A few questions

[Steve]

Hi Hans,

 

The "correct" number of lines per page is a subject about which there are lots of opinions. There is a good summary at John August's site, which samples some scripts, and includes these numbers:

• Schindler's List - 41 lines per page
  
• Big Fish - 52 lines per page
  
• Saving Private Ryan - 52 lines per page
  
• Apocalypse Now - 57 lines per page
  
• Aliens - up to 60 lines per page
  

Fortunately, Storyist can accommodate your preference. There are two ways to affect the number of lines per page:

1. Adjust the top and bottom page margins. The Storyist default is one inch. Increasing it will reduce the number of lines per page and vice versa.
   
2. Adjust the line spacing.
   

One common question is "How do I match Final Draft's line spacing". By default, Final Draft does not use leading, so a single spaced line will be set exactly 12 points from the baseline of the previous line. Storyist (and other text editors) adds two points of leading between lines, so to effectively remove the leading, you would set a line height multiple of 12 / (12 + 2) = 0.86 using the text inspector. To do this:

1. Open your script and select all text.
   
2. Open the Text Attributes inspector and switch to the Spacing tab.
   
3. Set the Line Spacing popup to "Multiple" and the value to 0.86.
   

If you want to make this setting the default, you can update the styles by selecting an instance of each style and choosing Format > Style > Redefine Style from Selection.

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Thanks Steve, that worked great! I had some formatting issues though

at some parts of the scripts these strange gaps happened, some of them I did no even manage to fix manually: http://www.pic-upload.de/view-14020185/Bildschirmfoto-2012-05-02-um-13.13.08.png.html

And in Final Draft dialogue looks like this after I exported it for Final Draft. http://www.pic-upload.de/view-14020196/Bildschirmfoto-2012-05-02-um-12.46.54.png.html

Any ideas how I can fix this?

 

And sorry for my misleading nickname, I'm Jesco.

[Steve]

Hi Jesco,

 

On the gaps, it looks like either:

• The paragraph starting with "Tom sits down" has a "Space Before" setting. If so, just revert the paragraph to the Action style default.
  
• The widow and orphan control feature is cutting the page short, forcing the following paragraph to the next page. If this is the case, placing the cursor before "Tom", pressing the Delete key followed by the Return key should correct the layout. If it does, please let me know which version of OS X you're using and how I might reproduce this, and I'll fix it for you.
  

On the dialog, is the issue the dialog width? You can adjust the width of the Dialog element in Final Draft or in Storyist. In the Storyist template, the width is specified from the right margin (for viewing in Normal mode). In Final Draft, the element width is specified from the left margin. Maybe the default page sizes are different.

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Thanks Steve. I am not sure if I understand it correctly though. What is the Space Before setting? And what is the widow and orphan feature? I am using OS 10.6.8

 

Here is another example of a gap: http://picupload.org/i/2012/05/23/qh9Ws.png

That's what happens when I hit delete in front of COUNTER to close the gap: http://picupload.org/i/2012/05/23/v7Hqe.png

[hansthegreat]

I solved it by changing COUNTER from Action into Scene Heading. Still confused though.

[hansthegreat]

In this case it is all in Action style and yet "gapped" http://picupload.org/i/2012/05/23/QgHG.png

[hansthegreat]

I have also been experiencing performance issues with Storyist, meaning that when I type nothing happens and then after some seconds text get deleted. If I close the program it is okay for a while, then it happens again.

[Steve]

Hi Jesco,

 

Thanks Steve. I am not sure if I understand it correctly though. What is the Space Before setting? And what is the widow and orphan feature? I am using OS 10.6.8

 

Here is another example of a gap: http://picupload.org...05/23/qh9Ws.png

That's what happens when I hit delete in front of COUNTER to close the gap: http://picupload.org...05/23/v7Hqe.png

 

The "space before" parameter controls the amount of whitespace that appears before a paragraph. You can define this value for styles and for individual paragraphs using the Inspector.

 

Widow and orphan control affects whether a lines appear at the bottom of one page or the top of the next page. The screenplay styles have implicit widow and orphan settings that are controlled by the pagination setting in the style definition.

 

What style is applied to the word "CONTROL?" Is it a style you defined? If so, check the pagination settings for the style and its parent style (if there is one).

 

-Steve

[Steve]

Hi Jesco,

 

I have also been experiencing performance issues with Storyist, meaning that when I type nothing happens and then after some seconds text get deleted. If I close the program it is okay for a while, then it happens again.

 

Is the program performing an autosave when you notice the slowdown? Depending on the Mac you're using and whether or not you use the word count goal feature, Storyist may be in the process of saving. If you are using the word count goal feature, there might be an optimization you can use.

 

-Steve

 

-Steve

[Steve]

In this case it is all in Action style and yet "gapped" http://picupload.org/i/2012/05/23/QgHG.png

 

OK, lets try turning off the pagination control for the Action style. To do this:

1. Open your script and select some text having the Action style.
   
2. Choose Format > Style > Edit Current Style.
   
3. Change the value of the Paginate As popup from "Action" to "Normal".
   
4. Click OK.
   

This will change the widow and orphan control settings for the Action style. Is this closer to what you'd expect to see?

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Thanks Steve, I will let you know how it works out.

Something else: I am worried that without having MORE and CONTINUED in the script, it won't look professional. What do you think about that?

[hansthegreat]

Now I cannot cycle to the styles anymore using tab. How is that? (looks like this http://picupload.org...05/29/cSh5R.png)

It is enabled under preferences and for some reason only does not work in the new script I started.

 

It has something to do with the fact that I change the leading to 0,86 and then activate Redefine Style from selection

[Steve]

Hi Jesco,

 

The MORE and CONT'D tags are usually omitted from a spec script, at least in the U.S.

 

On the Tab and Return shortcuts: If you recently edited the Action style, check that the Tab Style and Next Style attributes are set as in the attached screenshot:

 

 

-Steve