Oakland CPM Archive/oakcpm.iso/cpm/vdoedit/vde265sp.lbr/VDE265SP.DZC/VDE265SP.DOC

Text File | 1988-05-07 | 32KB | 790 lines

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VDE264SP.DOC
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The Screenplay Version of
Video Display Editor




This documentation on the screenplay version of Eric Meyer's
Video Display Editor is for both for the latest version of the
CP/M program (v2.65 as of this writing), and the MS/DOS program
as well (now v1.2).  This modification will not work with
versions earlier than v2.63. If you prefer VDE v2.63, get
VDE263SP.LBR.

To create a working version of VDE-SP.COM (CP/M) or VDE-SP.EXE
(MS/DOS) you need the basic VDE libraries, VDE264.LBR or
VDE12.ARC, for the basic VDE program and the detailed
documentation, which isn't duplicated here. VDE-SP is much the
same program in CP/M and MS/DOS, so the discussion applies to
both.

If you wish to modify any of these macro definitions, a program I
have released recently, VDKCOM v1.2, will enormously simplify the
process, allowing you to use VDE's full-screen editing on a text
file of the macros rather than VINST's backspace-only line
editing.


                   NEW FEATURES IN THIS VERSION AND VERSION V2.64

Eric Meyer has added many new features to his high speed
miniature word processor VDE since I first began adapting it to
the special task of screenwriting. Since my adaptation for VDE
v2.63, I've further automated the paginating functions,
simplifying them for the user, and made some other small
enhancements. A bug in v2.64 added one two many blank lines in
the ESC-5 pagination function. That is now corrected. In
addition, I've expanded the ESC-1 and ESC-2 margin setting
functions so that they not only reset the margins, if there is
text on the line where the command is issued, the remainder of
the paragraph will be reformatted to the new margins and the
cursor returned to its original locations.

These are the new features of v2.64:

1) The ESC-3, ESC-9, and ESC-0 commands all start from the end of
the preceding material rather than from the line on which they
will appear. If you don't like this feature, just revise the
appropriate key macros to remove the preceding carriage returns.

2) It is no longer necessary to measure off each page when
paginating. You must measure off the first page with three CTRL-C
commands, but after that the cursor repositions itself for the
next page break automatically. Whenever you want to, though, you
may return to the last embedded CTRL-L page break - use a CTRL-Qb
command, put the cursor on it, and measure off three CTRL-C's to
the next page break position.

3) Page headers are now added during, rather than after,
paginating. Compose the header you want in a separate file called
HEADER, and the paginating macros will read it in automatically.
This lets you have more than five lines in the header. VDE- SP
will now automatically adjust for six or more.

NOTE: Version 2.64 introduces a top margin feature for the first
time, but leave it set to 0 and control all spacing at the top of
the page with your HEADER file.

4) Parentheticals are handled differently. When you type ESC-3 at
the point where you want to insert a parenthetical, a blank line
is forced, the text after the parenthetical is reformed to the
dialogue margins, and () is printed to the file. The cursor is
left under the ), and, since you are in insert mode, you need
only type the text. When you've finished, just exit with a CTRL-X
or any other cursor movement. No special parenthetical margins
are set. The parenthetical is aligned to a tabstop on the left.
If the line is too long, wrap it manually with a carriage return.

NOTE: This feature doesn't function well at the very end of the
file where you are likely to be working. If you add a few
carriage returns before the point where you are working, so you
push them along as you type, it will work properly. Use ^OD to
toggle the display of hard carriage returns on and off.


                                                     INTRODUCTION

VDE-SP is nothing but a special set of VDE macro definitions
which are incorporated into VDE with VINST and the VDE-SP.VDK
file in this library. To make them work properly several options
have to be set in the options menu of VINST, but there is no
modification to the basic word processor at all.

If you don't mind traveling light, learning a few simple rules
for formatting, and doing some of the work yourself, VDE-SP can
be used without recourse to any other program whatsoever to
produce a screenplay in standard Hollywood format.

