Screenwriting software reviews, tech advice for screenwriters and script readers, and anything and everything technical about the art and craft of screenwriting.
Script Studio isn’t a screenwriting app. It’s more like a suite of screenwriting apps, all bundled together and, with its full array of powerful writing, editing, planning, outlining, and polishing tools, clearly capable of taking on newbie screenwriters and pro screenwriters alike, and everything in between. Upon first launch, it’s clear that the designers kept … Read more
Fade In is a screenwriting app in a world full of screenwriting apps. Where there once was only one or two big screenwriting software packages — the venerable Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter — now there are several upstarts, seeking to usurp the de facto Final Draft throne. Enter Fade In, created by General … Read more
Carrying a printed screenplay around is not an option anymore. Of course, you can do it, but what a pain! Imagine you’re at a backyard barbecue in Encino, visiting with some old friends and having some vegan ribs. Then your friends’ other friends show up. And the wife is one of the small handful of … Read more
A short list of essential screenwriting iPhone apps (and some for iPads as well) – apps which I believe should be a part of any discerning, elitist iPhone screenwriter’s library, if he or she hopes to continues to remain the better of, and more educated than, the peasants using all of those knuckle-dragging non-Apple devices.
At Roger Corman’s Concorde-New Horizons Studios in 1997, I opened a script file using Final Draft for the first time. It was on a “Macintosh” because I didn’t call them “Macs” back then. In short, with all due praise to John Hodgman, I was a “PC.” A different kind of “PC,” Production Coordinator Joey Geiger … Read more
The two most popular screenwriting software packages – Movie Magic Screenwriter and Final Draft – are popular for many reasons: Formatting your script as you go by simply hitting the TAB key… allowing screenwriters to customize the look and feel of their screenplays… built-in index cards and scene navigation and other writing aids… Not to … Read more
Sometimes we screenwriters, we just want to, well, screenwrite. We don’t always enjoy fussing over format or margins or how to make a parenthetical look right or whether or not writing “THE END” should be marked in Final Draft as a slugline/scene heading or an action line or just plain “general.” The idea of Final Draft and … Read more
Slugline is a screenwriting app that kind of flies under everybody’s radar. I decided I’d do a quick review of the program. The Slugline demo was easy to find on the modern, simple Slugline website, and easy to download and install. The first thing I do with any screenwriting software is start writing, to see how … Read more
Revised 6/1/2015: A quick heads up: a few years after this article was written, an online screenwriting platform, Screencraft’s Scripped.com, basically lost all their users’ data and scripts. Almost immediately, Screencraft deleted all social media and the Scripped website. What’s more, at some point before they took Scripped offline, Screencraft, (the owner of Scripped as … Read more
Last week, I wrote an article titled 3 Great Alternatives to Final Draft that Are Either Free or Cheap, and posted a few free or cheap programs that I feel really give the screenwriting program Final Draft a run for its money. My criticism of the ever-ubiquitous Final Draft could’ve been received with disdain or a … Read more
Final Draft. I love it. And I hate it. What do I love? Its ubiquity: Everybody uses it. (And if you’re running a script coverage service like me, you need to be able to open whatever file the client sends in. And 95% of the time, that’s either a PDF or, you guessed it, a Final … Read more