Why are Fade In's margins 1.25" on both the right and left, when other screenwriting software defaults to 1.5" on the left and 1" on the right?

Because those older measurements were common when screenplays were distributed  as physical copies: photocopied onto three-hole-punched paper, one-sided, and bound on the left with brass brads.

Now, however, very few screenplays are printed for distribution. They are almost exclusively sent as PDFs and read on iPads, computers, e-readers, etc. A PDF generated with other software will appear off-center with too much space on the left in that case.

Fade In, on the other hand, is modern software designed with modern needs in mind, and it will produce perfectly centered PDFs for reading. (And, really, 1.25" is easily enough margin to accommodate binding such as brass brads should that be required.)

If you really want to shift things over in Fade In, though, you can: under Document > Page Setup just change the left and right margins from 1.25"/1.25" to 1.5"/1.0".

 

Tags: final draft