You can write your text with full wordwrap and a screen display
that exactly matches the printed page, then paginate and or print
out selected scenes or the whole screenplay - directly from your
computer's memory, without ever leaving VDE-SP.

One thing VDE-SP doesn't do is number and renumber scenes.
SCRIPTOR's ability to strip page breaks and scene numbers out of
a thoroughly rewritten script is still a great advantage which
VDE-SP can't match, although the separate program SPSTRP, which
I've included here, comes pretty close, and is even somewhat
faster than SCRIPTOR.

SCRIPTOR remains the only program I know of that is really good
at numbering scenes. I can paginate a script with VDE-SP as fast
as SCRIPTOR can, if not faster, but SCRIPTOR's ability to number,
strip, and renumber scenes will be difficult to match.

An advantage of VDE-SP is its very small size. Although I use it
on a hard disk, I developed it on a floppy-based system, and I
found I could keep a spelling checker with its outsized
dictionary, Z3KEY, and a host of other utilities on the disk with
VDE-SP, and another copy of VDE-SP on my SCRIPTOR disk.

The greatest advantage of VDE-SP, however, is speed. The whole of
VDE-SP is loaded into memory when you begin work, so there is no
chaining in and out of overlays, and the whole of your screenplay
file is in memory along with it, which means that you can work
for hours on a file without pausing for disk I/O until you save
your work to disk. Most word processing functions seem virtually
instantaneous.


                                                  GETTING STARTED

To make VDE-SP, configure VDE for your terminal and printer. Then
make a copy of it and call it VDE-SP.COM. If you are installing
the CP/M version, use VINST on this again to install the
screenplay function key codes in VDE263SP.VDK, like this

    A0>vinst263 vde-sp vde-sp.vdk

If you are installing the MS/DOS version, do

     A>vinst11 vde-sp.exe

and, when you open the K(eys) menu, select the R option to read
in the VDE-SP.VDK file.

Now open the Options menu in VINST. The critical options to set
are these:

Default file mode (W/A/N):  A :

Left margin col:  1 :
Right margin col:  60 :
Page length:  0 :

Variable tab columns:
16 :...  21 :...  41 :...  56 :...
0 :...  0 :...  0 :...  0 :...

It is very important to set the variable tab columns properly, as
all the key macros for formatting the screenplay use them. You
can also work in the default file mode W (for WordStar-
compatible), but the pagination stripping program SPSTRP will NOT
work on files created that way.

Further, in the Printer installation division of VINST you will
want to set top margin to 0 and page length to 0. This too is
important for the pagination functions to work correcty.

If you open the macro keys menu in VINST, you'll see something
that looks like this:

MACRO KEYS:  (009D bytes free)
<0><Q>^V^Ol11^M^Or44^M^M^M^I^I
<1><Q>^Ol1^M^Or60^M^[b^B^Qb^[u
<2><Q>^Ol11^M^Or44^M^[~ 0^T^[0^[b^B^Qb^[u
<3><Q>^V^Ol11^M^Or44^M^[=^M0^[~ <^[= <^D^[0^M^I(^[b)^M^G^B^Qb^[u
<4><Q>^V^Ol1^M^Or60^M^[=^M>^P^L^[b^[rheader^M^Qs^C^C^C
<5><Q>^V^Ol1^M^Or60^M^N^N^N^I^I^ICONTINUED^X^P^L^[bCONTINUED^Qb
      ^[rheader^M^Qs^C^C^C
<6><Q>^V^Ol1^M^Or60^M^N^N^N^N^N^X^X^I^I^ICONTINUED^X^P^L
      ^[bCONTINUED^X^X^B^Qb^[rheader^M^Qs^C^C^C
<7><Q>^V^Ol1^M^Or60^M^N^N^N^N^N^N^N^X^I^I(more)^X^X^I^I^I
      CONTINUED^X^P^L^[bCONTINUED^X^X^Ol11^M^Or44^M^I^I
<8><Q> (cont.)^M^[~^M0^G^[0^B^Ol1^M^Or60^M^Qb^Krheader^M^Qs^C^C^C
<9><Q>^V^Ol1^M^Or60^M^M^M^I^I^I

I've wrapped the key strings to keep them from running off the
page, but otherwise this is the way VINST shows you the coding of
the macros.


