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Free Script Template: Screenplay, Stage Play & Short Drama
Start writing in the right format instead of fighting margins. Download a free, print-ready script template — the Hollywood-spec screenplay layout with proper slug lines and dialogue columns, the American stage play format, or a vertical 9:16 short-drama beat template built for phone-first episodes. Every one is a real PDF: no email gate, no watermark, free for personal and commercial projects.
- What you get
- 3 script templates — screenplay, stage, short drama
- Formats
- Print-ready PDF · US Letter / A4
- Standard
- Courier 12pt · spec margins · title page
- Price
- Free · no email · no watermark
The format is the price of admission
A reader knows within a page whether a writer speaks the medium — right margins, right cues, right beats. A correct template buys that credibility for free, so your idea gets a fair read instead of a fast pass. And the format rewards whoever ships more: Omdia forecasts microdramas will generate about $11 billion in global revenue in 2025, and Sensor Tower's State of Short Drama Apps report put Q1 2025 in-app spending near $700 million, close to 4× the year before. Grab the template free below; when the outline is ready, generate the script and the scenes with AI.
Download the free script templates
Three formats for three mediums. Click any card to download directly — no email, no signup, free for commercial use.
Screenplay Template — PDF
The film and TV standard: 12-point Courier on a 1.5-inch left margin, with a title page, FADE IN, INT./EXT. slug lines, present-tense action, a centered character cue over a ~3.5-inch dialogue column, parentheticals and right-aligned transitions. Type over the placeholders and your pages read exactly the way producers and script readers expect.
DownloadStage Play Template — PDF
The theatre layout: a title page, acts and scenes, a setting and AT RISE block, character names in caps and centered, full-margin dialogue and stage directions in parentheses. The format literary managers and directors expect from a submission — ready to write straight into.
DownloadShort-Drama Template — PDF
Built for phone-first episodes: series and episode fields up top, then five beats — hook, setup, conflict, escalation and cliffhanger — each with a timecode and a shot-plus-dialogue line. Write a 60-to-90-second vertical episode that hooks in three seconds and ends on a question.
DownloadEvery template is a print-ready PDF, free for personal and commercial projects with no attribution required, and prints clean on US Letter or A4. Type straight over the placeholders, or print and fill in by hand.
Features
Three real formats, not one generic page
"Script template" means different things to a filmmaker, a playwright and a TikTok creator, so this page ships all three as separate print-ready PDFs — each laid out to the convention its readers expect, so your pages look professional the moment you open them.
Screenplay template
Hollywood spec: Courier 12pt, 1.5" left margin, INT./EXT. slug lines, a centered dialogue column and right-aligned transitions — a title page and formatted body to write straight into.
Stage play template
American stage format: acts and scenes, character names in caps and centered, full-margin dialogue and stage directions in parentheses — the layout literary managers expect.
Short-drama template
A vertical 9:16 beat sheet built for short-form: hook, setup, conflict, escalation and cliffhanger, each with a timecode and a shot + dialogue line so every second earns the next tap.
Correct format, so no one bounces off page one
Wrong formatting is the fastest way to look like an amateur — and for a reader deciding whether to keep going, page one is the audition. These templates bake the standard rules in, so you spend your energy on the story, not on tab stops.
Spec margins built in
Courier 12pt and the industry margins that make a page read as roughly one screen-minute — the ruler pros use to judge pace.
Every element in its place
Scene headings, action, character cues, parentheticals, dialogue and transitions each sit where a reader's eye expects them — no guessing which line is a slug and which is action.
Print or type over it
Each PDF prints clean on US Letter or A4, or open it and type straight over the placeholders — the format holds either way.
From filled-in template to finished scenes
A template gets the format right; it can't tell you whether the story works. When your outline is ready, paste it into DramaSo's AI script generator to pressure-test structure and pacing — then take the same script all the way to shot, dubbed, captioned frames in one studio.
Idea in, shootable script out
The AI script generator turns a logline into a beat-timed, format-clean draft — the fast way to fill the template you just downloaded.
Script becomes storyboard
Send the finished script to the storyboard generator and it breaks scenes into shots with consistent characters on a 3D stage.
Storyboard becomes the episode
Generated frames flow into dubbing, lip-sync, captions and a 9:16 export — the same studio from blank template to finished cut.
Three steps from blank template to finished script
Pick the format for your medium, fill it in, then generate.
- 1
Download your format
Grab the screenplay, stage play or short-drama PDF — each already set to the correct margins, cues and structure for its medium.
- 2
Write in format
Type over the placeholders or print and fill in by hand. Scene headings, dialogue and beats are already where readers expect them.
- 3
Generate the draft or the scenes
Stuck on structure? Paste your idea into DramaSo's AI script generator for a beat-timed draft — then turn the finished script into storyboards and a rendered episode.
Who these script templates are for
Three formats, three very different writing desks.
Screenwriters & film students
Submit spec scripts, shorts and class films in correct Hollywood format — spec margins and slug lines built in, so coverage readers judge the story, not the layout.
Playwrights
Draft one-acts and full plays in the American stage format directors and literary managers expect, with centered cues and full-margin dialogue ready to go.
Short-drama & TikTok creators
Write vertical 9:16 episodes to a hook-to-cliffhanger beat sheet, so every second is built to earn the next tap on the feed.
Write the whole thing, then produce it
A template is the start — here's how to fill it and take it to screen.
AI Script Generator
Paste an idea and get a beat-timed, format-clean script draft — the fast way to fill the template you just downloaded.
AI Storyboard Generator
Turn your finished script into directed storyboard frames — camera moves and lighting staged on a 3D stage with consistent characters.
Free Shot List Template
Plan every camera setup before you roll — a free shot list template in PDF, Excel and CSV, the production half of your script.
Open the DramaSo studio
Bring your script and generate one scene free — watch the pages you formatted come to life as finished frames.
FAQ'S
Frequently Asked Questions
Ask us anything!
Get the format right, then get the story down
Download a free script template and start writing in the correct format today — and when your outline is ready, let DramaSo turn the script into finished frames. Free to start.