Screenwriter and author John August

Final Draft and Lion, friends again

July 13, 2011 Follow Up, Screenwriting Software

With Mac OS X Lion due any moment, Final Draft has released version 8.0.2, which should [allow it to launch](http://johnaugust.com/2011/final-draft-wont-work-under-lion):

> Final Draft v.8.0.2 has been engineered to run on OS X 10.7 (Lion). It’s available as a free download [HERE](http://www.finaldraft.com/support/software/final-draft-8.php).

> **V.8.0.2 is the only version of Final Draft that will work on this operating system. Final Draft v.7 and older will NOT work on Lion.**

> The free 8.0.2 installer is an operating system-specific patch with no new features or fixes other than 10.7 (Lion) compatibility.

You have to log in with your FD registration number to get to the installer, which feels clunky in the age of auto-updaters. But it’s otherwise painless.

I don’t have a Lion beta to test it against, but the updated app seems to work properly under 10.6. Upon launch it asked me to activate again, which gave me a moment of panic. The online activation worked without incident, however.

Writing Movies for Fun and Profit

July 13, 2011 Books, Stuart

I don’t read many screenwriting books, but Stuart does. So I’ve asked him to start reviewing some.

——

As you would expect from two members of The State, Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant’s *Writing Movies for Fun and Profit* is very entertaining.

It is also full of good information for aspiring screenwriters hoping to write studio movies.

The book is significantly less blithe than its [Funny or Die promo video](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/5f1df15cc3/writing-movies-for-fun-and-profit), but it is still light in tone. Topics run the gamut, from basic 101s, like story structure (“If Your Screenplay Doesn’t Have This Structure, It Won’t Sell, Or Robert McKee Can Suck It.”), to a step-by-step explanation of how an unpaid intern can make or break your script’s shot with a major.

Some of the seemingly less serious chapters in that same vein are some of the book’s most useful. Lennon & Garant provide a fun and surprisingly helpful studio-by-studio breakdown of how to tell what your employer thinks of you based on your assigned parking spot:

> PARAMOUNT
>
>Important = Melrose gate, VALET. […] Ask the guy in the car next to you if he happens to have some Grey Poupon. He won’t laugh, because almost nobody remembers those commercials anymore.
>
>Not Important = The open parking lot that’s JUST TO THE LEFT of the Valet. You’ll find a spot, sure. And it’s out in the open, under the big fake panorama of sky, no real shame in that … BUT YOU’RE ALSO CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE VALET TO KNOW THAT YOU WEREN’T ALLOWED TO PARK THERE. Yep. And there’re so many open spots in the Valet area? Well, you fell just short of making that list. Chew on that as you walk the extra 300 feet to your car.

In a later chapter, they dispense advice on what to say if a star giving you notes brings up or compares your script to one of her previous flops:

>It’s best not to discuss flops at all. BUT, if they come up, YOU SHOULD HAVE ONE POSITIVE DETAIL ABOUT THEM TO DISCUSS.
>
>For example: you’ve just sat down in the trailer of, say, JENNIFER LOPEZ […]

JENNIFER LOPEZ

Wow. I can’t believe how crappy Gigli turned out.

YOU

I dunno, I thought you looked great in those fight scenes.

JENNIFER LOPEZ

Ha, thanks. I worked really hard on those. Now here’s my notes ...

>Whew! Nice save.

Another particularly useful section breaks down WGA credits and what each means in terms of dollars, with a detailed explanation of the arbitration process and strategies for winning.

The appendix provides three sample outlines, one of which is the treatment/script/plan for the unproduced Reno 911!: Miami sequel. For any Reno fan jonesing for new content, this alone makes the purchase worthwhile.

Final Draft won’t work under Lion

July 12, 2011 Screenwriting Software

**Update:** [Final Draft and Lion, friends again](http://johnaugust.com/2011/final-draft-and-lion-friends-again)

Last week, Final Draft sent out an email to customers:

> Apple has announced they will release their latest operating system, Mac OS Lion (OSX 10.7) this July. Many of our valued customers are Mac users, so we feel it is important to let you know how this Mac OS update will affect your version of Final Draft software.

> **Final Draft version 8 Users:**
> A FREE update for version 8 users will be available at www.finaldraft.com/downloads/software-updates.php for registered users. If you plan to upgrade your operating system to 10.7, update Final Draft version 8 first for an optimal user experience. Without the update, changes in the new Mac OSX 10.7 will prevent Final Draft version 8 from launching. Once you update your version 8 software, you can activate and run the Final Draft application on your Mac. The new OS will not allow the Final Draft application to run for other users on a given computer unless those users also install and activate Final Draft while logged in under their own user name. If you do not intend to upgrade your OS to 10.7, there is no need to update your version of Final Draft.

Wait, huh?

How do you define “optimal user experience?” Oh — the app *won’t even launch.*

Yes, that does seem sub-optimal.