                                             PRINTER INSTALLATION

The only thing left to be done is to install a printer
initialization string which gives you the standard screenplay
page offset of 18 columns (printing starts in column 19.) This
appears to be offset way too far over to the right, but it will
look right when the script is fastened down the left side with
the customary brass paper fasteners (1-1/4" shank, with brass
washers).

If you have an inexpensive daisywheel printer which uses the
Diablo 1610 command set - many do, including Brother, Dynax,
Comrex, and Morrow models - you can install the printer with the
DIABLOSP.VDP file in this library.

    A0>vinst vde-sp diablosp.vdp

If you have a printer which is not Diablo 1610-compatible, use
VINST to install a printer initialization string which sets your
printer to 10 pitch and a page offset of 18 columns (printing
starts in column 19).

For those who can use the DIABLOSP.VDP included here, it not only
sets the 18-column page offset, it also implements the toggles
and switches. The CTRL-D toggle produces boldface, the CTRL-S
underlining, the CTRL-Y alternate ribbon, as in WordStar. Of
these, only underlining would be used in a screenplay. The CTRL-
T toggle has not been implemented.

The switches are CTRL-Q, CTRL-W, CTRL-E, and CTRL-R. The CTRL-W
produces 12 pitch type, CTRL-E 15 pitch, and CTRL-R sets
proportional spacing. None of these should be used for
screenplays, however, since they are always typed in 10 pitch.
The CTRL-Q resets to the settings of the printer's front panel
switch.

The core of the VDE-SP system, however, is the programmed macro
keys.


                                                VDE-SP MACRO KEYS

Function keys are simulated by VDE with ESC-n sequences. Just
type ESCAPE and a number key from 0 to 9.

ESC-1

sets scene description margins at 1 and 60, reformats the text
at the cursor accordingly, and returns the cursor to its original
position.

ESC-2

sets dialogue margins at 11 and 44, reformats the text at the
cursor accordingly, and returns the cursor to its original
position.

ESC-3

inserts parentheses on a blank line following the point of
insertion, leaving the cursor on the right parenthesis. Type the
desired text and exit with CTRL-X or any other cursor movement.
If the parenthetical is inserted in existing text, the trailing
text will be reformed to the dialogue margins. This may not work
if you are the very end of your file - on the cutting edge, so to
speak - and you are not pushing any carriage returns ahead of the
cursor. Add a few extraneous carriage returns and the feature
will work properly.

No parenthetical margin is set, so, if your text is long, you'll
have to wrap the line yourself with a carriage return.

ESC-4

inserts a simple page break between scenes.

ESC-5

inserts a page break in the middle of a scene, with CONTINUED
at the bottom right of the leading page, CONTINUED at top left
of following page. A custom header is added to the top of the
trailing page, with the page number position is indicated by the
symbol #.

ESC-6

inserts a page break with CONTINUED strings in the middle of
long description.

ESC-7

inserts a page break in middle of long dialogue, with a "(more)"
string centered below the last line and CONTINUED strings. You
retype the speaker's name, then type ESC-8 to complete the
sequence.

ESC-8

after the duplicate name string above the second part of divided
dialogue, writes "(cont.)" after the character's name and reforms
the ensuing dialogue.

ESC-9

sets scene description margins and positions the cursor for
typing transitions such as FADE OUT, CUT TO, DISSOLVE TO, CHINESE
DOLLY SHOT, and so on.

ESC-0

sets dialogue margins and positions the cursor for typing the
character's name.


                                             WRITING A SCREENPLAY

To write a screenplay, you need only five keys, the ESC-1 through
ESC-3 keys, and the ESC-9 and ESC-0 keys. The remaining keys are
used only later, for pagination.

When you start a passage of dialogue, the ESC-0 key positions the
cursor where you want to write the speaker's name in caps and
sets the dialogue margins as well.

