About the color codes for drafts and revisions

[KingCheese]

Hi y'all,
I was wondering, the color codes on the title page of a script are they random? Like, can a writer just decide: this revision is the 'green' one. Or is there a methodology or a system to it? I have also stumbled upon 'Salmon' revisions of scripts that apparently already had first and second Pink revisions. Are the colors perhaps used in the script itself? Like, say you are writing the blue revision after the pink one, does it mean the blue revision is in pink, with the latest changes in blue? Well, I was just wondering.

 

[Freddie Franklin]

I used to have a file with what the WGA said about this, but I can't find it. So this will have to do:

REVISION STANDARDS

However, from what I recall reading about this in the past, this is not a "be-all-end-all" standard. Some companies use their own order, and other times colors are not used at all. And I don't believe the writer ever gets to pick - I think it's mandated one way or the other by the production company. Not to mention, unless your script is in the process of getting made, it's not something to really worry about.

 

[Freddie Franklin]

https://setheroapp.com/blog/film-script-schedule-revision-colors/

Isn't that the same page I linked to?

 

[Sean211]

Here are revisions from a “Moonlighting” script.

 

[KingCheese]

Ah, so they print the changes on different colored paper. But isn't that hard to read? And why aren't there any versions online, or here on scriptdrive that are on coloured paper that corresponds with the specific available revision? I mean if you scan it you get the colour of the paper, right? Anyway, I didn't know this before. Thanks @Freddie Franklin

EDIT 'Most Script Supervisors request a WHITE COPY of the revision. Since their work often gets copied and scanned every day, colored paper won’t work for Script Supervisors. This is why having the color name written on the page is imperative.' I see.

 

[Freddie Franklin]

And why aren't there any versions online, or here on scriptdrive that are on coloured paper that corresponds with the specific available revision?

Because what usually gets out is the all white version with just the revisions being listed. The drafts that include the colored pages tend to be quite rare, with either a very high trade value or just not tradeable at all. I think you usually have to know someone working on the film to get something like that, or find it on e-bay or a similar site. But they are out there here and there. I'll have to check and see if I have one that can be shared.

 

[Lon]

Another way to tell you're looking at a revised draft is if there are asterisks along the right margin -- which also indicates that the script was revised using Final Draft. FD uses asterisks to indicate revised and/or new lines added to a draft. I actually found this out the hard way, with my first script sale. The director kept asking me which lines had been revised, and my response was to just read the script, you'll see them. He threw a hissy fit and educated me (none too nicely) on that finer point of Final Draft.

 

[KingCheese]

So I need to school myself how to use the revision functions in FD.

 

[cracken]

So I need to school myself how to use the revision functions in FD.

I have never used those.
Anyone know the difference between a new draft; first to second to third, and a revised draft?
How much has to change for the script to go from revised to the next draft?

 

[KingCheese]

maybe the addition of a colon or semicolon?

 

[235wide]

Another way to tell you're looking at a revised draft is if there are asterisks along the right margin -- which also indicates that the script was revised using Final Draft. FD uses asterisks to indicate revised and/or new lines added to a draft.

You've got that backwards -- FD puts asterisks on the right margins because that's been the revision marker since screenplays were written on typewriters. Final Draft included that feature so it could be used for production rewrites. Any screenplay processor that advertises "production features," including MM Screenwriter and Fade In Pro does asterisks as a revision mark.

 

[235wide]

Anyone know the difference between a new draft; first to second to third, and a revised draft?
How much has to change for the script to go from revised to the next draft?

It's somewhat arbitrary. There are a few levels of revisions: there are line reworkings that get a few asterisks, there are A/B pages where pages are added or omitted from a scene, and there are large revisions where characters are added/removed or structure is significantly changed.

Often a new draft is called when there are large changes to be made, and if lines or A/B pages are changed, that is called a revision.

The script is "locked" when it's given to the production office for scheduling and budgeting. Changes made after the script is locked are printed on colored pages. They distribute the colored pages only, and you swap out the old pages from your existing white-paper script.

Apps like Final Draft, MM Screenwriter and FadeInPro have a "locked pages" feature, which lets you start tracking changes using revision marks, A/B pages and draft color changes.

 

[Lon]

I've never used any of those others, only Final Draft (until I dropped it for Trelby). But as I said, the director who signed on for my script insisted I use the asterisk feature for every single new/revised line during the (mind-numbingly frustrating because he couldn't tell his fourth point of contact from a hole in the ground) revision process. We never made it to production rewrites, because we never made it to production. :/

 

[KiramidHead]

About the colors, the draft of Freddy's Dead out there has buff revisions. I didn't even know buff was a color. XD