screenwriting

I have both Final Draft 7 and Screenwriter 2000. Both are good products and used throughout the industry. I prefer to write in Final Draft 7 because I like the feel and interface of the program. You couldn't go wrong with either, though.
 
Sophocles

Sophocles

I personally use Sophocles (sophocles.net).

It's reasonably priced compared to Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter.

I found I was quickly able to learn how to use Sophocles. It's fairly intuitive.
 
wildgrace said:
I personally use Sophocles (sophocles.net).

It's reasonably priced compared to Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter.

I found I was quickly able to learn how to use Sophocles. It's fairly intuitive.
Click to expand...


Sophocles is a great program - it's one of the things i miss about having switched to a mac. If you like to use outlines, then it's a great program to use.
Very seamless migration to move from outlining to writing the actual script.

I keep bugging them to make a mac version, but they've told me they don't think there's a big enough market for it.

Using final draft 7 now - on the mac.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Sophocles is a great program - it's one of the things i miss about having switched to a mac. If you like to use outlines, then it's a great program to use.
Very seamless migration to move from outlining to writing the actual script.

I keep bugging them to make a mac version, but they've told me they don't think there's a big enough market for it.

Using final draft 7 now - on the mac.
Click to expand...

Final Draft 7 is great for breaking down a script (in conjunction with Gorilla 3.0) now that it's added the tagger function. :thumbsup:
 
Blaine - can you tell me a bit about Gorilla 3.0?
I actually have no idea what you're referring to, but sounds interesting.

I just moved to the mac a few months ago, and just installed Final Draft 7 a few weeks ago...so I'm not very familiar with any of the more advance functions yet.

I used to use Final Draft years ago - but that was back when it was in Version 3 or 4.
I'm assuming there's quite a bit more functionality now.
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Blaine - can you tell me a bit about Gorilla 3.0?
I actually have no idea what you're referring to, but sounds interesting.

I just moved to the mac a few months ago, and just installed Final Draft 7 a few weeks ago...so I'm not very familiar with any of the more advance functions yet.

I used to use Final Draft years ago - but that was back when it was in Version 3 or 4.
I'm assuming there's quite a bit more functionality now.
Click to expand...

Luis, Gorilla 3.0 (link below) is production software designed for indepenent productions. It is a really great tool for scheduling and budget. It also allows you to build a database of cast and crew and what projects you have used them on or want to use them on. The Final Draft people have kind of partnered up the the Jungle Software people (Gorilla) and starting with FD7, the began including a program called Tagger. Tagger is used to breakdown (tag elements of) a screenplay which is then imported into Gorilla so you can make your breakdown sheets, call sheets, storyboards, stripboards, budget, shooting schedule, production calender and a lot more. We could have never shot our movie without it. The scheduling function alone payed for itself, but it's so much more than that. No, I'm not a shill for them, either. :grin: I just really like the software. When you look at the cost of Movie Magic Budgeting and Movie Magic Scheduling at a cost of about $1200, then see basically the same thing in Gorilla 3.0 for $399...

The link:

http://www.junglesoftware.com/

By the way, I took a seminar on using the software in LA and James Keach and his UPM were in the same seminar. They were using it for "Walk the Line" :thumbsup:
 
Movie Magic

Movie Magic

I downloaded the demo for FD and MM and Movie Magic won hands down. You
immediately can begin your script without knowing what the hey you're doing,
the software is that easy.

Charli
 
personally i like Movie Magic... i just really enjoy the program. its very easy to use and you really don't have to leave the keyboard at all while using the program...
 
I'm a final draft man myself. Ridiculously intuitive. I have a roomful of monkeys using it right now.
 
I used FD 5 for years, then got FD 7, and had PDF problems with them. They do have it sorted now. But I've heard good things about FD 6.

EJ
 
I know I'm new here, but I use MM Screenwriter. I used FD from 5-7 and 7.0 had so many bugs in it, I had to find something else. Went with MM and haven't looked back. It's great software, simple to use. Just bring it up and start writing. There's nothing to it.

You can download a demo of both, I think, and try them out and see which works better for you. That's always the best way to go.
 
I really like Final Draft, too, but I just recently learned of Celtx and am looking forward to checking that out. It looks like it would be perfect if you're collaborating with someone else and I like that it covers the whole gamut from screenwriting to pre-production and post. So, I'll definitely be checking it out.

BTW, I've also found the book The Hollywood Standard : The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style to be a useful guide. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/19...f=pd_bbs_1/103-2815717-8155026?_encoding=UTF8)

It covers everything you need to know and has a good chapter on all the various screenwriting programs and adjustments you should make in each of them to ensure that your script is formatted according to industry standards.
 
Charli said:
I downloaded the demo for FD and MM and Movie Magic won hands down. You
immediately can begin your script without knowing what the hey you're doing,
the software is that easy.

Charli
Click to expand...

I've used Final Draft 6 for 2 years now and I really like it. Given your gleaming review of Movie Magic, I think I'll give it a try to compare it.
 
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