When you want to write a new shot line or a block of description
which belongs in the full margins, just type ESC-1. When you come
to the end of a shot that requires a transitional phrase - CUT
TO, CROSS FADE TO, or what have you - typing ESC-9 positions the
cursor for that.

ESC-2 is used to reset dialogue margins - but without positioning
the cursor to enter a character's name, and ESC-3 inserts a
parenthetical interjection in dialogue.

ESC-1, ESC-2, and ESC-3 set wide, narrow, and narrowest margins
respectively. ESC-9 positions the cursor for transitions and sets
the wide scene margins, and ESC-0 positions the cursor for a
character's name and sets the narrow dialogue margins.

ESC-4 through ESC-8 are used to set page breaks.


                                              SETTING PAGE BREAKS

VDE-SP produces a long unpaged file. You can paginate whenever
you please, as you go along, at the end of the day, or after
you've finished a substantial body of work.

Paginate by measuring off the maximum allowable length of the
first page, then inspecting the text at that point to find the
appropriate place to set the page break. Typing three CTRL-C's
measures off the maximum page length, but you only have to do
this at the very top of each file, or if you interrupt pagination
and start over again in the middle, in which case you measure off
three CTRL-C's from the last ^L form feed. Normally the page
break keys measure the distance to the next page break
automatically.

To start locating page breaks, go to the top of the file, put the
cursor in top left corner of the screen and and strike CTRL-C
three times. This advances the cursor to the last line on the
first page where you can insert a page break. Now you have to
learn some simple rules about how to find the actual place you
want to put the break.

There are only four cases to consider,

1) a clean break between scenes,

2) a break in the middle of a scene, which requires a CONTINUED
at the bottom right of the leading page and another CONTINUED at
the top left of the following page,

3) a break in the middle of a long block of description, which
also requires CONTINUED's, and

4) a break in the middle of a long piece of dialogue, which is
the most complicated, since it requires - in addition to the
usual CONTINUED strings - several extra strings and the retyping
of the character's name at the head of the detached dialogue
carried over to the following page.

The vast majority of breaks will be of types 1 or 2. Breaks of
types 3 and 4 are relatively rare.

The first two kinds of page breaks (ESC-4 and ESC-5) are made at
three positions in the text,

1) on a shot line or either of the two blank lines above it,

2) on the line where the character's name appears, or

3) at the first line of a block of scene or action description
which is not preceded by a shot line.

In the example below, the symbol @ indicates appropriate cursor
positions for page breaks:


   @
   @
   @ INT. THE OLD SHACK - DAY

     Here is a bit of scene description... which goes on for as
     long as you like.

   @                      CHARACTER'S NAME
               This is the character's dialogue,
               and it too could go on for a
               while...

   @ And suppose this text is the start of a new block of
     description, with no shot line as a header...


The break at the first three @ symbols would be an ESC-4 (between
scenes) break, and the other two ESC-5 (inside a scene) breaks.


                                                 PAGE BREAK RULES

There are four rules for inserting page breaks:

1) If the cursor is between scenes, that is, on the shot line or
on either of the two blank lines above it, type ESC-4. If the
cursor lands a few lines below the desired break, just move the
cursor up to an appropriate position before typing ESC-4.

For the other three breaks, remember that you rarely want to move
up more than five lines to make your break, although you may have
to in special circumstances. All breaks in descriptive text and
especially in dialogue are made between sentences. Many typists
do not like to leave a single line at the bottom of the leading
page, although that's better than leaving too much white space.

2) If the cursor is inside a scene, move the cursor up to the
line on which a character's name appears or to the first line of
a block of scene description. Type ESC-5.

3) If the cursor lands in a block of description so long you
would have to move the cursor up more than five lines to find a
natural break, you will want to divide the block of description.
Move the cursor up at least TWO lines, put it on the first letter
of a new sentence, and type ESC-6.

4) If the cursor lands in a block of dialogue so long you would
have to move the cursor up more than five lines to find a natural
break, divide the dialogue between sentences. Move the cursor up
at least THREE lines, then put it on the first letter of a new
sentence and type ESC-7.

