Writer 2 (free Fountain Based Screenwriter For Mac

By Beverly Peders Writing Software: – Android – Free This is a mobile script writing app that does what most screenwriting programs can: auto formats with autocomplete for characters and locations, can export into pdf, Final Draft, Doc, and more, and you can import screenplays from Final Draft or Celtx. My Screenplay provides templates if you’re starting from scratch and there are options to share your work if you’re collaborating or to share it between separate devices. This is definitely a great tool to use if you want to test out writing on more mobile devices but don’t want to pay. WriterDuet – / – Free & Premium WriterDuet is quickly becoming the new standard for screenwriting. It combines the power of cloud-based word processing with the necessity for industry-standard, secure, and intuitive screenwriting software. It combines natural process and user-friendliness for a unique and refreshing way for writers to collaborate, whether in real-time or in non-linear workflows.

• Writer 2 (free Fountain Based Screenwriter For Mac Free

It has features that are vital for teamwork in scriptwriting. It's a well-created gem, and a must-have for writing teams. Celtx Script – / – Free One of the more well-known mobile apps complete with a version too, that includes script writing as well as collaboration with the film-making process is Celtx Script.

Amazon Storywriter is a free, cloud-based screenwriting tool that imports and exports. Writer is a free Fountain writing app for Mac, available on the Mac App Store. Marked 2 by Brett Terpstra is a Markdown preview app (OS X) that can also. The only thing more tormenting than writing is not writing. — Cynthia Ozick. Writing with Fountain is a joy. I can write in my office, the gym, on a walk or in the bathroom. I can write on a Mac, on an iPhone an iPad and even a Linux based text editor if that’s what my day job provides.

It has auto formats for screenplays, A/V, stageplays, audioplays, and even comics. You can leave comments or notes for yourself or writing partners. The full online product that includes storyboarding, scheduling, budgeting and more has a 15-day free trial (or 3 projects), however it costs from $14.99 to $39.99 a month (with membership) depending on what features you want access to. As a free screenwriting app with diverse formats, it’s a great tool. If you really fall in love with it, there are even more choices with their site that can expand what you can do to make your story a reality. Scripts Pro – – $9.99 An iOS-only app for film and TV screenwriters may seem not worth the price, but it’s an app made just for screenwriters, unlike Storyist. Everything is industry standard and the format is easy with a simple toolbar.

You can export your drafts to email, Dropbox or even iTunes. It’s even compatible with Final Draft, Fountain, and Celtx., also promotes a clutter-free working set up to help you focus on your writing and has a reader preview mode that is helpful when you need to take a step back and edit. Storyist – – $14.99 While is praised in many novel-writing circles, it has expert screenwriting capabilities. It also includes auto format but only for screenplay. However, there are outlining options, storyboarding with index cards, collage view (for more visual storyboards), character and scene sheets, notebook, and sharing abilities. While this works best on desktop as it might be helpful to have many windows open, it also works on mobile for the writer on the go, or when your laptop dies. The price tag, while being a bit steep, allows you access to a lot of the fun tools mentioned but also helps you to stay organized and can be used to edit scripts from Final Draft.

Final Draft Writer – – $19.99 If you write your scripts on a Mac or other Apple product, you probably already use Final Draft. This app requires that you already own it, since it needs a script to be downloaded for it to be edited. The actual (for Windows and iOS) will cost up to $250 for the first download if you’re not a student or teacher.

Upgrades cost around $100. It’s a big price tag for a great product. If you have the program already and want to edit on the go, this app may be a good bet (although many of the cheap apps previously listed also take Final Draft documents) The (also iOS only) is completely free if you just want to read your scripts and take notes from mobile devices. Performance Enhancers: Be Focused App – – Free This app was recommended to me by one of my screenwriting professors to help with time management.

I was having issues with keeping myself from getting lost in the research black hole. This app allows you to schedule your time with short breaks to keep yourself on track with your writing. You can schedule a thirty minute block of writing followed by a five minute break with the next thirty minutes for research and then a bigger ten minute break.

However you decide to schedule it, as long as you keep to it, it should help you improve your writing. Spotify – / – Free Music is everything to me when I write. Spotify, unlike Pandora, allows you to make playlists with their selection of music and can even create radios based on your playlists to introduce you to more music. You can start from pre-made playlists or genre playlists or find playlists other users have made and work from there.

However you wish to approach making your soundtrack, I believe Spotify is the best (and free!) place to start. Here are some of my music selections per genre I, but don’t let these suggestions stop you from finding what music you think works best. Weekend Read – – Free The best way to get better at writing is to get reading. There’s a (free) app for that! Download screenplays (pdfs, Final Draft, Fountain, and more) into this app and have a screenplay-friendly reading ability.

