- note, this page (indietalk) removes indentations on post for some reason, so the format below looks wrong, but is not incorrect in the source.
So yesterday I posted twice in different threads about how you can use Chat GPT 4 to effectively format your screenplays from now on. I thought I should probably just make a main post about that, since it's going to save a lot of time for a lot of people, and effectively get rid of the many posts where people have to spend time giving others advice about things like spelling and punctuation.
So here's an example I made in 2 minutes.
I gave it this simple story segment, nothing good, just an example for this test.
a couple sits in a Manhattan townhouse, and has an argument about who will stay up all night reformatting a novel page into a script page. Conflict develops and tempers rise, as each comes up with reasons why the other should have to be the one to do this annoying job. They are interrupted by the sound of gigantic thudding footsteps outside the building, and go to look out the window. They see a 135 foot tall robot walking through town, stepping on cars full of people in traffic, and wearing a great cape made out of many parachutes. A voice from the street below is heard screaming, "Jim, Jim, wake up, somebody call an ambulance" The robot lowers it's eye to the apartment window and trembling in fear, the man holds out the page of text that needs to be edited. A slow rumble grows into a roar as the eye begins to glow, and then we see a drone shot of the robot shooting a huge beam of energy out of it's eye, cutting the apartment building in half. It collapses into dust, as crowds on the street below run screaming from the falling rubble, and in the final shot, a perfectly formatted script page floats down like a falling leaf and settles into the rubble.
Then I told it to format this as a screenplay with standard formatting, and it returned this -
INT. MANHATTAN TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT
The room is dimly lit. An elegant dining table takes up most of the space, covered in papers and books. On one side sits JANE, mid-30s, her hair up, glasses on, looking intensely at a manuscript. Across from her is JAMES, late 30s, wearing a faded t-shirt, his attention on a laptop.
JANE
I’m not doing it, James. I’ve been up for 48 hours
straight working on the novel.
JAMES
Well, I’ve got my hands full with the edits from
the publisher! Why do I have to be the one to
reformat?
Jane stands up, pointing at her manuscript.
JANE
Do you see this? This is blood, sweat, and tears.
Literal tears! You can’t expect me to turn this into
a script format on no sleep.
James closes his laptop with a THUD.
JAMES
I’ve been working non-stop too, Jane. We’re in this
together. It’s as much your job as it is mine.
A sudden, LOUD THUD interrupts their spat. The room shakes.
JANE
What the hell was that?
Another THUD. The wine glasses on the table tremble.
JAMES
I...I don’t know.
Rushing to the window, they peel back the curtains to reveal a GIGANTIC ROBOT. It towers above the buildings, its mechanical feet crushing cars beneath.
JANE
Oh my god...
The robot wears a massive CAPE made from dozens of connected parachutes. With each step, it flutters in the wind.
From below, a distant SHOUT rises.
MAN (O.S.)
Jim, Jim, wake up! Someone call an ambulance!
The robot's massive EYE focuses on their window. James, in a moment of panic, holds up the manuscript page towards the robot.
The robot's eye begins to GLOW BRIGHTER. The RUMBLE grows louder, more menacing.
JAMES
Jane... I think it wants the script.
JANE
I think it wants US!
An aerial DRONE SHOT captures the immense robot. It releases a POWERFUL BEAM from its eye, slicing the townhouse in half. Bricks, wood, and furniture fly everywhere as the building COLLAPSES.
People below SCREAM, fleeing from the falling debris.
The dust settles. All that remains is devastation and the faint sound of sirens in the distance. A single, perfectly formatted SCRIPT PAGE floats gracefully to the ground, landing atop the rubble.
FADE OUT.
THE END
In this instance, I let the bot fill in some detail, and basically write the scene for me, but that was simply to save time, since this was just for an example. You can easily tell it not to embellish your writing, and it will simply do your formatting for you.
Edit - for some reason, when I saved this, it removed all the spacing, basically ruining the example of the formatting. It appears correctly until I post it, and then suddenly deletes all the indentations on post. Anyway, I guess just take my word for it that GPT does produce the format with correct indentations. The whole post feels wasted now that half the formatting just vanished.
here's a screenshot of the original so you can see what I mean.
