Screenwriting : FD question by Doug Nelson

“General elements are used for any text which does not fall within any of the standard elements.”

I don't know Final Draft, just got curious because if it's formatting I should know : )

Found this in the manual on their site via Google which wouldn't let me copy the link. (It's on Page 165, FD11 manual). Apparently you can customize how FD formats each type of element.

Should be the same as one at https://manuals.finaldraft.com/home/

I've made a point when writing in FD never to use a General element. I have found that the format assistant flags them and makes the the process of the format check unnecessarily difficult.

From the Manual:

General elements are used for any text which does not fall within any of the standard elements.

Also:

If you have written a certain kind of script (i.e., feature screenplay) that must be converted to another kind of script (i.e.,one-hour drama), there is no need to adjust all elements of the script one at a time. You can convert the script to another

format by instructing Final Draft to apply the element settings from one of the templates that ship with Final Draft.

Keep in mind that FD ships with templates for novel writing, Dark Horse formatted graphic novels, Broadway musicals and stage plays, manuscripts and other word processing formats for which the General element may be a useful feature set.

I know what the manual says, but I still don't understand its purpose - I don't recall ever using it.

I use general function when I want to mess around with formatting, type choppy sentences and mimic margins like a typewriter.

Doug, my apologies, I didn't realize my take was based on understanding programmer speak. A very common programming idiom is a choice out of many, and because laziness is awesome for programming well, one very common pattern points out a few options that matter and have a catchall capturing anything else. Clearly a programmer thought if this. This gets somewhere I promise.

Each of the elements in the elements list mean something we know. And FD let's writers customize how they want each of those elements, e.g., action or slugs, to look. Blue, Red, Corsiva, Italic, Pepperjack ...(why, I don't know)

General, as I understand would capture anything other than these named elements.

So how to use it? My guess is, say you wanted to catch any incorrectly formatted / placed text — If you customized General to show up in red, you might be able to catch something amiss. Or like Dan use it for formatting choppy text.

Regards

Dan M - interesting, but why?

Doug Nelson I use General for the title at the top of page one, then go to Fade In.

Meg - thanx for the answer. I sort of assumed that, but just never tested it out. I just don't see a practical use for it.

General can be used in FD for word processing - synopsis, etc. It is used stylistically when a single line return is desired. Enter after an Action adds two line returns. Enter after a General is only one line return.

Thanks for the info.

When I write lyrics the General single space helps.

NP, Eric.

doug- because we (writers) own the page; none of my people care how I format a page. Plenty of today's screenwriters use general function; it saves page space and mixing shorter sentences (in theory) moves the Reader's eyes down the page and turn pages. Someone else can retype correct formatting for production- if the idea ever goes past a writing sample

:) So that exactly fits programmer speak for “everything else goes this way”. I wonder if you can add element types or customize General category like you can for Action etc., as I "helpfully” offered to translate OR do you have to pick General before it goes into General? Thanks.

All the elements can be tweaked in FD - Format, Elements. Add a new Element to your specification here too. When writing, choose General just as you would any other Element.

Very well-thought FD feature then. Also thank you Ms. E.