Screenplay Title Page & Cover Page Format (Free Template)
Your title page is the only page of your script a reader is guaranteed to look at. It takes four seconds to read and it silently answers one question before page one: does this writer know what they’re doing?
The good news is that there’s almost nothing to it. A screenplay cover page holds a title, a byline, your name, and a way to reach you. That’s the whole job. The trouble is that writers keep adding things — logos, loglines, WGA numbers, taglines, a moody stock photo — and every addition costs them a little credibility before the story gets a chance to earn it.
This guide covers exactly what belongs on a script title page, where each element sits, a copy-paste template you can use today, and the specific extras that mark a submission as amateur.
Key Takeaways
- A screenplay title page needs four things: the title, a “Written by” line, your name, and contact details. Nothing else is required.
- “Title page,” “cover page,” and “front page” all mean the same thing — the unnumbered page before FADE IN.
- Everything is Courier 12-point, same as the script. The title sits centered, roughly 3.5–4 inches from the top; contact info goes in a bottom corner.
- Leave off WGA numbers, copyright notices, loglines, images, and fancy fonts. Each one reads as inexperience.
- TV scripts add the episode title under the series title. Features stay minimal.
What Goes On a Screenplay Title Page?
A screenplay title page contains four required elements and two conditional ones. The required set is the title, the “Written by” line, the writer’s name, and contact information. The conditional pair is a “based on” credit (only for adaptations) and a draft date (only if someone asked for it, or if it’s television).
That’s it. There’s no fifth secret element that agents are quietly looking for. Readers open hundreds of scripts; the ones that look like every other professional script are the ones that disappear correctly into the background.
The standard anatomy of a screenplay cover page. Everything above the fold is centered; everything at the bottom is anchored to a corner.
The title
All caps, centered, and the only thing on the page in uppercase. That’s what makes it pull the eye. Underlining it is traditional and fine. Bolding it is fine. Quotation marks around it are not — a title in quotes reads as a first-timer’s instinct. Don’t add a tagline underneath. The title carries itself or it doesn’t.
The byline
“Written by” is the safe standard. “Screenplay by” appears on produced scripts, and “An original screenplay by” appears on some spec drafts, but “Written by” is never wrong. Keep it lowercase where shown and drop it about four lines below the title.
Your name
Directly under the byline. If two writers wrote it together as a team, use an ampersand: Mara Chen & Ellis Ward. If two writers worked on it separately, at different times, use the word and. That distinction isn’t decorative — it’s a real credit convention, and using the wrong one signals you don’t know the difference.
Contact information
Bottom left corner, single-spaced, in the same Courier. Your name and email is genuinely enough. A phone number is optional and adds nothing to your odds. Skip your street address — it eats space and there’s no reason a stranger reading your script needs to know where you sleep. If you’re represented, put your agent or manager’s details here instead of your own, because that’s who the call should go to.
Where Does Each Element Sit on the Page?
The vertical placement is the only part with real numbers attached, and even those have tolerance. The title lands roughly 3.5 to 4 inches from the top of the page — about a third of the way down. Everything else spaces off that anchor. Screenwriting software handles this automatically; if you’re building the page by hand in a word processor, these are the numbers to hit.
| Element | Position | Formatting |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Centered, ~3.5–4″ from top | Courier 12pt, ALL CAPS, underline optional |
| “Written by” | Centered, ~4 lines below title | Courier 12pt, sentence case |
| Writer’s name | Centered, 1–2 lines below byline | Courier 12pt, sentence case |
| “Based on” credit | Centered, below the name | Courier 12pt — adaptations only |
| Contact block | Bottom left corner | Courier 12pt, single-spaced |
| Draft date | Bottom right corner | Courier 12pt — optional for features |
| Margins | 1″ on all four sides | Same as the rest of the script |
| Page number | None | The title page is never numbered |
One quiet detail worth getting right: the title page is not counted or numbered. Your script’s page one is the page that starts with FADE IN, and a title page that carries a “1” in the corner tells a reader you exported it wrong.
The contact-corner question comes up constantly. Final Draft drops contact details bottom-left by default; plenty of professional scripts put them bottom-right. Nobody has ever passed on a script over this. Pick a corner, put the date in the other one if you’re using a date, and move on.
Free Screenplay Cover Page Template
Here’s the whole thing. Copy it, replace the placeholders, set the font to Courier 12-point, and center the top block on the page. This is a complete, submission-ready script title page.