There are multiple websites like where you can download scripts. If you’re constantly on the go, just put them into your app and read without having to print out hundreds of pages and no paper cuts! Lists for Writers – / – $2.99 Having trouble keeping track of characters and ideas? Lists for Writers can track all possible things to remember about your character and more. While it’s not specifically made with screenwriters in mind, it has a helpful dictionary of words that may come in handy from animal sounds to fight and combat vocabulary.

It helps organize all your story information in a color coded app which you can keep with you in any device it’s downloaded on. Index Card – – $4.99 For those visual people out there, there’s an app for organizing your scene notes and storyboarding note cards on your phone.

Makes it easier to plan and organize your story with pictures, text, and a cork board background to make it feel real. If you like having physical notecards, it can be cumbersome to carry them with you at all times so perhaps you could keep back ups on your phone in case you lose them to. As mentioned in another, index cards can really help with story development.

While there are many apps out there for writers and screenwriters alike, these seemed to be the most promising. If you’re looking for more online sources, check out this for more information on websites. Did I miss something? Is there an app you are completely infatuated with and you don’t see it here?

Let us know in the comments!

If you want to learn, at some point you’ll need script writing software. When it comes to script writing software/screenwriting software, I have three apps to recommend. Here’s a quick guide to the best screenwriting software so you can choose what’s right for you. Quick Navigation. My Philosophy on Screenwriting Software In a nutshell: time is a writer’s most valuable resource. Therefore, script writing software should save you time: it should be easy to learn and use, bug-free, and reliably updated. NOTE: what follows is my opinion, and I am not compensated for these recommendations.

That said, here are my choices for the best screenwriting software. Best Free Script Writing Software: Celtx is free and over 3,000,000 people are using it (according to their website). Celtx is fully-featured, cloud-based screenwriting software that can also be used for storyboarding and production. Celtx offers a few subscription choices, one of which is the option for a free subscription.

Celtx is not only my top choice for the best free screenwriting software, it’s also my choice when a filmmaking team needs to collaborate on the script as well as budgets, schedules, shot lists, and more. Celtx is only $9.99 per month for the additional storyboarding and production features. Celtx integrates with iOS apps such as Index Cards, Script, Shots, Scout, and Sides. Best Inexpensive Script Writing Software: Highland is a minimalist, distraction-free software that utilizes plain text. This means that your script is readable in any text editor and can move easily on and off of any device. Highland also exports to and imports from FDX and PDF, provides notes inline with text, and has markers and page-jumpers to navigate within a long document. Highland’s lead developer is top screenwriter John August ( Big Fish, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory). Highland is $29.99.

Best Full-Featured Screenwriting Software: Fade In renders text crisply, supports unicode (text in other languages) and dual dialogue, and allows you to find/replace and undo just about anything. Fade In has fully functional syncing iOS and Android versions, and is updated for free by a capable developer who also writes and directs films. Fade In is also the choice of top screenwriter Craig Mazin ( Hangover 2, Identity Thief).

I should note here that John August’s podcast Scriptnotes (which Mazin co-hosts) has. Fade In costs $79.95 and offers a free trial. I purchased Write Brothers Movie Magic, i.e., Screenwriter in 1998. I dabbled in a few other screenwriting applications including Celtx, Story, Final Draft, and Highland. I liked Celtx and Highland. I’ve written scripts for commercial and informational videos using Word just because that’s what the client used. If I were starting now, I might go with Celtx.

It being more web based has advantages and disadvantages, but it is free. I still prefer Screenwriter. I have a BSEE and was a hardware and software engineer for 30 years so I don’t think my preferences are biased by technophobia.

In the future, if I need to write anything besides narrative features and shorts, I may try another application. Claire E Robertson Same here. I bought Movie Magic in September 2000. I’ve had to wrestle with downloads when switching to a new computer system from my old Windows XP systems but it works great for me so I’m basically refusing to upgrade to the expensive newest version of it.

Why fix what isn’t broken? I did have to try and show that I could use Final Draft when I took a college course over a decade ago but my instructor was so impressed with how well my work looked in MM that he allowed us to choose which we preferred. The majority of the class chose MM over FD. Bottom line on it was that we really didn’t need a lot of extra tools to do basic things like using an index card feature. Both programs have it but MM is a lot simpler to use than FD and you really only need to remember where your tab, enter, and down arrow keys are in addition to where your alphabet keys are once it’s set up for your own writing style. Happy to report, I can type over 200 words a minute without having to look at the keyboard.

