Multiple Simultaneous Dialogue in Screenwriter

DUAL DIALOGUE:

If you are interesting in dual-dialogue, here is a link to a FAQ about how to do that:

LINK:  How do I format dialogue for two characters that are speaking at the same time (simultaneous dialogue)?

MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS DIALOGUE

Screenwriter can support more than two characters speaking simultaneously, but it cannot be done automatically.

Screenwriter has a feature that lets you turn off automatic formatting and use what we call "Normal Word Processing Mode" where you can write the format any way you want -- including multiple columns of dialogue and/or action. This works well for short sections of text but is not suitable for sections of text longer than a single page.

To do this in Screenwriter:

1. Create a blank line of action
2. Use the Format>Normal Word Processing Mode menu command to turn off script formatting mode and turn on the normal word processing mode
3. Type the text exactly as you want it to appear (example below)
4. Once you are done, use the Format>Normal Word Processing Mode menu command again to turn script formatting back on

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Everything except the dialogue for Fred-Chris-Sam is normal script word processing.  The three lines with the simultaneous dialogue is done using the "Normal Word Processing Mode" feature, which just turns off automatic script word processing.