The included URL takes you to a placeholder page saying that a revised version (8.0.2) is coming soon. So it seems odd to include it as a clickable link. Sending users to a “News” or “Updates” page feels like a much better destination. ((I won’t even mention the 2007-style .php extension on the URL. Except in this footnote.))

To be fair, many Mac apps will need revisions in order to run properly under the new OS. It’s better to warn customers now before they upgrade. But the email was so strangely written that many colleagues assumed it was just Final Draft trying to upsell longtime screenwriters clinging to their old versions.

The company didn’t have to look far for better copy-writers. Their own knowledge base article is [much more clear-cut](http://support.finaldraft.com/article.aspx?cid=1001&aid=9163):

> Will Final Draft run on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion)?

> **Not yet.** We expect to release Final Draft v.**8.0.2** as a free download at the same time as Lion’s official release by Apple. The new version has been engineered to run on OS X 10.7 (Lion) **and is the only version of Final Draft that will work on this operating system.** If you have v.8 and are planning to upgrade to Lion, we urge you to wait for the patch. The current version of Final Draft 8 is not activatable on this new operating system.

> **Final Draft v.7 and older will NOT work on Lion.**

> The free 8.0.2 installer is an operating system-specific patch with no new features or fixes other than 10.7 (Lion) compatibility.

Much better, right?

I know several screenwriters who are incensed that Final Draft won’t support running FD6 or FD7 under Lion. But I’m siding with the company here. I think users have the right to keep using software as long as they want, but developers have the right to stop supporting old versions they haven’t sold in years, particularly when operating systems change.

Movie Magic Screenwriter is drawing the same [line in the sand](http://support.screenplay.com/answercenter/questions.php?questionid=789):

> All versions of Movie Magic Screenwriter prior to version 6 are not compatible with Mac OS 10.7 (Lion).

They say the current version (6.0.6) will work, with the exception of four tools: Compare Two Documents, Name Bank, Thesaurus, and Export To. (Which, if you think about it, is a significant amount of functionality lost.)

Because I’m a giant nerd, I’ve cloned my startup drive so that I’ll be able to boot in either Lion or Snow Leopard until Final Draft gets its update out.

For less tech-savvy users, I’d urge waiting a bit before upgrading to Lion if there are scripts you need to work on in FD.

Newly arrived in Los Angeles

July 12, 2011 First Person, Los Angeles

Matthew Hickman was born and raised in rural Georgia. After dropping out of law school, he started working an hourly-wage job at a UPS store, and saved money for a year in hopes of moving to Los Angeles to begin a screenwriting career.

Several months ago he arrived in Santa Monica, where he now works at another UPS store, writing in his off hours. He recently published a [novella on Amazon Kindle](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LLIEZW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B004LLIEZW”) and has just started work on his second feature length script.

—-

matthew hickman I want to stress my beginnings here because I know that for many of you, getting to L.A. is the battle before the battle. I think many of John’s readers may have a sensation similar to what I felt in the time I read this blog before I moved to L.A., and that’s one of isolation. In the middle of reading all this talk about getting an agent, pitches, script revisions, options, treatments, and copyrights, many of you probably feel left apart entirely from the ability to act on your ambitions. I know I did.

How it starts
—-

As I sit here in my two hundred square foot studio, water is boiling on the stove. I live in a guest house attached to someone’s guest house. I’m not completely broke, but I do eat a lot of spaghetti these days. I don’t have much money to go out with friends, much less go out looking for them.

On the other hand, I recently paid eleven bucks to see a screening of The King’s Speech followed by a Q&A with David Seidler, Tom Hooper, Colin Firth, and Helena Bonham-Carter. The next week it was Darren Aronofsky between screenings of Black Swan and Pi. At my day job I’ve had conversations with Marcus Dunstan, Lester Lewis, and others about advice for new writers. I’ve met Jessica Biel without knowing it, and walked by Paul Haggis on an empty sidewalk on a Sunday afternoon. If I hadn’t been wearing a Cookie Monster t-shirt at the time (don’t ask), I probably could have exchanged a few words with him about what it takes to succeed here. Lastly (and most importantly), I’ve met countless other transplants from Normalville, USA looking to carve out their place in the entertainment industry.

All this has happened during my first four months in Los Angeles. These are a few of the trade-offs I’ve gladly made for a shot at what most of you reading this column want: to be a screenwriter.

Unlike a lot of the first-person columns you’ve been reading the last few months, I haven’t accomplished much yet as a screenwriter. I don’t have any writing credits to my name, none of my work has been optioned. Hell, I don’t even have an IMDb profile. But I have made one significant step toward that dream of being a working writer we all harbor: I made the jump and moved to Los Angeles.

For those unconvinced about the benefits of moving here, see the above paragraph for examples of why you should rethink your position. I’m not just namedropping (Jessica Biel aside). If a guy freshly transplanted from the foothills of Appalachia can run into all these people, imagine who you could meet here.

And I don’t even have a car.

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