Useful since the letters often fade fast on every keyboard I get. The addition of being able to import a word processing document and then quickly convert it into a screenplay format means I’m unlikely to want any other screenwriting product in the future.

I can also use MM budgeting and scheduling with it, too. I use and love Fade In. So much better than Movie Magic, which is what I used previously (I’ve always preferred Movie Magic over Final Draft).

It even has a dual-column A/V template, which is really handy if you do commercial video scripting (although I prefer the way Celtx handles the A/V format). Fade In also imports and exports to Final Draft (among many other file formats), so even if you’re working with people who require a Final Draft file, you’re not stuck having to use it. Aside from Fade In’s seamless functionality, I also appreciate that it doesn’t look like it was time-portaled in from the mid-90s. Irene I used to be a Final Draft Fundamentalist, but when I needed to collaborate with people I don’t see very often, and when I began looking around for ways to write without having to put my beloved laptop at risk in the wild, Fade In and Celtx came to the rescue. I have to admit that Celtx is slowly winning me away from Fade In, however. I’ll miss the $ I spent on Fade In, but Celtx is so easy to use. I’m also a big fan of Scrivener, but I use that mainly for non-screenwriting purposes, probably because I began using it to write and compile ebooks for Kindle.

It’s a monster of functionality! What level of familiarity would you recommend aspiring screenwriters to have with Final Draft?

While I’m sure some people would disagree with me, I don’t think aspiring screenwriters need to have much familiarity with Final Draft other than to know it exists. Yes, it definitely is what productions use, but as there is a long way between writing a script and getting a movie made, I don’t think expensive screenwriting software should be an impediment. Is there a chance that you would have to convert your script into Final Draft if the movie goes into production? So you have to spend a few hours re-entering your script because you’re movie is getting made? That is work I would personally be happy to do.

Writerduet allows you to upload a Final Draft, Celtx, pdf, doc etc into it. It’s my favorite over others because I can see my partners writing in real time. They can see me when I’m in there. So I’ve had the ability to write with others who live far away from me. Maybe other sites allow this now, but they weren’t when I was shopping around/testing them out.

The formatting isn’t always perfect in WriterDuet after an you upload (esp. If the previous doc was a pdf etc, but it’s pretty good to get started). And you can download out of it (once you pay into the paid service, I believe there is still a free trial version) into PDF, Celtx, Final Draft, etc. Very convenient for sharing with others who don’t use Writerduet or have Final Draft yet.

I use final draft and have for years. In general my mantra is if you want to play with the big boys than you have to use their toys. It really is the go to for production. One of the more memorable moments at Austin’s festival this past fall was watching the FD boys debate another program. They license to entire crews and have to contract with the production that they will support them. That aside, I can tell you as a coverage reader as well as a writer, I can instantly recognize when someone is using another software. Or worse — WORD.

It SHOULDN’T get in the way of a story but when you are reading upwards of 10 scripts a day at times, you get into a cadence of scene breaks and formatting that is automatic in FD and can vary (in line spacing and margins) in other programs — it seems nit picky but it does take you out of the story. When you are an established writer (like Gilroy on Nightcrawler) you can get away with breaking the norm, but in the meantime I say stick with the standard.

John I use the free version of WriterDuet and it’s excellent. Definitely the best free screenwriting software around. I had issues with all the other “free” screenwriting programs. Will upgrade to WD Pro soon. There’s a great quote on the WriterDuet website from Ed Solomon, writer of MEN IN BLACK and most recently NOW YOU SEE ME: “Writer Duet is the most intuitive, most user-friendly scriptwriting software I’ve ever used.

And it’s truly amazing to be able to write and share screens with one, two, or many different people at once. I wish I’d had this earlier in my career. I can’t say enough good things about Guy Goldstein and Writer Duet.” – Ed Solomon (Men in Black, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Now You See Me). Speaking as an (DGA) Assistant Director and Unit Production Manager, Celtx makes our job quite challenging. The greatest issue being that it cannot easily export to any other program. So while a writer may find it wonderful (and free), script breakdown for scheduling and budgeting becomes a nightmare. All the slugs, sets, characters and locations need to be reentered manually into a scheduling and budgeting program.

Celtx claims to have an all in one solution and can provide many production reports, but it simply doesn’t provide the horsepower needed as a day to day production tool. I think that the best piece of software out there right now if WriterDuet. WriterDuet is an incredible piece of software that does all of the the things that final draft does, better, plus an incredible real time collaboration capability. In my opinion, it’s really the only viable choice for writing partnerships, and perhaps the best choice for single writers. It’s way more fully featured that the free version of Celtex.

