Editing Screenplay (section)

===Feature film===
[[File:The Godfather Screenplay.JPG|thumb|Screenplay for the 1974 film ''[[The Godfather Part II]]'', written by [[Francis Ford Coppola]] and [[Mario Puzo]], held at the [[National Museum of Cinema]] in Italy]]
Motion picture screenplays intended for submission to mainstream studios, whether in the US or elsewhere in the world, are expected to conform to a standard [[typographical]] style known widely as the ''studio format'' which stipulates how elements of the screenplay such as scene headings, action, transitions, dialogue, character names, shots and parenthetical matter should be presented on the page, as well as font size and line spacing.

One reason for this is that, when rendered in studio format, most screenplays will transfer onto the screen at the rate of approximately one page per minute. This rule of thumb is widely contested &mdash; a page of dialogue usually occupies less screen time than a page of action, for example, and it depends enormously on the literary style of the writer &mdash; and yet it continues to hold sway in modern [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]].

There is no single standard for studio format. Some studios have definitions of the required format written into the rubric of their writer's contract. The [[Nicholl Fellowship]], a screenwriting competition run under the auspices of the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]], has a guide to screenplay format.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080822084909/http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/format.html Guide to screenplay format] from the website of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences</ref> A more detailed reference is ''The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats''.<ref>''The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats'' (2002) Cole and Haag, SCB Distributors, {{ISBN|0-929583-00-0}}.</ref>

==== Speculative screenplay ====
A [[speculative screenplay]] or "spec script" is a script written to be sold on the open market with no upfront payment, or promise of payment. The content is usually invented solely by the screenwriter, though spec screenplays can also be based on established works or real people and events.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://actfourscreenplays.com/glossary/spec-script/|title=Spec Script|date=29 July 2010 |publisher=Act Four Screenplays|access-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref>