John August

Archives for 2011

FDX Reader 1.0.2

FDX Reader

fdx reader iconApple just approved an update for [FDX Reader](http://fdxreader.com). If you’ve installed the app, it should show up in your App Store updates soon.

Version 1.0.2 addresses two issues:

* A4-sized paper.
* Final Draft’s “Dual Dialogue” option.

Our trouble handling A4 paper reveals our provincialism; all of our beta testers were North American. A4 paper is common everywhere else in the world, and should be celebrated by geeks for its [mathematical purity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size).

For this build, we focused on making sure A4 paper wouldn’t cause the formatting to go completely bonkers. We’re not yet paginating for the extra lines on A4, so page counts will be off for longer scripts.

(My A4 story: While in London prepping for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I had a minor battle with the Warner Bros. script department in Burbank. They reformatted our A4 script to 8.5×11, and claimed it was 10 pages too long. Ultimately, we threw their script in the trash — which we called the bin, being British and all.)

Final Draft’s dual dialogue option displays two characters’ dialogue side-by-side. While it’s often and easily abused, it is useful in the right situations.

Because we allow the user to increase the font size, trying to keep the dialogue side-by-side proved ungainly. So we’re unwrapping it, displaying the right-side character after the left-side character.

We have some ideas for indicating this dialogue is simultaneous, but your suggestions are of course invited.

Each time we update the app, our user reviews disappear from the [main screen](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8). If you’ve left a comment about a previous version and want to leave another, by all means do. They help users see how the app is evolving.

Two App Stores is one too many

FDX Reader, Rant

app storesWe got an email this morning from a guy — let’s call him Bob — who wanted to check out [FDX Reader](http://fdxreader.com), but couldn’t find it in the App Store. He was writing from Canada; was FDX Reader only available in the U.S. store?

Ryan assured him that yes, our app was available in Canada, and [sent him a link](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8).

Bob wrote back:

> I see the app in the link you sent, but can’t access the app on the app store on my mac. See attached screen shot.

The screenshot was of the Mac App Store. FDX Reader is an iOS app, available for purchase through iTunes on the Mac or PC.

Bob had every reason to be confused.

On the iPad and iPhone, the way you get apps is in the App Store. Bob was clicking the equivalent icon on the Mac, expecting it to work the same way. That’s logical behavior.

Folks, we have a Highlander situation. There can only be one App Store.

If you’re on a Mac and click on the something called “App Store,” it should show you the iOS apps as well.

But what about iTunes? What about people on a PC?

Fine. Here’s a reasonable transition solution: have the Mac App Store show us the iOS apps, but when we go to purchase them, send us to the right page in iTunes and finish the transaction there.

Apple already has the button:

view in itunes

That’s what Apple shows you when looking at the [web version](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fdx-reader/id437362569?mt=8).

In the grand scheme, this should all be moot. Everything used to sync through iTunes, but now it’s all headed towards the cloud. It shouldn’t matter which app you use to buy stuff.

Amazon is happy to sell you things through any button you click in any of its apps or affiliate sites. Apple can do the same.

How do you read a script?

QandA, Writing Process

questionmarkHow do you read scripts these days? I am used to reading printed documents and writing and annotating and leaving notes in the margins, but it is becoming really expensive.

And as I look across your blog and other screenwriting sites I notice a lot of people read screenplays on their computer. How can I really learn from and analyze the work without having a physical copy to make notes on? Should I buy a Kindle? iPad? Use a notebook?

— Alandre Drakest
Silver Spring, MD

answer iconWhen I read Other People’s Screenplays, it’s almost always on my iPad. For a PDF, I use either the GoodReader app or iBooks. For an .fdx file, I use [FDX Reader](http://fdxreader.com). Because, you know, I made it.

Reading a screenplay on the iPad means you can’t circle typos or scribble thoughts in the margins. While some of the PDF apps do a fairly good job with notes and annotations, I haven’t found any of them to be better than paper and pen.

When I read My Own Screenplays, I either use FDX Reader or plain old paper. **Printing isn’t admitting defeat.** You see some things on paper that you miss on the screen.

For quick-and-dirty proofing, I often choose the two-up setting in the Print dialog box, giving me two smaller pages side-by-side. I do this for drafts I only expect to keep around for a day or two before recycling.

Working with a collaborator on an upcoming project, I’ve started using three-ring binders for my active scripts. I’d always been a brad man, and dismissed binders as un-screenwriterly. But I was a fool.

Binders are kind of awesome.

* Pages lie flat, and stay open.
* Scripts in three-ring binders don’t get mangled as easily.
* I can flip back and forth easily between sections.
* For some projects, divider tabs can help you jump to specific sequences. A musical, for example, will have tabs for each song. An action movie might have tabs for each action scene.
* When making notes, I can use Post-It notes and flags.
* Revised pages snap in nicely, so you don’t always need to reprint the whole thing.
* When a project goes into a holding pattern, that binder can sit on the shelf.

As to your Kindle question, the larger Kindle DX is the right size for screenplays, and was briefly popular among the more gadget-inclined screenwriters. But most of those people jumped ship for iPads. I don’t know any who are still using the Kindle for reading scripts.

You are the host of your own talk show

Psych 101

I never watched Oprah. But I’m not surprised she had some good [parting thoughts](http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Oprah-Winfrey-Show-Finale_1/print/1):

> Each one of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage in a studio, yours is wherever you are with your own reach, however small or however large that reach is.

> Maybe it’s 20 people, maybe it’s 30 people, 40 people, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, your classroom, your co-workers. Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies.

People underestimate their influence. And use it poorly.

If you like something, don’t just click “Like” on Facebook. Say that you like it. Write about it. Let others know that something is worthy of their attention. If something is wrong, broken or unjust — speak up.

Yes: you have to be mindful of your audience. Curate. Don’t overwhelm their Twitter feeds or drone on in the break room. Say interesting things and people will listen.

But don’t say only the stuff you expect everyone will agree with. Outlying opinions are often ideas everyone is thinking but afraid to say.

Credit your sources. I got this Oprah quote from a blog called [Tin Man](http://www.tinmanic.com/archives/2011/05/28/thoughts-on-oprah/). I’ve never met the blog’s owner. I don’t know his name, or what made me add his feed to my RSS reader. But I end up reading most of his posts, because he seems consistently thoughtful. That’s not a very high bar to clear. You don’t have to be funny or clever to have an audience. Honest gets you a lot.

Obviously, you’re going to have influence over the people you know and see every day, the circle of 20-40 people Oprah mentions.

But people put a lot of trust in folks they’ve never met. Quite often — usually at Peet’s Coffee on Larchmont — a young screenwriter will tell me they moved to Los Angeles because they read my blog. That’s influence. It didn’t come through screen credits or official decree. It built up gradually, post after post.

When you think about your life as a talk show, it makes you reflect on your opinions. What topics interest you? What do you believe? Are your positions logically consistent? No one expects you to have the answers. They want the conversation.

Oprah didn’t become an icon by giving away cars to housewives. She did it by being the best talk show host she could imagine. That’s a goal that scales well.