RTF (Rich Text Format) is a file format supported by all word processors that allows documents created by one word processor to be read by another. Screen Writer Studio supports RTF for both reading in and writing out files.
However, RTF is not a script aware format. So, while the formatting comes across, there is nothing in the file saying what paragraphs are dialogue, etc.
Select File, Open… Then in the dialog box at the bottom in Files of type select Rich Text Files.
Select the file you want and click Open. You will then get this dialog box:
Select the style. This tells Screen Writer Studio which formatting settings to use on the file being read in. This is very important because the RTF file does not say what type each paragraph is, just what its margins are. So Screen Writer Studio will try to match up the margins in the screenplay style with the margins in the RTF file.
Click on Next and you get:
Generally these settings will be correct (coming from the style for this type of script). However, the RTF file may be formatted differently. The critical fields are setting if Character Direction and/or Action have parenthesis and what the separators are in the scene headings. The scene separators need to include the correct number of spaces.
Set these settings correctly and then click Next.
You next will optionally get a dialog box asking you to say what paragraph styles in the RTF file are what styles in the script. You will not get this dialog box if the only paragraph settings are normal, header, and footer.
If you assign a RTF paragraph style to a script style, all paragraphs of that style will be assigned, regardless of your settings in the next dialog box. Only RTF paragraph styles set to unassigned and RTF paragraphs set to the normal style will be set based on the settings in this next dialog box.
You then get a status bar as the file is read. Wait for it to complete and then press Next again. You will then get:
As you can see, it has the first paragraph of each type. Click on each paragraph in the left column and see what it is mapped to in the right column. If it’s wrong, then click on the right style in the right column. Once they are all mapped correctly, click on the Finish button.
You now have your script in Screen Writer Studio. Make sure you save it as a Screen Writer Studio file, and not as a RTF file.
Select File, SaveAs… Then in the dialog box at the bottom in Files of type select Rich Text Files or Prompted Rich Text Files.
If you select Rich Text Files, it will create a RTF file of your script, with identical page breaks to the script Screen Writer Studio will print. To do this it puts a forced page break in between each page. It also includes the MORE/CONT and other text placed by Screen Writer Studio.
This creates a RTF file that other people can read and print. But if they edit it they will need to remove the page breaks and MORE/CONT text.
If you select Prompted Rich Text Files, then you are prompted with the below dialog box. Set the options you want then click OK and it will then create the RTF file with the appropiate settings. Click on a control for more information about that control.
If you are creating a RTF file that will be read in by another word processor for editing, check all of the boxes. This will create a RTF file that has just the text you typed, nothing extra added. It should then read in to another word processor perfectly ready for editing.