VDE-SP will divide the dialogue, then pause to allow you to
retype the speaker's name above the trailing part of the
dialogue. To finish the page break, type ESC-8 immediately after
the character's name (adding neither a space nor any other
character), which will add the "(cont.)" string, reform the
trailing dialogue, and measure off the distance to the next page
break.

This is all you have to know. To recapitulate, you may make an
ESC-4 (between scenes) break on the shot line or on either of the
two blank lines above it. You may make an ESC-5 break on the line
on which the cursor falls or above it, normally on a line with
the character's name or on the first line of a block of
description not preceded by a shot line. You must move the cursor
up at least two lines for an ESC-6 (divide description) break,
and at least three lines for an ESC-7 (divide dialogue) break.
Description and dialogue may only be divided between sentences.
Try to avoid moving the cursor up more than five lines.

For purely aesthetic reasons you might also wish to avoid putting
a break anywhere that would leave a single line of text as the
last line of the page.

Most of this is trivial if not downright silly, as the only thing
that really counts is the action and the dialogue, but you won't
be taken seriously if your screenplay doesn't look pretty much
like the standard. There is some sense to keeping the standard
margins and spacings too, as a lot of people make judgments about
how long a scene or group of scenes or your whole screenplay is
by the size of it on the pages. So take a minute to get the rules
down. You'll find that you don't even have to think about them
after you've paginated twenty or thirty pages.


                                                    PAGE HEADERS

A new feature of this version of VDE-SP is somewhat greater
flexibility with headers. You need prepare the header only once,
as a special file called HEADER, and VDE-SP will read it in at
every page break.

The HEADER file is an ordinary text file which you can make up or
edit with VDE-SP or any other editor. It has this structure:

<
<
Your header text goes here                             #<
<
<
<

The < symbol indicates where the hard carriage returns are. The
last of those carriage returns should be the last byte in the
file - do several CTRL-T's to remove any tail. If you want to add
a second (or even a third) line, you may.

<
<
Your header text goes here                             #<
[revised 5-13-88]<
<
<
<

VDE-SP will automatically compensate for the number of lines in
your header. You need only make sure that there are no more than
the two blank lines at the top and bottom, plus a "third"
carriage return to reposition the cursor in column 1.


                                                     PAGE NUMBERS

When you've finished inserting page breaks you will have a number
symbol # at the position where the page numbers go in column 56.
To insert the actual numbers, just the quick find feature of VDE
as you would in WordStar.

1) Switch INSERT mode off with a CTRL-V,

2) do a ^Q^F and answer the prompt with "#".

3) When the cursor lands on the first "#" type "2" (no page
number on the first page),

4) do a ^L to continue the search, type "3", another ^L, type
"4", and so on.

Naturally you have a lot of control here. If you need to make A,
B, C pages with the same page number for insertions, feel free.

On the first page of script, it is customary to center the title
of the script (in addition to the separate title page) on line 13
of page 1, which otherwise has no header. The first shot line is
then positioned three or four lines below that.


                                           FINISHING OFF THE FILE

When you have finished paginating each file you will probably
have a partial page at the end, although you want each file to
end at the bottom of the last full page. Snip off the last
partial page this way:

1) Position the cursor immediately after last ^L in the file (you
will probably be able to jump return to it with a CTRL-Qb) and
mark the last partial page as a block.

2) Write the block out to a new file with ^KW or ESC-W,

3) then delete it with ^KY or ESC-D.

4) Save the file with ESC-S.

5) Then use ESC-L to load the next screenplay file.

6) With the cursor at the top of the new file, read in the
partial page cut from the preceding file with the ^KR or ESC-R
command.

If you finish every file with a whole page you don't need to
chain files when you print out.

You will want to keep each file down to about twenty to thirty
pages, and make five or six of them for a standard length 120-
page screenplay. VDE-SP, as I've organized it, doesn't make
backup files, but your spelling checker may, and they can choke
your disk pretty fast, so it's a good idea to erase them as they
appear.

