Most AI writing tools treat a screenplay like a long document. They don't understand that a script isn't prose — it's a technical format with strict conventions, and anything that deviates from those conventions marks you immediately as an amateur. Readers, agents, and coverage analysts notice formatting problems before they notice anything else.
Auctore's Script Mode was built by people who understand that difference. Here's what it actually does.
Script Editor Mode: Real Screenplay Formatting
When you switch to Script Mode in Auctore, the editor changes behavior entirely. Every element of standard screenplay formatting is handled automatically:
- Slug lines — INT./EXT. scene headings are formatted in all caps with location and time of day, correctly spaced from the action block below
- Action/description blocks — full-width, present tense, lean and visual by default
- Character names — centered above dialogue, all caps, with correct tab stops
- Parentheticals — indented within dialogue, used sparingly as the format demands
- Transitions — CUT TO:, FADE OUT., SMASH CUT TO: — right-aligned, only where structurally appropriate
The font is a Courier-adjacent monospace that renders at the correct page-per-minute ratio. One page equals approximately one minute of screen time. Your page count is meaningful. When you export, it looks like a real script — not a Word document with someone's best guess at indentation.
This matters more than most writers realize. Industry readers evaluate hundreds of scripts. A properly formatted script signals that you've done the work. A badly formatted one signals that you haven't.
The Screenplay Wizard: From Idea to Structured Outline
Before you write a single INT. or EXT., the Screenplay Wizard helps you build the architecture. It asks you a series of focused questions:
- Logline — one or two sentences that capture the core story, the protagonist, the conflict, and the stakes
- Protagonist — who they are, what they want, what they need (often different things)
- Antagonist — the force in opposition, whether a person, institution, or internal conflict
- Genre — because genre sets expectations you either fulfill or deliberately subvert
- Setting — world, time period, locations
- Tone — where on the spectrum from grounded drama to heightened genre does this live?
From these inputs, the Wizard generates a full three-act outline with scene-level breakdowns. Act One establishes world and character and delivers the inciting incident. Act Two escalates conflict through rising complications and a midpoint reversal. Act Three drives toward the climax and resolution. Each act is broken into specific scenes with brief descriptions of what happens and why it matters structurally.
You can edit, reorder, and expand any part of the outline before you begin writing. The Wizard is a starting architecture, not a cage.
Beat Sheet Overlay: Is Your Structure Actually Working?
Structure is invisible until it breaks. Writers routinely discover structural problems in page 80 that were actually planted in page 15 — and by then, fixing them means rewriting everything in between.
The Beat Sheet Overlay maps nine structural beats across your screenplay and shows you exactly where they land:
- Setup — establishing the world and protagonist
- Inciting Incident — the event that disrupts the status quo
- First Plot Point — the protagonist commits to a course of action; the story shifts into Act Two
- First Pinch Point — the antagonist's power is felt
- Midpoint — false victory or false defeat; protagonist's goal clarifies or transforms
- Second Pinch Point — stakes escalate, antagonist tightens grip
- Second Plot Point — final piece of information or event that sets up the climax
- Climax — the confrontation; protagonist must use everything they've learned
- Resolution — the new world, the changed character, the final image
Click any beat in the overlay and you jump directly to that scene in your draft. The overlay also shows you whether your beats are landing at the right page percentages — or whether your midpoint is actually at page 70 of a 110-page script, which explains why the second half feels endless.
Intelligence Suite for Screenplays
Beyond formatting and structure, Auctore's Intelligence Suite includes tools specific to the screenplay form:
Scene Economy Analysis evaluates each scene against a core screenwriting principle: every scene must do at least two jobs simultaneously. It advances plot, reveals character, raises stakes, delivers exposition, or shifts tone — ideally two or more at once. Scenes that do only one job are candidates for cutting or combining. The analysis flags single-function scenes so you can decide consciously whether they earn their place.
Dialogue Subtext Analysis examines your dialogue for what characters are actually saying versus what they mean. Great screenplay dialogue is rarely literal — characters deflect, avoid, and speak around what they actually want. The analysis identifies moments where your dialogue is too on-the-nose and suggests how to layer in subtext.
Coverage Simulation generates a mock coverage report — the kind a script reader at a production company or agency would write. It gives you a logline assessment, character evaluations, structure notes, dialogue notes, and an overall consider/pass recommendation. It reads your script the way the industry does.
Screenwriting is a technical craft before it's an art. Auctore's Script Mode treats it that way — with real formatting, real structure tools, and analysis that thinks like a professional reader. If you're writing a script, write it in an environment that understands what a script actually is.