So yesterday I posted twice in different threads about how you can use Chat GPT 4 to effectively format your screenplays from now on. I thought I should probably just make a main post about that, since it's going to save a lot of time for a lot of people, and effectively get rid of the many posts where people have to spend time giving others advice about things like spelling and punctuation.
So here's an example I made in 2 minutes.
I gave it this simple story segment, nothing good, just an example for this test.
a couple sits in a Manhattan townhouse, and has an argument about who will stay up all night reformatting a novel page into a script page. Conflict develops and tempers rise, as each comes up with reasons why the other should have to be the one to do this annoying job. They are interrupted by the sound of gigantic thudding footsteps outside the building, and go to look out the window. They see a 135 foot tall robot walking through town, stepping on cars full of people in traffic, and wearing a great cape made out of many parachutes. A voice from the street below is heard screaming, "Jim, Jim, wake up, somebody call an ambulance" The robot lowers it's eye to the apartment window and trembling in fear, the man holds out the page of text that needs to be edited. A slow rumble grows into a roar as the eye begins to glow, and then we see a drone shot of the robot shooting a huge beam of energy out of it's eye, cutting the apartment building in half. It collapses into dust, as crowds on the street below run screaming from the falling rubble, and in the final shot, a perfectly formatted script page floats down like a falling leaf and settles into the rubble.
Then I told it to format this as a screenplay with standard formatting, and it returned this -
INT. MANHATTAN TOWNHOUSE - NIGHT
The room is dimly lit. An elegant dining table takes up most of the space, covered in papers and books. On one side sits JANE, mid-30s, her hair up, glasses on, looking intensely at a manuscript. Across from her is JAMES, late 30s, wearing a faded t-shirt, his attention on a laptop.
JANE
I’m not doing it, James. I’ve been up for 48 hours
straight working on the novel.
JAMES
Well, I’ve got my hands full with the edits from
the publisher! Why do I have to be the one to
reformat?
Jane stands up, pointing at her manuscript.
JANE
Do you see this? This is blood, sweat, and tears.
Literal tears! You can’t expect me to turn this into
a script format on no sleep.
James closes his laptop with a THUD.
JAMES
I’ve been working non-stop too, Jane. We’re in this
together. It’s as much your job as it is mine.
A sudden, LOUD THUD interrupts their spat. The room shakes.
JANE
What the hell was that?
Another THUD. The wine glasses on the table tremble.
JAMES
I...I don’t know.
Rushing to the window, they peel back the curtains to reveal a GIGANTIC ROBOT. It towers above the buildings, its mechanical feet crushing cars beneath.
JANE
Oh my god...
The robot wears a massive CAPE made from dozens of connected parachutes. With each step, it flutters in the wind.
From below, a distant SHOUT rises.
MAN (O.S.)
Jim, Jim, wake up! Someone call an ambulance!
The robot's massive EYE focuses on their window. James, in a moment of panic, holds up the manuscript page towards the robot.
The robot's eye begins to GLOW BRIGHTER. The RUMBLE grows louder, more menacing.
JAMES
Jane... I think it wants the script.
JANE
I think it wants US!
An aerial DRONE SHOT captures the immense robot. It releases a POWERFUL BEAM from its eye, slicing the townhouse in half. Bricks, wood, and furniture fly everywhere as the building COLLAPSES.
People below SCREAM, fleeing from the falling debris.
The dust settles. All that remains is devastation and the faint sound of sirens in the distance. A single, perfectly formatted SCRIPT PAGE floats gracefully to the ground, landing atop the rubble.
FADE OUT.
THE END
In this instance, I let the bot fill in some detail, and basically write the scene for me, but that was simply to save time, since this was just for an example. You can easily tell it not to embellish your writing, and it will simply do your formatting for you.
Edit - for some reason, when I saved this, it removed all the spacing, basically ruining the example of the formatting. It appears correctly until I post it, and then suddenly deletes all the indentations on post. Anyway, I guess just take my word for it that GPT does produce the format with correct indentations. The whole post feels wasted now that half the formatting just vanished.
here's a screenshot of the original so you can see what I mean.
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