What we have here are two different cultures.
From what I can understand, Hollywood’s production line approach means that a wrong margin will mean you fall at the first hurdle.
The UK, where I am and where Micheal is, isn’t as fussy. The markets for a new writer are far more forgiving.
I get that, I do. And I really don’t want to come across as a blind supporter of the Hollywood method of using a technical criterion to judge creative merit. I do think it’s fussy and narrow minded, and that it probably disqualifies a whole bunch of quality work.
But the fact is, Hollywood is by far the largest market for screenplays in English (or some reasonable facsimile of), and format matters in Hollywood – especially if you’re an unproduced writer looking to get read.
It is if you’re in America. But most of us aren’t.
Hollywood is the largest market for screenplays written in English no matter where you live. If you live in Tibet, Hollywood is still the largest screenplay market available to writers in English. Live on a kibbutz? Yeah, it’s still Hollywood. I am merely suggesting that, if one were to attempt to break in to that market, one would do well to do so knowing some of the barriers to entry.
I don’t have some cultural-imperialist agenda. I was just answering some earlier questions about how things work (and why) in Los Angeles. I was trying to do so in a way that helped potential screenwriters. I have a strong competitive sense that’s telling me to say “It doesn’t matter what your script looks like, as long as it’s creative – feel free to submit a handwritten script in Esperanto. With drawings.” Because, y’know, more for me, right?
But the spirit of this forum seems to be one of writers helping writers, so…
[EDIT: Changed the joke to “Esperanto” because my other choice was politically loaded (unintentional) and – read in a certain light – obnoxious on my part."]
I recall some CG movie coming out at the same time some other CG movie came out and the director of the first CG movie was being interviewed on the radio.
So the interviewer said: “Aren’t you worried about this other CG movie which is coming out at the same time as your CG movie?”
And the director said: “I don’t think you quite understand… this is Hollywood. For my movie to succeed, it is not necessary that his movie fail.”
To quote from my favorite scene in Say Anything, the one where Lloyd finds his pals at the Gas 'n Sip on a Friday night:
Whoa, you’re bringing me DOWN, man!
I totally agree. Which is why I’ve really tried to give constructive advice.
Nice! Although in a forum about Hollywood screenwriting, you may want to go with: “I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed. Or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.”
Although, I should point out, that script was written in proper screenplay format. I am, again, just sayin’.
Yeah well I’m not saying anything in case it looks like I’m trying to get the last
I have no such compunction. And my friend, if you think this is the last of this discussion, you really have been away from this forum for awhile. 
Which this isn’t.
Tis now
Over sexed, overpaid, over formatted.
Crikey.
Three GUNSHOTS ring out and KEITH falls to the floor.
KEITH: Nnnghh.
He DIES.
NEWBIE (O.O.V.): Jeepers. Now you’ve done it.
ANGLE on the NEWBIE and the DELUDED OLD HACK.
DELUDED OLD HACK: Nuts. We didn’t need him anyway.
NEWBIE: You mean–
DELUDED OLD HACK: Yeah. Do it ourselves. Got a computer my own. How hard can it be?
I couldn’t even read that dialogue, Michael, it wasn’t formatted correctly.
Must be from the Beeb. Formatted like a stage play, and they gave a groan as a line of dialogue. 
Although normally, wouldn’t the gunshots and death happen O.S., followed by a lot of handwringing and talking? 
It wasn’t a generic groan. It was a specific groan. I say specific groans are dialogue.
There was a BBC training film with Lance Percival and Roy Kinnear on how to write for the new-fangled television, as opposed to writing for The Films.
They showed a clip from Zulu with the Zulus massing on the skyline and stamping their war-song. Then Kinnear comes on. “This is how we do the same thing for the tele-visi-on.”
Cut to:
INT. TENT - DAY
Roy and Lance. Lance pokes his head out of the tent-flap, then brings it back in again with look of terrible alarm and dismay on his face.
ROY: What? What is it?
LANCE: There’s ten thousand Zulus, massing on the skyline.
Nice story.
When I started in current affairs TV, quite complex ideas often had to be described over generic library film. Sometimes they still are (see Adam Curtis’s The Trap currently on BBC2).
The existence of the library images themselves and any accompanying sound couldn’t be researched, but had to be guessed at, because there was no time. But of course there was - probably still is - a useful script shorthand for such circumstances:
FX FX FX
Thus a London bus, a riot in Gaza, and the apocalypse - all:
FX FX FX
(The general public believe that these letters can be articulated as:
Effects Effects Effects
But at least in our office they were always:
Fux Fux Fux)
A technique still approved of by Doctors although it tends to be Brummies, not Zulus.