A screenplay with two columns only in some pages. And in one page there can be a mixed number of column

Question

I would like to write a screenplay like this one: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/sunset_bld_3_21_49.html

My needs are:

some pages has one column

some pages has two column

some pages are like this one:

more lines spanning all the page width
a first column         a second column
more lines spanning all the page width

Is there any package suitable for my needs?

Answer 1

I'd suggest multicol package

Note that if you use screenplay, you need to redefine some lengths iniside multicols, for example

\begin{multicols}{2}

% REDEFINITIONS
\setlength{\dialwidth}{2.0in}
\setlength{\dialgutter}{0.1in}
\renewcommand*{\dialtab}{\hspace*{0.1in}}

\begin{dialogue}{Bob}
That means that someone
sabotaged the unit and killed the
President! Was it one of us?
\end{dialogue}
\begin{dialogue}{Brown}
Who else is mad but us, Condi\ldots
 \paren{beat}
and Bliar?
\end{dialogue}

Bob buries his head in his hands.

\intslug{Atlantis -- somewhere ANyway}

JOHN and MARK are at adjacent consoles. FRED is with them. TOM
is at another console slightly further away.

\begin{dialogue}{John}
The planetoid seems to have a thin crust
covering a nickel-iron core. Could have
been an Earth-like planet at one time.
\end{dialogue}

\begin{dialogue}{Mark}
We're coming up on the radio source now.
\end{dialogue}

Brown walks in and goes to a console.

He has a PARROT on his shoulder.

The Parrot has an air of quiet insouciance.

\end{multicols}

etc...

Answer 2

Here's an example using multicol, including the optional argument of the multicols environment.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{multicol}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\section{foo}

\lipsum[1]

\begin{multicols}{2}[%
  \section{A long section title spanning both columns}%
]

\lipsum[1]

\end{multicols}

\section{bar}

\lipsum[1]

\end{document}