It has the PDF reading capacity of Highland, but it’s also cross platform, which Highland isn’t. I have not tried Fade In. The lead developer on WriterDuet, Guy, is also extremely accessible and always has responded to my questions or feature requests. Having used many screenwriting software programs over the years, I was surprised to find Celtx offered many of the features the expensive programs do — yet it is free.

The cavet here is they do charge for additional production-level modules yet the direct benefit is anyone can get started in screenwriting at a professional level at no cost. All of our screenplays have been imported into Celtx since 2010 and I have requested all of my students to do so as well. I highly recommend Celtx for anyone who is writing.

Questions: — Do ALL of these program save in Adobe Acrobat for a standardized pdf? — Can the pdfs of those scripts be “read” in the other programs? Example: When a Scrivener or FADE IN script’s pdf is sent to a production company, can the production staff member use their software to “read” the cast numbers & # speeches and the Int.- Ext. Locations list? I noticed that David, a DGA, indicated that they don’t all import. Writing with free scriptware is fine for beginners, but when you are seriously submitting, you have to understand that the pdf has to allow for the programming that provides for script breakdown so the production company can identify COST factors like cast size and locations with a couple of taps of the keys. If the script is being submitted to actors, they want to know how many scenes they appear in and the number of speeches they have to “guessimate” their value to the project.

I use Movie Magic. I also use moviemagic. I love the monthly newsletter I get from them (tips from ‘screenwriter bible’s David Trottier). It imports from pdf and word just fine. It has a LOT of bells and whistles I don’t know how to use yet.

It has templates from all the majors, and all the formats. It is constantly saving for me in a ‘timed backup’ file, so if I forget to save or the power goes out, a recent version is safe. I’m so happy with it, I’ll likely buy it again. I don’t know why no-one really uses itit’s great! Charu Hi Stephanie I think professional writers cannot NOT think of compatibility with the production office and those who give notes – readers, execs, producers, directors. Here in Mumbai I have been writing a TV show for the last six years in MS Word because that particular production company has its own format and production office requirements. I use FD and Celtx for writing features.

I prefer FD despite its high cost and occasional bugs because I just feel more safe about of my work. (I have this phobia of scripts getting stuck in ‘retrieval hell’ in hopeless recesses of crashed hard disks or ‘cloud bursts’ or getting ‘locked up’ in a free / trail software etc etc etc 🙂 ) But currently am writing a feature for a company using Celtx because the producer has ‘political issues’ with using expensive writing software. One software that I really miss is SOPHOCLES. Did anybody on this thread use it? It was so good and it’s a pity that they discontinued their service.

Chrid Great article! I found and use Celtx but didn’t know about the other two. I keep looking for a software package that reads aloud dialog.

Years ago I was sometimes lucky enough to find a group of actors willing to read my script out loud and put feeling and character into after they had read the script and the result was an incredible high to hear your own words and spot things that worked or didn’t work well. I highly recommend anyone who can find a community theater or group of actors willing to do that for an afternoon quite valuable! Anthony This is a subject that could go on and on ad nauseam. Just go take a look on different threads about screenwriting on Stage32. I’d call this the ghost topic.

It will always come back. Personally, I stopped using Celtx because it was a pain to use during the rewrite process. And to be clear I used Celtx since the beginning. There are bugs in the editor which prevent you to have a perfect formatted screenplay, this year I called it quits. So I put my hands on Scrivener, set it up with two different templates depending on the project. Movie Screenplay / TV Bible And the finishing line so to speak is made on Final Draft and/or Trelby which is remarquably handy for a free software.

Anthony Also, one last thing to bear in mind about Celtx. You can get an editor that you install on your computer. That’s the one I used. It’s a great start I’m not denying it. You also now have the possibilty to do all your preproduction via their web services.

I think the tricky part with what they offer you for a fee per month is that it is a closed service. You can do everything on their web platform but if you want to get out, and put your script, your data, your schedule, your budget on another piece of software, you’re gonna waste a lot of time trying to export things correctly. In effect they discourage you to do that, they want you to stay. So after due considerations ( should I stay or should I go) I said, that’s enough for me.

I want to be able to carry my data on any file format I want without any restriction. So I can deliver them to other people. Hope this will help, but hey don’t take my word for it! You can try it. John Edwards Hey Steph, Once again, a great and useful post. I used to use Final Draft and discovered Celtx after my laptop was stolen.

