Recommendations on format for scripts and script writing programs

RudyPicardo

RudyPicardo

Member
Greetings fellow members:

I've been working on several productions for industrial/training videos with various clients and ran into some issues that I was hoping you screenwriters could assist me with. Here's our current situation:

Normally, I've always received scripts as MS Power Point presentations or MS Word documents, which are not really formatted for something that our talents are used to seeing. I've seen some sample scripts from friends and tried to emulate them as best I can, to make them more "talent-friendly". For example, any dialog with actors or narration, I have center justified with some at least a 1" indent on either side.


Sometimes we get our scripts sent to an editor, who gave the following comment:

"This would be easier for the reader if the narration were left justified and the instructions for filming were centered or italicized. Unjustified text is very hard to read."


My questions:
1) Are there any online sites where I can see parts of official scripts to see how they're officially formatted?

2) I've heard lots of good things about Final Draft (and I'm sure there are others). So I'd like to get your recomendations on these programs. I spend at least 1 day converting a 30 page document (or powerpoint presentation) to a script that makes sense to our talents.

My supervisor told me that the cost for Final Draft is reasonable, so I only need to write a proper recomendation.

3) I am aware Final Draft does a word conversion, but I'm still curious on how much work I would need to do in advance. So can anyone who has used Final Draft (or other program that does script writing) educate me on your workflow when working with clients?


My sincere thanks in advance.
 
programs

programs

There are basically two major software programs - Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter. They are both expensive at a couple hundred dollars each.

I use Sophocles (www.sophocles.net) and love it. And it's a bit cheaper than the two above.

Here is a link to a pdf version of script format:
http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/script.pdf

Here is a link to a text version of a script format:
http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/format_a.txt

I believe all three programs have free trials. I suggest you download them, try all of them out and choose the one that works best for your purposes.
 
I've used them all and Final Draft is the best. Go find a used FD6 which is just as good as 7. It'll run you 30-40 bucks used, just be sure it can still be registered. Or, just pay the retail price which is under a hundred bucks.
 
Final Draft for me is the simplest and easiest to use. My writing methodology always sees me write my first draft by hand but when Im on the third draft the last thing I want to worry about is formatting. Final Draft does all the thinking for me in that respect.

It has shortcut keys for simple functions like Scene headings, action, dialogue and they take about 5 minutes to learn then all your brain has to do is be creative.

Really is one of the best things I ever purchased.

As far as conversion from ms word, I have done it once with a pretty good result assuming the word document used a reasonable script formatting process. What I had to do though is open the word doc and save it as rich text format .rtf then open that in FD.
 
LloydC said:
I use Microsoft Word :)

I shoudl try Final Draft and see what all the buzz is
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Years ago when I first started screenwriting, I used MS Word and set it up to do automatic formatting and it worked well for what it did. If you don't do much screenwriting, MS Word will probably work fine for you but if you do much writing, do yourself a favor and pick up software that is specially designed for it. It removes another impediment to the creative process. If you end up shooting your own material it's nice that FD can be used in conjunction with "independent" production software to break the script down for use in scheduling and budgeting.:)
 
Another vote for Celtx here - these guys are serious about developing an open source application for writing, collaborating and digital publishing.

www.celtx.com

Oh, and unlike Movie Magic Screenwriter - who decided I'd "used up" my licensed installations on newer computers (don't they know I get a new one every year?) - Celtx is totally free.

It does breakdowns, character logs and formats just like the $300 apps. do.

e
 
Final Draft 6 does everything I need it to. Don't see any point upgrading. Personally I saw no difference when I upgraded from FD5.
 
EJ Pennypacker said:
FD 5 doesn't have the pdf save option. FD 6 does.

EJ
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I never noticed that, wierd. I use pdf saving all the time, so I guess I am glad I upgraded then. I never used to need it before the days of emailing scripts I guess!
 
I like FInal Draft for screenwriting, but I prefer Final Draft AV when I'm putting together training videos or corporate marketing pieces. It makes it really easy for my client to put the voiceovers with the images and minimizes the amount of follow-up I have to do during the post process.
 
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