What goes on a screenplay title page?
A screenplay title page has the title in capitals centred about a third of the way down, "Written by" and your name below it, and your contact details in the bottom left corner. Keep it simple: no images, quotes, logos or copyright notices.
The layout
- Title: capitals, centred.
- Credit: "Written by" then your name, centred below.
- Contact: email and phone, bottom left.
- Draft: optional, a draft name or date bottom right.
What to leave off
Pictures, taglines, quotes, character lists and copyright or registration numbers. They look amateur to readers.
True-Script builds a correctly laid out title page and adds it to your PDF.
What goes on a title page
- Title: centred, about a third of the way down the page, in capitals. Some writers underline it or put it in quotation marks; plain capitals are always safe.
- Credit line: "Written by" or "by", centred a few lines below the title.
- Author's name: centred under the credit line. For a writing team, use an ampersand (&) between names; "and" means the writers worked separately, which has a specific meaning in credit arbitration.
- Source material, if any: "Based on the novel by..." a few lines further down.
- Contact details: bottom left or bottom right, with your email and phone number, or your agent's details.
What to leave off
A spec title page should be clean. Leave out dates, draft numbers, copyright symbols, registration numbers, logos, artwork and quotations. Dates and draft numbers make a script look old as soon as it has been around for a few months, and readers see artwork and quotations as signs of an amateur. Draft information belongs on title pages only once a script is in production.
Formatting the page
Use the same Courier 12 font as the rest of the script. The title page is not numbered and doesn't count towards the page count. Keep everything left-aligned or centred as above, with plenty of white space; it should look calm and professional, not designed.
Production title pages
Once a script goes into production, the title page changes. It typically carries the draft or revision colour, the date of each revision, the production company and sometimes a confidentiality notice. This is the production's job, usually handled by the script coordinator.
Creating one in True-Script
In True-Script you fill in the title, author, draft, date and contact details once and the title page is laid out for you in your PDF export. You can leave optional fields such as draft and date blank for a clean spec title page, then add them later if the script goes into production.
Common questions
Should I put a copyright notice on my title page?
No. It is unnecessary and reads as amateur. Keep the title page to the title, writer credit and contact details.
Should I put a copyright notice on my title page?
No. Your script is protected by copyright automatically in the UK and US. A copyright notice on a spec script looks defensive and is not needed.
Should the title page include the draft number?
Not on a spec script. Draft numbers and dates belong on production drafts, where everyone needs to know which version they have.