bring the script you already have

   Drop in a .docx and it arrives with its fonts, styles and page breaks intact, because the editor reads the file format itself rather than approximating it. Nothing to reformat and nothing to paste. If you would rather begin here, a blank page works just as well.

   

2. Write the way you already write

   Chapters and scenes are read from your own headings, so the outline builds itself as you type instead of asking you to maintain it. An industry format is there if you want the structure. Ignore it and nothing breaks.

   notes screenplay panel list

   p12, wide. platform empty, tiles wet. yuki alone under the sign, hood up.

   keep it quiet. no sfx here, the silence is the point.

   then insert on the radio dial. her hand is shaking a little, don't overdo it.

   CU yuki. she says it small, almost to herself: it's still broadcasting.

   last one, the sign above her goes dark. hold on it.

   EXT. STATION PLATFORM, NIGHT

   Wet tiles. The platform is empty. YUKI stands alone beneath the sign, hood up.

   INSERT: the radio dial, turning slowly under her hand.

   ON YUKI

   YUKI (small)...it's still broadcasting.

   The sign above her goes dark.

   1.Wide: empty platform, wet tiles, Yuki under the sign2.Insert: the radio dial turning3.CU Yuki: "...it's still broadcasting."4.The sign goes dark. No SFX.

3. Break the chapter into panels

   The storyboard sits beside the script. Add a panel where you want one and put them in the order you want them in. Your panels are yours: rewriting a scene never reshuffles your artwork, and reordering your artwork never touches a word.

   

4. Drag a line onto the panel that says it

   The line becomes lettering on the page and stays tied to the script. Fix it in the script or fix it in the balloon, whichever you happen to be in, and the other follows as you type. You catch a line overflowing its balloon while it is still one keystroke to fix, instead of after the panel is inked.

   page 12

   EXT. STATION PLATFORM, NIGHT

   Wet tiles. The platform is empty. Yuki stands alone beneath the sign, hood up.

   Hold it quiet, no sfx here.

   Yuki (small)...it's still broadcasting.

   The sign above her goes dark. Hold on it.

   editing here

   ...it's still broadcasting.

   fits the panel

   editing here

5. Draw it, here or on your tablet

   Pressure, layers, blend modes and clipping masks on a canvas built for a stylus, with your dialogue sitting on it at real size. Or pair a tablet and draw there while the script stays on the big screen.

   

6. Take it back out again

   Layered PSD for Clip Studio, Photoshop or Procreate, with your layers, folders and blend modes where you left them. .docx back to Word. PDF for anyone who only needs to read it. Formats other software already opens, so leaving is never a project of its own.