I, too, think it’s hard to beat for the money. I’m also a fan of very stripped down software: in fact, I just used MS Word with a screenwriting stylesheet on the past. I think there’s a danger of getting distracted by the bells and whistles (as if writers needed more distraction) and soon we get so caught up with the tool we forget about the work. That being said, Celtx’s features are incredibly useful and easy to use.

For that reason and the cost it is my go-to writing program (after pen and paper). Odocoileus Been a Movie Magic user for 8 years.

Still love it. But I’ve been flirting with Fade In because it has a mobile version that allows smooth transfers between my PC and my Android devices. For my Android devices – phone and tablet – I’ve been using DubScript. It allows me to write scripts using the Fountain markup language and see them displayed in screenplay format. But Fade In works perfectly with Fountain files, whereas Movie Magic doesn’t quite get to a hundred per cent compatibility. Courtney I still use Final Draft (and will continue to use Final Draft) because I feel it works better than all the other programs I’ve used (including those listed, especially Celtx).

Once you get to know Final Draft inside and out, it has all the same functions as any other program out there and a lot more. It’s also more compatible with many of the programs needed for pre-production outside of the writing process which helps take the script form the page and put it further into pre-production without the hassle (MM, SSP, etc). Honestly, I think it’s all just preference. Paul Thurston I’ve used Movie Magic for years and never looked back. Ross Good article! With so many options out there, good discussion about tools to help writers increase productivity/quality is helpful! A couple important requirements a screenwriting package needs to provide: First and foremost – storytelling!

Index cards and a notebook aren’t terrible, but there might be ways for technology to help. Software designers, I don’t want to figure out a new, complex UI or programming language (I have Maya for that). My needs are very simple: help me lay out and organize my story! There are many fine software packages out there, but the best I’ve found for this purpose by far is Scrivener. Truly a simple, elegant tool that costs a whopping $50!

When the story is up and running, then it’s time to look at other packages – FD is king here, but MM et. Are right in there, too. Formatting is crucial, and this is where software can really come it in handy. Why formatting is so important is all the breakdown/pre-production work that’s required by other departments. FD and MovieMagic Screenwriter play very well with many scheduling and budgeting packages that every line producer and AD uses. I hear Celtx does too. Accurate revisioning during the prepro process can be greatly streamlined with a good package.

FD is obnoxiously and needlessly expensive, but it is quite the formatting tool. Have to say I’ve never tried Celtx in production. In my case, I do the bulk of story design with Scrivener and format with FD (prehistoric version). Work gets done snappy-like, unless there’s a hitch with the cognitive process. Silvia Hi Stephanie, I have been a loyal Final Draft user since for many years. I started with Final Draft 4 I think.

I am now using Final Draft 8. I still love it and as you mentioned it is the industry standard. That said, I have experienced crashing with FD 8, (I literally almost started crying last night when it crashed). Even though I have it set on ‘auto save’, it still crashed.

I would also like to mention that I am also registered on Celtx. I am especially thrilled with it’s relatively new ability to allow us to ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ our scripts into its program. As I said, Love me some FD! But, I have been very blessed to be able to get my hands on it.

If that were not the case Celtx would be my #1 choice. I tried an Open Office template, early on. It could make scripts, but it lacked full functionality. I finally got a discount copy of FinalDraft through my school and loved it from the start. It’s the real deal.

I’ve never had it lock up, though occasionally it pauses, which may be more a function of my computer than the software. Sometimes free is too expensive. I have no fears of submitting a script file in FinalDraft format. My feeling is that it’s still the industry standard. And it works. BTW: agents and others can tell if an RTF file was not created in FD. There’s an easy way to check.

Earl Celtx PROS: Runs on Windows. Can be run from flash drive or any browser via Cloud. Able to store multiple versions and various data related to the project in one file. Navigation window with file & folders capabilities. Can be saved/retrieved directly to/from Cloud. (Multiple versions) Character description templates.

Lots of pre-production tools such as Scheduling, Storyboard. CONS: No onscreen WYSIWYG. Inaccurate onscreen page numbering. No page locking.

No revision page colors. Allows sentences or dialog to be run on at page breaks. (period or no period) Does not import Final Draft files.

Not able to navigate to note locations by clicking on the note. ——————————————————————————————————————- Screenwriter 6 PROS: Error checking. Prints sides. Navigation menu makes it easy to go to notes, scenes, bookmarks. Colored text.

Advanced production features. Great support! Either by email/web page or phone, I Always got help a timely manner. ————————————————————————————————————– CONS: No Linux or mobile application. Does not import/export Final Draft files. No Full Screen mode. Cannot be run from a flash drive.