The underline under the title is optional — include it or don’t. If your script is an adaptation, add the credit line two lines under your name:
And if you need a story credit separate from the screenplay credit, that block looks like this:
Building this by hand is fine, but it’s also unnecessary work. Final Draft, Fade In, Celtx, WriterDuet, Arc Studio, and Highland all have a dedicated title-page field set — you type into the boxes and the software places everything. The one thing software won’t catch is a typo in your own email address, which is a real way writers lose real opportunities. Read the contact block out loud before you send.
What Should You Leave Off a Script Title Page?
This is where most damage happens. Everything below is something writers add believing it makes them look more professional, and every one of them does the opposite.
WGA registration numbers and copyright notices
Your work is copyrighted the moment you write it. Registering is fine — printing the number on the cover isn’t. To a reader it broadcasts one thing: this writer thinks I might steal the script. It’s the single most common amateur tell on a title page.
Loglines, taglines, and synopses
The title page isn’t a pitch document. A logline sitting under the title tells a reader you didn’t trust the pages to do their job. Keep the pitch in your query email, where it belongs.
Images, logos, and artwork
No poster mockups, no photographs, no production-company logo for a company that is you. A screenplay is a working document, not a book cover. The rare exception is a script already in production under a company that has a logo — and if that’s you, someone else is making the title page.
Decorative fonts
Courier 12-point, the same as every other page. A horror script set in a serial killer’s font doesn’t feel like horror; it feels like a writer who didn’t read the guidelines.
Draft numbers on a spec
“Fourth Draft” on the cover of a spec quietly tells a reader the previous three didn’t sell. A date is optional; a draft designation is a liability. If your date is two years old, drop it entirely — an old date makes a script smell stale before anyone reads it.
How Does a TV Title Page Differ From a Feature?
Television adds one line and takes dates more seriously. The series title goes where the feature title would go, and the episode title sits below it, usually in quotation marks — this is the one place quote marks are correct. Under that comes the byline and writer name as usual.
Spec pilots stay minimal, same as features. Scripts written inside an actual production add more — episode number, production number, network and studio credits, colored-draft revision marks — but none of that applies to a writer submitting on their own. If you’re writing a spec pilot, the block above is your ceiling.
Draft dates carry more weight in TV, where a script genuinely goes through dated, tracked revisions. On a spec pilot going out cold, the date is still optional.
Does the Title Page Actually Affect Coverage?
Not directly — no reader has ever written “Pass” because of a cover page. But it’s the first data point in a read, and reads are cumulative. A clean title page starts a reader neutral. A cluttered one starts them looking for confirmation that the writing will be cluttered too, and readers are very good at finding what they’re looking for.
Think about the sequence. A reader opens the PDF, sees the cover, sees FADE IN, and reaches page ten. By then their instinct has usually formed. Anything you put in front of that instinct that isn’t the story is working against you. Formatting isn’t craft, but sloppy formatting is a proxy for sloppy craft, and it’s the cheapest possible thing to get right.
If you want to know how a professional reader would actually respond to your pages, formatting included, that’s what script coverage is for — a written evaluation of your screenplay from the perspective of the person deciding whether it moves up the chain.
Your title page is clean. Now find out what a reader would say about the ninety pages behind it — structure, character, dialogue, and a straight verdict.
Get Your Script CoveredFrequently Asked Questions
Is a title page the same as a cover page?
Yes. “Title page,” “cover page,” and “front page” are used interchangeably for the same thing — the unnumbered first page of your screenplay document that sits before FADE IN. No professional distinguishes between them, so don’t worry about which term a submission guideline uses.
Should I put my WGA registration number on my screenplay title page?
No. Registration gives you no meaningful protection beyond the copyright you already hold automatically, and printing the number on your cover page signals inexperience to readers. Register your script if it makes you comfortable, but keep the number off the page.
What font should a screenplay title page use?
Courier or Courier New at 12-point, matching the rest of the screenplay. Never use a decorative or genre-themed font, and don’t enlarge the title beyond 12-point. Uppercase and an optional underline give the title all the emphasis it needs.
Do I need to include a date on my script title page?
For a feature spec, no — it’s optional, and an old date can make your script look stale. If you include one, put it in the bottom right corner opposite your contact block. TV scripts more commonly carry a draft date because television revisions are formally tracked.
Where does contact information go on a screenplay title page?
Bottom left corner, single-spaced, in Courier 12-point. Your name and email address is sufficient; a phone number is optional. Bottom right is equally acceptable — Final Draft defaults to left. If you have an agent or manager, list their details instead of yours.
Can I put a logline or image on my script cover page?
No. A screenplay title page holds the title, byline, writer name, and contact details only. Loglines, taglines, poster artwork, and production logos all read as amateur to professional readers. Save the pitch for your query email and let the pages speak for themselves.