Film Script Translation Services
We provide film script translation for producers, production companies, and sales teams working on features, series, short films, and stage plays. Our linguists translate screenplays with an understanding of screenwriting, so every character keeps their voice in the new language.
Take your screenplay to international buyers in their language, with every character's voice intact.
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Certified
- SOC 2 Type II Attested
- AES-256 at Rest
- TLS 1.3 in Transit
- ATA Corporate Member
Trusted by Media and Entertainment Brands
Networks and media organizations on our client list include:
Where Translated Scripts Lose the Story
Viewers no longer stick to their own language. The 2024 Netflix engagement report found that non-English shows and movies made up nearly a third of all viewing. That demand puts more screenplays into translation, and accuracy alone doesn't carry a scene.
Four things go wrong when a script goes to a general translator. Here's each one, and how our team prevents it.
Every character starts to sound the same.
The street kid and the judge end up speaking in identical, tidy sentences. Our translators match each character's register, so the voice you wrote survives the language change.
Idioms come through literally.
Taken literally, “break a leg” wishes the actor an injury. We adapt dialogue, idioms, and expressions so they feel natural to native speakers while keeping the original line's intent.
Cultural references lose their meaning.
References to a local TV show or a regional custom mean nothing abroad. Our film script localization adjusts references and context, so the audience gets the same point the scene makes at home.
Unreleased scripts travel too far.
Drafts passed between freelancers end up in too many inboxes. Your script stays inside our encrypted systems from upload to delivery.
Scripts We Translate
Our film script translation services cover four kinds of work. Our translators understand storytelling and screenwriting for film and television.
Feature Films and Short Films
Spec scripts, shooting scripts, and screenplays for co-productions, remakes, and student films. Our screenplay translation services cover every draft. That runs from the spec script for overseas producers and sales agents to the locked shooting script for cast and crew.
TV Series and Documentaries
TV script translation for pilots and full seasons, plus documentary script translation for narration and interview-led films. Series scripts arrive episode by episode, sometimes while later episodes are still being written, so we translate each one as it comes in. Documentary scripts mix written narration with transcribed interviews. Narration gets adapted for the voice that will read it, while interview lines stay close to what each speaker actually said.
Stage Plays
Plays for productions abroad, touring companies, and festival readings. Stage dialogue has to work when an actor says it aloud. Our translators keep the tone and emotion of each line, so it still plays in front of an audience.
Song Lyrics and Music Videos
Lyrics for singers, songwriters, and music producers, plus subtitles for music videos. We translate the lyrics and subtitle the video, so the song reaches listeners in new languages.
Pitching overseas soon? Put your feature, series, or play in front of foreign producers in their own language.
How We Keep Every Draft Consistent
Professional script translation preserves the emotion, tone, and cultural depth of the original screenplay. It also has to keep up, because scripts change. Second drafts arrive, scenes get cut, and pilots become full seasons.
Translation Memory for Rewrites and Series
Our translation memory stores every approved line. When a revised draft comes in, the unchanged scenes reuse the approved translation. Approved terminology keeps character names, places, and catchphrases the same from the pilot to the finale.
Your Glossary and Style Guide
Some productions have already named their characters or coined terms in the target language. Our film script translators build those glossaries, reference translations, and style guides into the project. The new script then matches the work that came before.
Subtitles and closed captions: Our subtitling services team turns the finished film into timed subtitles and captions.
Voice-over and dubbing: Our voice-over services team casts voice performers for the target audience.
Transcripts: For films that exist only as audio or video, our video transcription team produces time-coded transcripts. Each one comes in verbatim, intelligent, or edited style, ready for translation.
Full release: Films going into several markets at once move to our movie localization team, which handles every asset together.
Our Film Script Translation Process
Our team runs every step of the project for you. Every script follows the same two-linguist process as our translation services. Here's how a script moves from the first call to a translated draft in your hands.
Scoping:
Our team confirms the language pair, how the translation will be used, and your deadline.
Translator matched:
We assign the script by language pair, subject matter, and project requirements, not simply by who is available.
Translation and adaptation:
The translator works for meaning, audience, and context, and adapts idioms and references where a literal line would fail.
Second-linguist review:
Another qualified linguist checks the translation for accuracy, completeness, consistency, and terminology.
Final QA and delivery:
Our team runs a last check on formatting and project requirements. Then we deliver the translated script in the format agreed at scoping.
Start your film script translation today, with two linguists on every page before it reaches you.
How We Protect Unreleased Scripts
Unpublished screenplays need protection long before a deal is signed. Every script you send us is covered by the controls in our Trust Center:
AES-256 encryption
at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit
Zero-trust architecture
with multi-factor authentication enforced
Role-based permissions
and least-privilege access
NDA-bound workforce
EU data stored in the EU
Film Script Translation Services FAQs
The owner of the original screenplay controls it. The 2020 Copyright Office circular on derivative works lists translations as derivative works. Only the copyright owner has the right to prepare or authorize one. Your agreement with Day Translations sets the remaining ownership and credit terms.
Yes, once the production holds the adaptation rights. Translating an adapted screenplay creates a second derivative work, so the rights to the underlying book or film stay with their owner.
Yes. Treatments, loglines, synopses, and series bibles go to the same translator as the script. Names and story terms then match across every document a buyer reads.
Yes. Our team transcribes the dialogue first, then translates the transcript. Recorded table reads, rough cuts, and finished films all work as a starting point.
Yes. Producers abroad use English versions to approach US and UK buyers, while English-language producers translate out of English for co-productions and foreign markets.
Yes. Each language in the script goes to a translator who works in it, and our team combines the result into one translated script.
Each festival and distributor publishes its own submission rules. Our team formats the translation to the brief that the recipient sets.
Only when the recipient asks for it. Readers and buyers judge a script on the story, while legal and official filings need a signed certificate. Our certified translation services team provides one when a filing calls for it.
Film Script Translation for Your Next Project
You might be a producer pitching overseas, a sales team taking a slate to market, or a production company shooting in two languages. In each case, the script sets the tone for every version that follows. Our team translates it with the voices, jokes, and references your writers built.
Send us your screenplay for a quote, and be ready for your next market, festival, or co-production partner.
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Certified
- SOC 2 Type II Attested
- AES-256 at Rest
- TLS 1.3 in Transit
- ATA Corporate Member