Navigation menu does not have file/folders capabilities. ——————————————————————————————————————– Fade in Pro Pros: Runs on Windows.

Able to import Celtx, Final Draft, PDF files. Retina display with OS X. Able to export Final Draft files. EPUB export Adobe Story support. Fountain support.

Scrivener support. Constant updates.

CONS: No web version. (Versions – 1.2.464 ) Needs Mac OS 10.6 Intel or better. No tagging/breakdown capabilities. Dictionary/Thesaurus (Online only) Cannot be run from a flash drive. Navigation menu does not have files, folders or notes capabilities (Like Celtx, Storyist) Wish there were more quick launch icons to create Notes, Synopsis, etc. (maybe Right-Click does this?) Launch icons too small.

(at lease on my netbook) So My number one software remains MM Screenwriter 6. (I never totally trust web based only apps, (especially after what just happened to Scripped!). JD I normally use Scrivener, but I was considering using John August’s markup system, just to see how I liked it. Also free, and apparently imports/converts easily to FD, the industry standard. Before that, I used FD (a long time ago).

I was fine with it, but that was apparently before they introduced crashes as an um, “undocumented feature.” Heh. I trust NOTHING to the cloud. Also re the standard: whenever I output a complete draft, I compile a copy in FD mode and CHECK it. Ditto when exporting into PDF. Errors can occur.

Adjustments will be made. I’ll probably get FD again, just b/c it is the standard. Don’t let haste, sloppiness or cheapness hinder the potentially very important eyeballs reading your work! Output to the industry standard (whatever that is where you are) and make sure your work is 100% when it goes out. That’s the trouble with university, they have standardised across the university. However NOBODY in the film industry uses Word as it’s too easy to screw up.

You can use WriterDuet to output to RTF and then into Word. Some production companies will use Word internally, just as some will use Celtx, or EP or StudioBinder or But the international standard script format is Final Draft.fdx which can be tagged and imported (as a.sex file!) into Movie Magic Budgeting and Movie Magic Scheduling. So that means that whatever you use to write your script, it must be capable of ending up in.fdx. Robert I’ve tried all of the screenwriting programs (and I do mean ALL of them). I used to use Final Draft but got sick of how buggy it was and paying for updates. Movie Magic Screenwriter is just too old at this point.

Celtx is clunky, Adobe Story is clunky, and I wouldn’t trust either of those. I wouldn’t trust ANY cloud based program or website. Scripped disappeared and took all the scripts stored there with it. Friends of mine use Writer Duet because it’s free but it’s been down a LOT lately, and when it’s down you can’t get your work. Highland and Slugline are sort of cool but they’re not really full screenwriting programs.

They’re kind of like half screenwriting programs. I bought Fade In (ONLY fifty bucks!) and have been using it for a while now. So long Final Draft.

WriterDuet creator here, just wanted to address the point you mentioned: AFAIK we’ve had two non-trivial times offline in the past year, and nothing was lost, we were back up in a few hours. I’m working on solutions to avoid that happening again. But there’s an easy solution to avoid Internet problems with WriterDuet: buy the Pro version, which works seamlessly offline.

You’re comparing it to paid programs – yes the free version has a limitation, but that should be expected. A lot of programs don’t have fully capable, unlimited free versions at all. You say you’ve tried all the programs, but it sounds like with WD you just took your friends’ experience (which seems like it was good except one or two brief holdups).

Give it a try yourself, I am confident you will be very impressed! I believe the Pro version is hands-down the best option out there. Joseph Lombardo Hello, I’m interested in trying the Fade In software. I haven’t written for many years and so a lot of this is new to me. When I last wrote I did so in Word. As far as Fade In is concerned I’d like to know if this is a program that I can save on my computer or do I have to save into some cloud somewhere. I really don’t like the idea of my work drifting around someplace.

I’ve read up on Fade In and haven’t seen anything mentioning this. Can anyone tell me about this please? I’ve gone from Final Draft 6 to Scrivener to Final Draft 9. As a novelist and screenwriter, Scrivener was the best choice. It was great for organizing the chapters of my book into folders using a left pane, and then also organize the screenplay on the right pane. This made it extremely easy to convert my novels to screenplay format. Even though I am using Final Draft for the rewrites, I would feel equally comfortable continuing in Scrivener.

