Can you dictate a screenplay?
Yes. With a screenwriting app that understands cue words, you can speak your script and have it formatted as you go. You say "scene" before a scene heading, "action" before action, and "character" followed by a name before dialogue. Ordinary dictation types words but leaves the formatting to you.
Why dictate?
- It's often three times faster than typing on a phone or tablet.
- Dialogue sounds more natural when you speak it.
- You can write while walking, which many writers find unblocks ideas.
How it works in True-Script
Press Dictate and speak. For example:
"Scene one, interior, lighthouse, night. Rain lashes the glass. Character Maggie. Forty years. Not once."
That becomes a scene heading, an action line, MAGGIE, and her dialogue, in standard layout. Other cue words: "parenthetical", "cut to", "new line" and "scratch that" to remove the last line.
Tips for accurate dictation
- Speak at a steady pace and pause briefly after each cue word.
- Dictate in a quiet room, or close to the microphone.
- Spell unusual character names once, then correct them by typing.
- Go back afterwards to tidy punctuation; dictation gets you a fast first draft.
True-Script dictation runs on your iPhone or iPad and works in English. Nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Why dictate?
Most people speak three or four times faster than they type. More importantly, dialogue is meant to be spoken, so saying it aloud as you write catches stiff, unnatural lines immediately. Dictation also frees you from the desk: you can draft a scene while walking, which many writers find unlocks ideas that never come while staring at a screen.
How formatting by voice works
In True-Script you speak cue words to choose the element, then say the content. For example:
- "Scene one, interior, kitchen, night" becomes a scene heading:
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT. - "Action, Mara drops the keys" becomes an action line.
- "Character Mara" starts her speech, and what you say next becomes her dialogue.
- "Parenthetical, quietly" places a direction under the current speaker.
- "Cut to" adds a right-aligned transition.
Say "new line" for another line of the same kind, and "scratch that" to remove the last line. Everything you dictate can be undone in one step.
Tips for better results
- Speak in full sentences at a natural pace. Pausing mid-sentence can split a line.
- Find a quiet spot or use a headset microphone. Background music and other voices reduce accuracy.
- Give unusual character names an easy-to-say spelling at first, then rename them once the scene is drafted.
- Draft first, correct later. Stopping to fix every word breaks the flow that makes dictation worthwhile.
Privacy
Some dictation tools send your audio to the cloud. True-Script uses Apple's on-device speech recognition, so your voice and your script stay on your iPhone or iPad, and dictation works with no internet connection at all. That matters if you are writing something confidential, such as a commissioned script under a non-disclosure agreement.
Editing what you dictated
After a dictated draft, read it through or press Table Read to hear it back. You will spot recognition slips quickly, and you will also hear which lines worked better spoken than they look written, which is exactly the point.
Common questions
Is dictation private?
In True-Script, dictation uses Apple's on-device speech recognition, so your voice and script never leave your iPhone or iPad.
Does dictation work offline?
In True-Script, yes. Speech recognition runs on the device, so you can dictate with no Wi-Fi or mobile signal.
Can I dictate in a UK accent?
Yes. True-Script dictates in English using Apple on-device speech recognition, which handles UK and other English accents well.