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Writing Question: What screenwriting software do you use?

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Final Draft? Movie Magic Screenwriter? Typewriter?

If you use a screenwriting software, what’s your very favorite feature.

I have both Final Draft and MMS. I’d say the ability to cheat line and space to shrink page count is pretty damn sweet. Basically, changing the look of the page just a tiny bit, you can save up to 2-3 pages per script.

14 thoughts on “Writing Question: What screenwriting software do you use?”

  1. I use Final Draft … I don’t know if I have a favorite feature, I like the automatic tabs, but it can get hinky at times.

    I do like that there’s a special “save as pdf” thing … in Word one has to go through a whole complicated thing to convert to pdf (at least my version) but in FD it’s a simple “Save As”.

  2. I’ve used Celtx in the past. It’s very good especially since it’s free. Now I use Montage exclusively. It imports and exports to FD as well as other file formats very nicely including PDF. No favorite features, I simply like the interface and the logic.

  3. I write in both. I breakdown screenplays as a First AD in both. I have to because everyone uses different software. Both have issues. Ultimately they are tools in craft and no smarter than hammers. Whatever gets you there terms of writing a rockin’ story wins. The feature I like? As a writer the ‘notes’ section. As a 1st Ad ‘tagger’. When comparing both…MMS wins…but only by a sliver. And their support staff is good.

  4. My first screenwriting software was Sophocles and I loved it–beyond reason maybe, because it was such a huge upgrade from Word. Then when I was actually working with producers, they bought me Final Draft because that’s what they used. I’ve just reinstalled Sophocles on my current computer and I like it so much, I’m switching back. Here’s why. I constantly rewrite as I move forward, sometimes just to keep working or sometimes to conform what came earlier to an idea I implement later–Final Draft has a navigator pane which shows scene headings but just serves as an outline, while Sophocles has a clickable nav. sidebar that takes you to the scene and which also brings up your notes for the scene at the bottom. Also, built in thesaurus, which keeps me off the internet–always a danger. Plus, when you export to pdf, you have the option of adding that great clickable outline on a sidebar in the PDF. Until someone pays me not to, I’m using Sophocles.

  5. I use a bootlegged version of Final Draft 7, but since for some reason it’s “Save as PDF” feature is broken for me, I have (an also bootlegged copy of) Final Draft 6 too. I have always felt like a fraud because I didn’t spring for the full version (granted, I am a broke college student), which is why I just got my mother to buy me the real version of FD7 tonight.

    And after looking at the features of MMS, I might bootleg that too and restart them feelings of fraud. Oh well.

    I have to say my favorite feature is the SmartType. I LOVE not having to retype names. It gets obnoxious though when the smart type supplies the wrong suggestion.

  6. I used Final Draft, version 6. Love it, but wish my version of Final Draft had a dictionary and a better thesaurus.

    OutofContext, too cool that you had a PRODUCER buy you a copy of Final Draft. You’ve obtained hero status. Thanks for sharing.

    - E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

  8. Hi, Scott –

    I just got Final Draft. So … How do you fudge the look and the lines? Inquiring minds want to know… ;^)

    THANK YOU from bottomless heart for these great sales analyses!

    I’ve never felt so prepped and revved for a year of screenwriting, and being able to check out the stats is fantastic.

    Judy

  9. My first 3 scripts were in Microsoft Word. That was all good and fine until the printing process started and adding all the “more’s” and “Cont’ds” and now I have moved on to Final Draft and I’m in loooooooove!

    So easy. These scripts now? They pretty much just write themselves!

    (Ha!)

    I wondered about MM because of the way it would integrate with their scheduling and budgeting software.

  10. Movie Magic Screenwriter started out as Script Monster or something like that. Two guys out of San Diego. I started using it way back around 1990 or ’91. It was great early on because if I had a problem, I’d just call up these two dudes. They got bought out in mid-to-late 90s.

    I got Final Draft because almost all my students use it.

    I wrote K-9 on an Apple IIc with the big 5 1/4″ floppy discs. Each disc only stored about 25-30 pages of content, so the script’s first draft had four or five page breaks in it. Printed on a dot matrix printer where I could start printing, go out for a 45 minute run, come back, and it would still be printing.

    And I thought I was stylin’ hi-tech!

  11. I use Final Draft. Love it.

    First I used MS Word, thinking that a specialiced software was a waste of money. Nothing could be more wrong. It was worth every dollar.

    I also tried a demo of Movie Magic, but it didn’t work. So, software developers: put some efforts in your demos.

    What I don’t like with Final Draft is their copy protection system. You can only install it on two computers – things would be simplier for me if I could install it on three. And the registration process is just Aaargh!!!

  12. Scott said… “Movie Magic Screenwriter started out as Script Monster or something like that.”

    Haha, wow, yes. Prior to Hollywood Screenwriter, prior to MovieMagic Screenwriter, prior to ScriptThing for Windows… it was plain old ScriptThing. For DOS. The DOS version was fantastic. Prior to that I was writing screenplays on my C64 and using a program I wrote myself to output those text files in script format to the printer. Have you seen the Robocop screenplay? Looks like that was written on a C64 too!

  13. I’m using FD 7 and generally love it. I like the flexibility of the different formats and love the SmartType features. Once you get used to them, you can really rock when writing. My biggest complaint is that I recently upgraded my laptop and it runs on Vista 64 bit so the PDF converter no longer works, but I understand they are working on a solution.

  14. Final Draft. Something weird happens everytime I try and send to people though – something about imacs. I sort it, then forget how I sorted it until I have trouble the next time. Have never managed to use that collabowriter thing though. One day…

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