Formatting and software
This is going to sound like a lazy question. What’s the easiest way to handle all of the tabs, centering, capitalization, and formatting required in a screenplay? I know there are a lot of programs out there that supposedly "handle" all of this for the screenwriter, but there had to have been an easier procedure twenty years ago when these programs weren’t available.
–T. Baker
Yes. It was called a typist, a script services department, or your kind-hearted mother. Because the fact is, formatting scripts has historically been a nightmare. Even computers didn’t help much. Back when I started in 1993, the best way to format a script was through homemade style sheets in Microsoft Word. Every time I finished a script, I would need to go through page by page and check to make sure dialogue wasn’t dangling off pages. It was a giant pain in the ass.
Today we live in a Golden Age for script formatting. Since GO, I’ve been using Final Draft for the Macintosh, which not only handles all the formatting details, but also keeps track of scene numbering and production changes should you be so lucky as to need them. Like all programs, it has its quirks - it can be too helpful at times - but most of my friends seem to be using Final Draft as well.
Although I haven’t experimented with them as much, Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 and Scriptware have their fans. All three programs are available for both Mac and PC, and all three have downloadable demos. Definitely try them out.
To answer your natural follow-up questions: why are these programs so expensive, and why do they have copy-protection? Probably because there’s a limited market of screenwriters (thus the high price), and being largely broke, screenwriters tend to pirate a lot (thus the copy protection). I’m not saying it’s right or true or fair, but I understand why it is this way.
Articles
October 19th, 2004 at 12:28 pm
The scene link to the Glossary (http://johnaugust.com/archives/2003/glossary.html#scene) is broken.
October 19th, 2004 at 12:37 pm
Thanks, Melson. Fixed.
(Actually, removed.)
December 24th, 2005 at 1:28 am
I use Final Draft also, but I basically use it as presentation software. In other words, I write the script in a text editor or in Microsoft Word because those programs are faster, more powerful, and more reliable than Final Draft or Movie Magic. Screenwriting programs are WAY overpriced, unstable, buggy, and not versatile, programmable, or useful for other writing tasks. (I have a mini-rant against them on the WRITERS page of my site at dooling.com).
Until you have a script or TV project actually in production you can easily get by using Microsoft Word or even a text editor, if you take the time and trouble to learn how Styles work.
Basically there are only six main styles: (1) The slugline or scene heading; (2) Action; (3) Character’s Name; (4) Dialogue; (5) Parenthetical direction (in dialogue); (6) Transistion (less used the better).
Learn to use Word, or Open Office, or a fast cheap text editor. And set up these six styles in macros so you can apply them with a keystroke.
When somebody hires you, tell THEM to buy you a copy of Final Draft or Movie Magic, whichever they want you to use.