MORE / CONT'D conventions, demystified

(MORE) and (CONT'D)are the two pieces of dialogue housekeeping every working screenwriter has to know — and that every screenwriting tool inserts automatically, usually correctly. The reason to learn them is that when your software gets one wrong, you need to know it's wrong.

This post covers when each one fires, what your software is doing for you, and the one rule that's actually contested.

What does (MORE) mean in a screenplay?

(MORE)is what you put at the bottom of a page when a character's speech runs past the page break. It tells the reader: this character is still talking, the speech continues on the next page.

                    GITTES

          You have a nasty reputation, Mr. Mulwray.
          I like that. In my business it pays to
          have a nasty reputation. So you can keep
          on doing what you do without anyone
                            (MORE)

— page break —

                    GITTES (CONT'D)
          getting in your way.

(MORE)sits at the bottom of the page, centred under the dialogue, in parentheses. It's always paired with (CONT'D) on the next page after the character cue.

What does (CONT'D) mean?

Two distinct uses. They share the same notation but mean different things.

Use 1 — dialogue continuation across a page break

Pairs with (MORE). The character cue at the top of the next page reads GITTES (CONT'D) to signal: this is the same speech you saw the start of on the previous page.

Use 2 — character resuming after action

When a character has dialogue, then a beat of action breaks their speech, then they speak again immediately. The second block is marked (CONT'D) to signal: same breath, same thought, just punctuated by action.

                    GITTES

          You're a very lovely woman, Mrs. Mulwray.

He looks at her. She doesn't move.

                    GITTES (CONT'D)

          Tell me about your husband.

Without the (CONT'D), a reader might treat the second cue as a new beat. With it, they read the two blocks as one continuous moment.

The apostrophe — straight or curly?

(CONT'D) is a contraction of continued. The apostrophe is a straight one in most working scripts because Final Draft and most editors render it as a straight quote in Courier 12. Some modern scripts use a curly apostrophe ((CONT’D)). Either is accepted; consistency matters.

What your software does automatically

Every modern screenwriting tool — Final Draft, Highland, WriterDuet, Fade In, Arqo — inserts these for you. You write a long speech, the page breaks, the tool drops in (MORE) at the bottom and (CONT'D) after the new character cue when reflow happens. You write a dialogue / action / dialogue sandwich for the same character, the tool drops a (CONT'D) on the second cue.

Most of the time it's right. The two situations where you need to override:

1. When dual dialogue is involved

Dual dialogue (two characters speaking simultaneously, rendered side-by-side) confuses the auto-CONT'D logic in some tools. If a dual-dialogue block sits between two same-character speeches, you may need to manually add the (CONT'D) on the speech after.

2. When you don't want one

Sometimes you intentionally want a beat to feel like a new thought, even though it's the same character. In that case, suppress the auto-CONT'D — every tool has a toggle. Final Draft puts it under Document → Mores and Continueds; Arqo lets you toggle on the cue itself.

The contested rule

Should you use (CONT'D) when a scene changes? If a character speaks at the end of scene 5 and again at the start of scene 6, do they get a (CONT'D)?

The strict answer: no. (CONT'D) means same beat, interrupted by action. A new scene is a hard break. If you want to indicate that the dialogue from scene 5 is bleeding into scene 6, write it as (V.O.) instead.

The pragmatic answer: in some procedurals and writers' rooms, (CONT'D)is used liberally for anything that feels like a continuous speech, regardless of scene break. Match the show's convention if you're writing on staff.

Spec script vs production draft

On a clean spec, your tool handles MORE/CONT'D automatically and you almost never override. On a production draft going to a writers' room or a revision, you may have specific rules — some shows always force (CONT'D)on resumed dialogue, some suppress them. When in doubt, copy the showrunner's latest episode draft.

Most-asked questions

How do I write CONT'D in a screenplay?

You don't — your screenwriting software does. If you're writing in plain text or Fountain by hand, the convention is parenthesised, all caps, after the character cue: JANE (CONT'D).

What's the difference between CONT'D and CONTINUED?

(CONT'D) goes on dialogue. The full word CONTINUED (in some old scripts, written as CONTINUED: at the bottom of a page and CONTINUED: at the top of the next) was used in the studio era to mark scenes running across pages. It is no longer used in 2026 — modern scripts let the slugline at the top of the page do the work.

Where do (MORE) and (CONT'D) go on the page?

(MORE) sits at the bottom of the page, centred, just below the cut-off dialogue. The character cue on the next page reads CHARACTER (CONT'D). Both are inserted automatically by every modern screenwriting tool — see How to format a screenplay for the full element list.