Act Zero: How to Correct Act Numbers

Every once in a while, Screenwriter can get confused about Act number, especially if they are inserted out of order and you can end up with an ACT ZERO. 

The first thing to check is to make sure that is a error.  You can do this by doing the following:

1. Use the Format>Element Styles menu command
2. Click on the Acts tab
3. Make sure the act Starting Number is 1 and not 0.  If it is zero (0), increment the number to one (1).
4. Press OK to apply the change and the Acts in your document should be incremented by one.

If that does not work, we recommend that you first remove the act breaks you have added so that you start fresh. Then, to insert your act breaks:

1. Click at the beginning of the first line on the first page of your script
2. Use the Edit>Insert Element menu command
3. Select Act Break
4. Select New Act if it is not already selected
5. Press OK.  This will insert ACT ONE at the head of your script. 
6. Move down to the end of the Act and put the insertion point after the last bit of text you want in the act.
7. Hit RETURN/ENTER twice.
8. Select End of Act.  This will insert "END OF ACT ONE", insert a forced page break, and put ACT TWO at the top of the following page.
   
   1. NOTE:  if you do not want and END OF ACT, select Start New Act, which will insert a forced page break, and put ACT TWO at the top of the following page.
9. If you end up with a blank line that you do not want after "ACT TWO", delete it.
10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 as needed.