In proper formatting, when are you supposed to have two spaces? Or is it a matter of preference?

If you're referring to double spacing, that's between nearly everything. It would take less time to discuss when you don't, and even less by just reading some scripts. Basically, you don't double space between the character name and that character's dialogue...that's about it.

However, if you're referring to triple spacing, that is done before sluglines. Hence enter twice between action paragraphs and dialogue and after sluglines, but hit enter three times before the next slug.

Does that answer it?

If a character does a lot of action and you don't break it up with any dialogue, you should break up the action.


Phil

I space one at the start and once in-between each scene. I think reading standard scripts that aren't spaced, although, they say it's "proper" is a chore and I don't like doing it that way.



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FADE IN:


INT. BLAH - BLAH

LALALALALALALALALALLALAL
LALALALALALALALLLALLALAAL

        BALTIS
I THINK SUPERMAN IS A COMPLETE
AND TOTAL CROTCH CREAM.

                         CUT TO:


EXT. BLAH - BLAH


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That's just how I do it. I know it's not right but I refuse to follow rules and regulations in anything I do. I'm hardcore, though. "shrugs"

No, I wrote didn't write double or triple space, because that refers to something entirely different! I know everyone would think that.

I'm refering to the space bar.

When do you space once?     a a
When do you space twice?     a  a

I hope you understand now...

Quoted from Tinman No, I wrote didn't write double or triple space, because that refers to something entirely different! I know everyone would think that. I'm refering to the space bar. When do you space once?     a a When do you space twice?     a  a I hope you understand now...

I never do. You're supposed to when starting out your 1st sentence or something, though. I space 1 time and that's it.

My friend spaces 2 times every sentence and it's just anyoing to look at.

So basically.  This would be right.

In the eyes of many...

As for tripple space, hell why not? I didn't know you ever needed to.

On all modern documents the convention is to space once between everything, and this includes between sentences. A double space like on old typewriters and such looks funny on modern systems, so the single space is accepted.

Wihtout any connection to proper script format, in English typing you're supposed to put two spaces after the period before the second sentence.  I've heard of the possibility of double-spacing in sluglines after the INT./EXT., or in certain other places.  These are not necessary or important.

Double spacing after a full stop (period) is a convention from typewriters. Nowadays, every font in a word processor has its own typesetting so double spacing is obselete.

That's not how I was raised.  I was told to double-space between sentences, period (pun intended).

I was raised in England and as far as I remember we were never taught to use double spaces. However, I'm pretty sure American schools teach the double space rule (correct me if I'm wrong Americans).

Truth is, this is a really minor issue and nobody will fault you one way or the other. In screenplays, Courier font is so evenly spaced that the double space seems unnecessary to me. Fonts like Times New Roman can be harder to read with single space because each letter has its own width whereas Courier is standard across the board.

Edit: Check out this explanation:

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/taylor/topics/doublespace.htm

If I remember my English classes correctly (and I hope I do, because these are the rules I go by):

Double space between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another.  Like this.

Single space after a colon or semicolon: like this; or like this.

No spaces after an elliptical...like this.

Spaces before or after a dash I don't seem to remember.  Though I tend to include a space before and after a dash -- like this.  Though I do often see dashes without a space before or after--like this.

In elementary school, the teacher told me to hit the space bar twice between sentences, so that's why I double space between sentences unless I'm typing in a text-box which has a character-limit ... such as 500 characters, for example.  I recently wrote a review for a short story which was written by my favourite person in the world, and I had more to say about the story than the text-box would allow, so some sentences didn't even have a space after their period.

I'm pretty much with Lon, here.  I use two spaces after a period, and one after a comma.

Dashes have one space before and after; with zero spaces it's a hyphen.