The other advantage of Scrivener is you can use it on an unlimited number of devices (my example: 1-work/2-home/2-laptops) where FinalDraft only allows 2 total installations. Ronbrassfield Where’s Movie Outline in this discussion? Very worthy package which has been around about seven years now, as shown by Final Draft v. 9 evidently copying some of its features. I started out with Scriptware, which stopped updating with Windows 95 and does not seem to network, as in “I’m out on the deck with my laptop and I want to work on the script stored on my desktop’s hard drive.” It still works fine, though, given those limitations and it never had installation limits. Movie Magic 6 does the networking just fine, and I believe it will install on three PCs. Movie Outline integrates character- and scene-building features into its interface and stacks up quite well against the big boys of the marketplace, but it only allows installation on two PCs.

I never even considered going to Final Draft after its late-90s crash-prone version upgrade, and some of the users here seemingly could relate, judging from their comments. Its “industry standard” promotion seems to have been most effective in making it the leading seller, though. I always envision Final Draft users as also wearing those black baseball caps with the word “Writer” printed on them. Sydney I started out with a really great program called Sophocles that, unfortunately, went face-down in the soup quite a few years back. I switched to Final Draft which is a good program, but too expensive and yes, a bit buggy.

I now use Fade In and have to say if you want a full featured screenplay writing program that is mucho affordable, powerful and updated for free, check it out. It will do everything you need done as a scriptwriter without a lot of bells and whistles that frankly, you will prolly never need. And, as they used to say, all good screenplays begin with FADE IN. Steve Schaefer I’m retired and over the years have written several magazine and technical articles, and am how experimenting with Action & SF novels. Over the years I have tried many author software products, but settled on what works best for me – being MS Word & Excel. This may sound crazy to writers unfamiliar with the products, but I find they are very useful – maybe because I have used them for so long. I’ll explain how I use them – so other authors will be offered another solution.

Writer 2 (free Fountain Based Screenwriter For Mac Free

Excel: I use this to setup a Timeline of events in a story; as most stories unfold over many days, weeks, months, or even years. On the main page I divide up the columns on the 1st row as follows: Under Slug Line, Action, Parenthetical, and Dialog. Dividing the 2nd row as follows Under: Slug Line: City, State, Country, UTC, Local Date, Local Time, and Location.

Under Action: Focus, Group, Item, Character(s), and Action. Under Parenthetical: blank Under Dialog: Blank Additional Columns: Notes, URL Resource 1, URL Resource 2, and Expert Comments. Word: Google “setting up a script format using MS word” and follow the instruction on how to create document that uses the “Alt” plus another key to format a movie script. This allows you to set each line as needed, and also with automatically jump through Slug, Action, Character, Parenthetical, and Dialog; as long as you don’t want to skip around or use more than one of each type as you write. Since most authors already have MS Office, I believe these two programs work well together and offer a low cost solution to writing. Just like in the graphics industry, there is no one stop shop.

Photoshop is for image work, Illustrator for single page layouts and graphics, InDesign for multipage layouts, etc. With Scriptwriting, I’d make similar distinctions. You need something for 1) outlining / arranging scenes 2) writing the actual scenes 3) collaboration (sending out, highlighting, adding notes etc) I don’t think there is a software that does all three well. Some try all three, but something is always buggy or crudely made.

My recommendations are an individual solution for each step. 1) Outlining Remember, Pixar spends 3 years outlining and 1 year scriptwriting. ‘Numbers’ by Apple is best for that extensive work. It’s a spreadsheet software like Excel, only free and better. At a certain point you need to create a horizontal axis to align scene cards on, or to match them to whatever story beats (Snyder, Truby etc) you want to hit along the way. There aren’t many ‘offline yet portable’ row and column options where you can enter anything along a flexible x and y axis, even add images.

The alternatives are actual post-its on your wall, or cloud services which don’t work offline. 2) Everyone who has been involved in any kind of production workflow knows that it’s best to eliminate file conversion. Something always goes wrong. Stuff gets lost or corrupted all the time. For writing, Final Draft is the thing, because you can start and end there, no matter how many rewrite/sharing versions in between.

Everyone serious has it. And come on, it’s not expensive. Ask a freelance designer shelving out 50 bucks a month for the standard set of work tools. And for the crashing of FD: hitting ‘command (or apple) s’ every 5 minutes like a nervous twitch, and general file versioning have to become your friend.

If after a writing day you haven’t saved 3 versions, one at 12, one at 4 and one at 8, you’ve got a problem lined up in the foreseeable future. If one version becomes corrupted, you have one not too old to fall back on. In hectic work environments, saving a copy every hour is good.

I know people in the 3d world who save a new version every ten minutesor after each setting. There is no way around versioning. Files will get corrupted. 3) For sending around stuff and commenting, there is no way around Adobe Acrobat (PDF). Whoever can’t read/comment it with their software can get the free Adobe Reader. But it’s a one way street. I haven’t seen a software able of converting a PDF back to a really intact editable version.

