FORMAT LIKE A PRO
Make sure your script is formatted professionally before you submit it to theatres or producers.
Make sure your integrated script/score is ready to go into workshop or production.
Put your best foot forward with these formatting guides from New Musicals Inc.
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Format Guidelines - Illustrated & Explained - $15
UPDATED NOVEMBER 2019
In this document you will find description and examples of formatting for scripts and scores for musical theatre. There are several “standard” formats out there. ANMT’s standards are based on the very traditional guidelines formulated by Samuel French. We do not recommend using the musical theatre templates which come with various word processing softwares, as they tend to be incomplete and flag the user as not-professional.
A manuscript prepared according to these guidelines will look professional when you submit it to producers and theatres, and it will enable actors, directors, music directors (etc.) to be able to rehearse your show efficiently and accurately.
The first section is dedicated to the preparation of a piano/vocal score.
The second section is dedicated to the preparation of a script and lyric pages.
At the conclusion of the document you will find a sample of an “integrated script” which ANMT requires for readings and workshops, in which the score is collated within the script itself. A submission to producers and theatres typically does not integrate the score with the script; the integration is useful for rehearsals and minimal page-turning.
There are many many details included here, and the reality is that you really must be responsible for all of them. As you prepare more and more manuscripts, these details will become familiar and ultimately second nature to you. In the interim, however, we hope this document helps point out by illustration and description formatting standards which will ensure that your script is professional submission.
Click below for some sample excerpts.
Format Guidelines - Basic - $5
In this document you will find description and examples of formatting for scripts and scores for musical theatre. There are several “standard” formats out there. ANMT’s standards are based on the very traditional guidelines formulated by Samuel French. A manuscript prepared according to these guidelines will look professional when you submit it to producers and theatres. We do not recommend using the musical theatre templates which come with various word processing software, as they tend to be incomplete and flag the user as not-professional.
The “Basic” guidelines have all the information you need, presented in a 13-page document. We have 140-page “Illustrated and Explained” version as well, with an additional 50-some pages of illustrations of script and score layout, which also includes tips and samples for preparing an integrated script/score for rehearsals (different from the separate script and score you’d send to a producer).
Using Word to Format Musical Theatre Scripts - $19.95
A step-by-step, keystroke-by-keystroke hands-on webinar which will guide you through templates and macros to format a musical theatre script according to the professional standards set in ANMT’s 80-page style guide Format Guidelines for Musical Theatre Scripts. You’ll be up and running in just over an hour, with hours and hours of time-saving macros and formatting perfection. Includes an 18-page handout, recording all the keystrokes for future reference, as well as a Word template for Broadway musical theatre.