JPF Home Page Forums Creative Arts Forums Acting, Theater, Film and TV Forum easy free software for converting doc 2 screenplay?

I'm looking for said 'ware to convert my word 97 doc theater script into a screenplay format. I've tried a program called Cinergy (after converting the doc to rtf) but it has separated most of the text into 2-3 letter sections.

I was hoping there would be some sort of program that could open the doc file and then I'd just highlite the passages (dialog & actions), right-click and reformat to whatever a screenplay is supposed to look like.

Thoughts?
-Jim

There was a software called 'dreamware' or something that was for screenplays. It prompted character exposition and plot turns, as I recall. Good luck.
By the way, a screenplay consists of 60 major moments, each a scene lasting 1 to 3 minutes. Put them all together for a two-hour movie.

There is a pretty decent FREE program called "Celtx" that I use. I am converting one of my books into a screen play. I do not know, however, if it will convert directly from Word. Good luck!

Al

Interesting, Gary! Good thing to know, as I'm in the thinking stage of being at least a part of a major story idea for a feature film, *Script). (Epic like). Why start small, right?

Anyhow, about how far off in either direction can that number 60 go? Ya know,,,for like how some films might have longer scenes, and keep it real basic, to the other end of SO much info in a three hour film? And what makes those long GOOD films seem normal in length? And the others being way too long even if under two hours? Would one write down x number of scenes to start with?

Buddy's sister wrote scripts for college,,,but I don't think ever a full length feature. I will also ask her on script writing. May need to actually study it huh? (Like any craft!) Any info or sources would be greatly appreciated. I learn fast in anything I'm interested in,,,so hit me up! I'm a blank chalkboard with this, and have been thinking about cowriting a film for several years now. Feels like it's time to start gathering knowledge to have a chance at writing something decent in the future of which I already have the topic in full.

Thank you Gary!
John

Isn't it more important to write a good story than to try and jam it into a certain format and possibly ruin the story? When was this 3 minute format created? Has it been the industry standard since the beginning of movie making? Does it apply to both tv and big screen movies? What about direct to dvd movies?
How do book conversions fit into this format?