Write, write, write

We all know the deal - as a screenwriter, you use Final Draft or any of the other screenwriting programs. They format everthing neatly and set it all in Courier 12pt font.  But we shouldn't just use that font, we should treasure it, because ... Courier 12pt isn't just a font - it's the stuff that dreams are made of.

Totally ridiculous, right? This dude's off the rocker. But wait, hear me out. I realize that today the software does all the formatting for you - it's just there, it enables, takes all the pesky stuff away from you so that you can just concentrate on the story. Heck, that's exactly what it does and it works like a charm ... but I must admit I occasionally miss the days when manually formatting was an important and very useful part of my writing process.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Courier 12pt! When I started writing scripts in New York I quickly gathered that story was one thing, format, on the other hand, was everything! Story simply didn't matter if the format didn't present it properly. Not using Courier 12pt, or cheating with the margins (haven't we all tried that one?), instantly marked you as an amateur and your script was - 100% guaranteed - never read. When I started working for German markets in the late 90s, I was horrified to see that no one cared about format - every writer fiddled to their heart's desire and producers appeared to be just fine with that.

Those writers got jobs, same as I got jobs. The difference was that I continued to stick to format and my beloved font. I kept on carrying that baggage, that proud Courier 12pt Hollywood history. What if, one fine day, Hollywood decides to change the standard font?  I think most people wouldn't care ... and I know that I would. 

I simply love knowing that many of my all-time favorite films were made from scripts written with the same font we all still use today. With every Courier 12pt word I type, I'm a living part of that glorious history.