(CONT'D) and (MORE): why you never type them
Two small marks appear on screenplay pages beside a character's name. Both are decided by where the speech sits, not by what you write — so the app adds them itself, every time it draws the page, and quietly takes out any you type.
What (CONT'D) means
Say MARA speaks, then something happens that is not dialogue — an action line, somebody crossing the room — and then MARA speaks again, with nobody else having spoken in between. The convention is that her second name-line is printed MARA (CONT'D): "she was interrupted, and here she is again."
Three things follow from the rule, and the app follows all three:
- Someone else speaking in between clears it. If JOE answers before MARA speaks again, her next line is plain
MARA— the reader has not lost the thread. - A new scene heading resets it. Nobody is mid-speech across a scene break.
- Two MARA lines with nothing between them are not a continuation. That is one speech accidentally written as two, and the app points it out separately — see One speech written as two.
What (MORE) means
When a speech is too long for the bottom of a page, it carries on at the top of the next one. The convention is (MORE) under the part that fits, and the name again — with (CONT'D) — at the top of the next page, so an actor turning the page knows who is still talking.
The app decides page breaks itself, so it places these too. Move a line above the speech and the break moves; the marks move with it.
Why you never type either one
Whether either mark belongs on a line depends entirely on what is around it — and that changes every time you add a line, cut a line, or the pages reflow. A mark you typed would be right for a moment and wrong after your next edit, and nobody would notice until a reader did. So the app works both out fresh every time it draws the page, and stores only the name.
If you type (CONT'D) yourself
It is removed when the line is saved, and a small orange ! appears in the margin beside that name. Hover it and it says the same thing this page says; click it to dismiss it. Nothing else about the line changes — and if the rule agrees a (CONT'D) belongs there, you will still see one, just not one you own.
Where these do fit alongside other marks
A name can carry other notes in brackets — (V.O.) for a voice we hear but do not see, (O.S.) for someone speaking off-screen. Those are yours to type, because they say something about the scene rather than about the page. The app keeps them and adds the continuation after: MARA (V.O.) (CONT'D).