Keep a normal master title page with authorship and contact information, but create a separate anonymous PDF whenever the current submission rules require it.
Direct answer
A standard spec title page usually carries the title, writing credit, writer name, and contact information. Anonymous programs are an exception, not a universal title-page rule: follow the current instructions for that exact opportunity and remove identifying information everywhere they specify. Keep an identified master so an anonymous export never becomes your only copy.
On the page
NIGHT FERRY
Written by
Mara Example
Mara Example mara@example.com
Evidence weight
Programs change partners, portals, eligibility, and file requirements. Check the official rules again immediately before export; do not rely on a prior year's checklist or on another contest's anonymity policy.
Optional details—registration numbers, copyright notices, representation, draft labels, images, or decorative typography—vary by market and recipient. A restrained title page is broadly legible; a required submission template always wins.
Not one rigid template
Keep a complete title page in the working draft with the exact credited writer or writing team and a current contact channel.
When rules require blind reading, export a separate copy with the specified identity fields removed. Check headers, footers, file name, embedded PDF metadata, and title-page contact lines—not only the centered author name.
Registration numbers, representation, source credits, and draft dates belong only when they help the recipient or a supplied template asks for them. Keep the title and byline centered and contact information legible at the lower left.
Reader and handoff friction
Choose for the recipient
Treat the official opportunity page and portal as the live contract. Verify anonymity, page count, file naming, PDF size, authorship, and AI-related declarations each time you submit.
Production drafts use identified ownership, draft dates, revision information, and distribution controls. Do not carry a contest's blind-reading omissions into the production master.
Use Plot's save points to preserve the identified master before creating a submission-specific copy. Then inspect the exported PDF, its title page, file name, and document properties; Plot cannot decide or certify a program's current anonymity rules.
Browse the screenplay formatting reference
Complete, source-backed guides for common screenplay situations
Scene numbers & production
Leave scene numbers out of an ordinary spec unless requested; add and preserve them when a production needs stable references for breakdowns, schedules, and revisions.
Text messages
Put readable on-screen messages in action, identify the sender when needed, and use one consistent pattern instead of disguising silent text as spoken dialogue.
Flashbacks
Make the time shift explicit in a scene heading or action cue, then clearly return to the present when the transition could otherwise be missed.