If you don't make backup files, you can easily write your entire
screenplay on a single double-sided double-density disk, and you
should always back up your whole working disk at least once a day
to a backup disk anyway. Having a dozen backup files on your
working disk doesn't help much after the dog has eaten the disk.

Since VDE-SP doesn't paginate automatically, keep track of how
long the file is by watching the line count. I usually look for a
place to close off a file when I get to about 1400-1600 lines.
VDE-SP will accept a great many more than that, but I like to
leave plenty of room for later rewriting.

Remember that paginating and putting headers on your pages will
add a few bytes and quite a few lines to the file.


                                                     PRINTING OUT

Print out your screenplay files with VDE-SP's printing command,
ESC-P, from within the file itself. If you wish to use another
printing program, anything that will print out an exact image of
your page with a page offset of 18 columns will do.

SLMT v1.0, which sets a left margin and standard 8-column
tabstops on Diablo 1610-type printers, is included in the CP/M
version of this library. Typing SLMT with any or no argument
prints a help screen giving the syntax, which is SLMT n, where n
is any column number from 1 to 255 (a little wider than most of
our printers will allow, actually). SLMT 1 resets the left margin
to the default. Since there's no column 1 on the printer, SLMT 0
does the same thing, sets the margin in column 1.

If you use the DIABLOSP.VDP overlay to install VDE-SP, you have a
built-in page offset which allows you to print straight from
memory. If you wish to print out only a page or a scene or two,
mark the passage as a block, use ESC-P to print out, and type B,
for "block," at the prompt for "options."

Note that the normal option of printing a page or several pages
is not available in VDE-SP because the page length is set at 0.
Marking the pages you want as a block and using the B option
works just as well, however.


                                               SOME GENERAL RULES

Leave one or two blank lines between all scenes, one blank line
between the shot line (EXT. OLD FARMHOUSE - NIGHT) and the
following block of description, and one line between description
or dialogue and the character's name on the ensuing dialogue. No
line between the character's name and his dialogue. Sometimes a
period is put after the page number. To see what a properly
formatted page looks like, print out the sample page included
with in library. Load it into VDE-SP and print out with CTRL-P,
ignoring options (type a carriage return at the options prompt).


                                             STRIPPING PAGINATION

The CP/M version of this library includes a program called SPSTRP
which strips the pagination from the ASCII files created with VDE-
SP. This is helpful when rewriting - it's usually better to strip
your files completely and start all over with fresh, unpaginated
files. Pagination goes so quickly with VDE-SP that starting over
again is not all that onerous.

To use SPSTRP invoke it at the system command prompt and you will
be prompted for a file name to strip. When that file has been
stripped, you will be prompted for another file name. You can
quit with a carriage return.

SPSTRP does not perfectly reform the broken dialogue it has
rejoined, so you have to reform those joints with CTRL-B when you
come to them. It doesn't rejoin broken scene description at all,
leaving a blank line between two otherwise properly formed
paragraphs. SPSTRP does not make backup copies, so make sure you
don't use it on your only copy of your screenplay.

WARNING: Do not use SPSTRP on WordStar format files! If you have
to use VDE-SP in W mode for WordStar compatibility, save copies
of the files in ASCII mode before running SPSTRP on them. SPSTRP
works on a line by line basis, and it recognizes lines by the
presence of carriage returns. WordStar format files have carriage
returns only at the ends of whole paragraphs.

If you don't have SPSTRP or don't want to use it, a simple
technique is to rename the file you paginate with the ^KN (or ESC-
N) command, from FILM.C to FILM.PRN, for example. Paginate and
print out FILM.PRN, but reload FILM.C when you want to rewrite. I
tend to rewrite, repaginate, and reprint every day when I'm
working on a script, and I find this the most efficient method,
since I never have to strip the pagination from my source files.


