Page Break Rules

Okay, here's where the fun begins. Scripts have rather odd pagination rules. I have no explanation for how they evolved except for noticing that they make it so that the reader has less chance of turning the page, starting to read, and then thinking "Who's dialogue is this? Where is this Action taking place?"

You have two choices when it comes to page breaking: 1) Learn all these rules, or; 2) Write your script with Scriptware and never think about the rules. Scriptware takes care of all the pagination rules automatically, as you write. If you delete half of page 5, Scriptware instantly updates all the rest of the page breaks from page 5 through the end of the script so your script is always perfectly formatted, ready to print, submit and sell.

If you don't have Scriptware or, if you still want to know the rules, here they are:

               HILLARY
I really wanted to be President myself,
but I knew that there was no way...
        (beat)
Unless... well, I couldn't do that, now
could I?

... you cannot put a page break after the Parenthetical, but you have the option of putting one before it if you need to (in other words, it's a valid place to put a page break, but it's your own stylistic choice as to whether you do -- we do). Regardless, when you split Dialogue with a page break, put the word "more" or "MORE" in parenthesis on the line after the Dialogue in the same margins as the Character Name. Then, at the top of the next page, repeat the Character Name before the Dialogue and add the Extension (CONT'D) or (cont'd). It's a personal preference for whether you use the uppercase or lowercase "cont'd" and "more."

Click here to see two examples of Dialogue with page breaks. You'll notice that if you have a page break in the Dialogue of a Character that has an Extension, on the second page, you repeat the Extension, then put a semi-colon and a space before the continued indicator.