Dialogue (and Character) Margins

Tell us about anything you think would make YouMeScript better.
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ronb
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:40 pm

Dialogue (and Character) Margins

Post by ronb »

I realize you have consciously chosen your margins based on the those found at Story Sense (https://www.storysense.com/format/margins.htm), which are based on the 1983 Haag and Cole's Complete Guide to Standard Screenplay Format (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nvb8Mg ... sp=sharing) but, since the dialogue lines are 33 characters in YouMeScript instead of 35 characters in most other screenplay formatters now, scripts printed to PDF format in YouMeScript tend to run longer. For example, if you import the Fountain version of Big Fish into 'Afterwriting, it will come out to 124 pages, in YouMeScript it comes out to 134 (minus the title page in both cases). I realize that YouMeScript is not wrong, but I've read several comments on Reddit about "improper format." It would make it easier to suggest YouMeScript if the dialogue element was set at 27, instead of 29 (and maybe bring in the Character and parenthetical elements by two spaces as well). This wouldn't change the appearance significantly, but it would help users perceive YouMeScript as a "standard" screenplay formatter.

Personally I like YouMeScript and this isn't a huge issue to me, since I export to Fountain anyhow and use the CLI versions of Wrap or 'Afterwriting for PDF formatting. I'll be subscribing to the Pro Version soon so I can recommend what I use. Thank you for all your work.
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