Like many of you out there I use Final Draft and whilst it’s certainly not perfect, it’s the one I find most serviceable and least annoying, even though I must only use about a tenth of the applications.
Basically then this is a Q for those out there who know their way round this software better than I do (which is not difficult, admittedly, my cat probably knows more about FD than I do).
In the “file” bit on the far left handside, you can go to “new screenplay” and you have the basic spec template, even I know that. In addition, on the drop-down list you’ve got templates not just for specs, but BBC sitcoms, Eastenders, Coronation Street, Alias, etc etc.
But what if there’s NOT a template for a show I want to put into my system? Is there any way I can “programme” it into Final Draft so that when I select it thereafter, it will do all the formatting for that particular show so I need put it in only once instead of painstakingly page by page?
Any thoughts appreciated.
How about asking the Final Draft people themselves? Sorry I can’t be any more helpful hon. x
Set up your script the way you like it, then save it off into the Final Draft Templates folder. (Can’t remember where they are, but if you do a search for .fdr on the computer, that should find them.)
Now if you create a new screenplay, it’ll give you the option to create it using your template.
Cheers Elinor, I just might do that.
Piers – Put my template in the template folder, it’s definitely there, but still insisting I do this bastard page by page. Seems like there’s no short cuts here, *sigh*. Thanks tho Piers.
Did you save it as a .fdt file, not .fdr?
I’ve just tried it, saved an .fdt in the stationery folder (don’t have a templates one) and it works fine. It comes up with the text from the last script, but all you have to do is ctrl+a and delete it all and you’re ready to go.
You can format all the elements using the Format Elements option on the menu bar (CTRL+SHIFT+E is the keyboard shortcut) and then save the final document as a Final Draft Template (with a file extension of *.fdt I believe) as Piers mentioned.
Templates go in the Stationery folder in the Final Draft folder.
Thanks guys, done all you’ve said but for some reason the bastard just won’t work for me… tho at least *some* of the margins are working now, so will cut out some of the time. It just will not come off the default setting of bloody damn courier! Still, once I’ve written one script like this, painstaking as it is, at least I will have a template of sorts to crib off so I won’t have to go thru this pain and irritation again.
If it’s for a specific British TV show that doesn’t have an existing template in FD, ask around to find out what template they do use. Chances are it’s a modified version of another template you can find in FD.
For example, I was told the BBC Scotland soap River City uses a modified version of the Doctors template. So when I did a tryout for River City, I used the basic Doctors FD template and stopped stressing about format.
Ultimately, it’s the writing, not the template that counts, right?