                               ADDITIONAL KEY MACRO PROGRAMS

You may be able to continue to use other key macro programs like
SMARTKEY, XTRAKEY, QUICKKEY, and my own favorite, Z3KEY, the Z
System Resident Command Package program, although VDE reputedly
does not cope with such RSX's - programs which load into high
memory and trap character inputs in order to translate them.
You'll have to experiment with your program. I use Z3KEY partly
because, as an RCP, it loads into a special buffer which does not
affect the available TPA (Transient Program Area).

The main reason we all started using such programs was to be able
to change margins quickly, but, since VDE-SP does that by itself,
there's no longer much need for them if you're a good typist.

If you do want to use such programs, here's the way I set up my
definition file for compilation with Z3KEY. The code to the left
of the equals sign distinguishes the function key on my Wyse 50
terminal. The code to the right could be adapted to your key
redefinition program.

;
;  Video Display Editor - Screenplay
;
;            VDE-SP.DEF
;
;--------do not change defaults
;
ATTENTION=^]
LEADIN=^A
DELAY=1000
EXPANSION=2
FILE=VDE-SP
CASE=ON
;
;---------overwrite names here
;
^AA^M=^M^M^I^IALPHA^M
^AB^M=^M^M^I^IBRAVO^M
^AC^M=^M^M^I^ICOCOA^M
^AD^M=^M^M^I^IDELTA^M
^AE^M=^M^M^I^IECHO^M
^AF^M=^M^M^I^IFOXTROT^M
^AG^M=^M^M^I^IGOLF^M
^AH^M=^M^M^I^IHOTEL^M
^AI^M=^M^M^I^IINDIA^M
^AJ^M=^M^M^I^IJULIET^M
^AK^M=^M^M^I^IKILO^M
^AL^M=^M^M^I^ILOVE^M
^AM^M=^M^M^I^IMIKE^M
^AN^M=^M^M^I^INOVEMBER^M
^AO^M=^M^M^I^IOSCAR^M
^AP^M=^M^M^I^IPAPA^M
^AQ^M=^M^M^I^IQUEBEC^M
^AR^M=^M^M^I^IROMEO^M
^AS^M=^M^M^I^ISIERRA^M
^AT^M=^M^M^I^ITANGO^M
^AU^M=^M^M^I^IUNIFORM^M
^AV^M=^M^M^I^IVICTOR^M
^AW^M=^M^M^I^IWHISKEY^M
^AX^M=^M^M^I^IX-RAY^M
^AY^M=^M^M^I^IYANKEE^M
^AZ^M=^M^M^I^IZULU^M
;
;----------end


                                       USING VDE-SP WITH SCRIPTOR

If you intend to use SCRIPTOR with VDE-SP - still just about
indispensable if you have to number scenes - create a format with
the following parameters:

scene margins:           1:60
dialogue margins:    11:44
parenthetical margins:  16:36
name column:             21
transitions column:       41
page number column:       55
continued strings:  CONTINUED
bottom margin:            2
max white space:            5
wrap tolerance:            0
page offset:           18
WordStar mode             yes

If for any reason you need to covert your screenplay files to
WordStar-compatible files, you need only give the VDE command ^KN
(or ESC-N) and answer the "filename?" prompt with "[w" and save
the file to disk. The resulting file should be very nearly
completely compatible with WordStar. All other word processors
are able to process the ASCII-type files produced by VDE- SP.

If you need to keep files in both ASCII and WS form, it's
possible to use VINST to designate automatically the operation
mode for certain file extensions, say N for files with an ASC
extension, W for those with a WP extension.


                                                   FINAL THOUGHTS

VDE-SP is a very simple, very small word processor, but it does
everything that really needs to be done quickly and efficiently.
Sometimes in the computers, as elsewhere, less is more. If you
like speed and simplicity, you may find VDE-SP more useful than
much larger and more complicated programs that waste your time by
trying to do your thinking for you.

If you have any suggestions or comments on the program or the
documentation, please leave me a message at LITTERA MAGAZINE,
Fred Haines, GLENDALE LITTERA RCPM/QBBS, 818/956-6164, or write
to me at 733 North King's Road  Apt 331, Los Angeles CA 90069.