Something always goes wrong during conversion. PDF is the only serious format for reading, sharing and collaborating, but then this ‘viewing and commenting’ version is useless and it’s back to the live Final Draft version. Hope that makes sense. I’m not a pro writer but an Information Architect and perfectionist when it comes to planning and production control.

(can you tell?). I used Celtx free version for many, many years, and I liked it for writing.

I found the additional features a bit clunky, but I used them as I wanted to do everything in the same software. When everything changed with the paid version, I hung on to the free model for a while. When I switched from FCP 7 to the Adobe cloud, I thought I might try Adobe Story to keep workflow simple and minimize cost (Story is included in the cloud). Story is OK for writing, but the other features are clunky and buggy and seem not to be developed from a production POV. Still struggling along with it because I am a Adobe cloud convert, but I wish it worked better. I know of several people in the industry who insist you need Final Draft. Major studios/production companies they insist use FD and when they need to do breakdowns, plan a budget, whatever, a FD file is a must.

Not a PDFS file. But I currently can’t afford it. It cost more than I make a week. If you are an a indie producer who does everything yourself, directing, editing budgeting, it probably doesn’t matter what you use.

But no one wants a producer refusing to read something b/c you only had a PDF copy and not a Final Draft file to send them. Which I guess can actually happen. Jonathan S None of this takes into account AV scripts, the TV documentary (and commercials) two-column format.

FadeIn sort of does it, as does Celtx (but you can’t see it). The only halfway satisfactory dedicated software was the now discontinued Final Draft AV.

Which was buggy and crashy and inflexible. But at least it existed. Word tables are disastrous, as Audio and Video move out of sync all the time and formatting just goes all over the place. So – an appeal to all developers – give your software an edge that all the other programmes don’t have, and include a decent AV format. In all honesty, for all the bells and whistles these softwares have, I almost always end up drowning in mountains of paper notes and I still haven’t finished a single project in 25 years of writing because I’m too disorganised if not too fussy about HOW I organise. Frankly I find the organisational tools in these softwares to be somewhat disorganised in and of themselves with a billion tweekable windows that get in the way of each other (a complaint I have about all software, to be honest), although CeltX and Fade In definiatly are the best of them for what I need, and even then, I can lose myself all too easily and end up glaring at the monitor as if it is in some way responsible.

What do I need? Ah, just a moment. Yes, I am hoping a passing software developer will read this coment. I need fixed windows and symetry. That is a fixed work space in the middle (I don’t care about autoformatting, we don’t need that crap,) above the workspace is a fixed window with the hook, eg “This is a story about a failed scientist who has spent the last 15 years trying to make good on his backup plan of writing for a living. While his style is good according to everyone else, he thinks it’s crap and can’t organise himself for toffee!” Below the central work space would be a fixed window for notes. On the left a fixed window for scenes or chapters, depending on what I’m writing and on the right a fixed window for characters and temprements.

To give me something with millions of customisable windows often ends up with me spending hours trying to find the most esthetically pleasing form for the best possible organisation. Wayne I had the same issue with a project. Had notes everywhere. So I put them on notepad and separated each section with zero’s.

Thats my system. And saved all the work on several files. Then put them in a folder. Then make a back up.

A master copy of the story. Then made key indicators of where everything should go.

After removing the areas. It will build up. Then when you finish. Handle the formatting. As for all the paper notes.

Put all related notes together. Then allighn them into the storyline. Copy type the result. Move onto the next one. It does take time. Hope this helps.

I am a software junkie. I try all of the software that I can get my hands on. However, I use Final Draft because in the end most people have that software and instead of exporting a Final Draft file from another program I feel like I might as well just start and end in the same one.

I also don’t think it’s all that expensive as far as software goes, but that is just my opinion. I do enjoy Highland, but as a Writer/Producer that is often finding ways to do my own films, I find it handy that Final Draft has the tools I need built in for breakdowns, reports, and tagging. I love the site and look forward to many more years of reading. Vikram Hi Stephanie, I am a complete newbie to film script writing, but would like to get the right software at the very beginning (so I don’t get forever put off). I have a set of questions, if you mind answering. I’ve nudged towards the Slugline for the Mac (yet to purchase it). 1) Is exports and imports from FDX and PDF possible with Slugline?

2) Is various other languages options available on Slugline or any other software (such as Hindi)? 3) And finally I like to start of with Treatments or Outlines, does Slugline have this option? (Do you recommend any other software) Thanks, Vikram.