Screenwriting softweare

chrisgreen · Post by **chrisgreen** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 2:38 pm

My interest in film making has been sparked off in the last year, and i'm really into writing editing and directing. But i've really had no opotunity to actually write a script... well that isn't true, i have tried, but it took soooooo long making sure the layout was correct, so i gave up and started looking for scriptwriting softweare. But i came across another problem... the price of the softweare, with my job i was only able to aford a simple editing programme (pinnicle 8 studio). Final draft 6 costs Ã‚Â£184.38 on amazon, and that is waaaay over my budget. I tried looking for demos of softweare. But all the ones i got either stopped me printing off the script or had 'DEMO VERSION' in huge letters across the page. If anyone has any advie on where to find cheaper softweare, please tell me.

SolutionX · Post by **SolutionX** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 2:44 pm

how about a pen and a pad for Ã‚Â£3

or just use microsoft word

^^ that has a spell check which i see you need

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 3:37 pm

I know there is a cheep update for word that will do scripts, but have never used it. I have final Draft 5 and it is soooooooo sweet. God it makes writing a script so simple, it rememebers all the charater names, and fills them in for you, it remembers all your locations, it has everything inside it, so all you have to do is let it flow. Final Draft seemsover priced but it is worth it. Look for an older version such as 5 which i like better then 6 because it could be cheeper. But ya I'm also final drafts b**ch, I forgot about that.

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 3:40 pm

I've been doing script writing in HTML, using Frontpage. Hust for the sake of convenience. Everything hyperlinks, it's so cool!

Lorenzo_amateur_prods · Fri Oct 10, 2003 6:53 pm

lol frontpage! u must be really deperate... i manage fine in word. mi tried this thing with some greek name like alpha or omega, cant remember it

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 7:02 pm

Sophiclese. is what your thinking of cheeper but totalt inferere to final draft.

Lorenzo_amateur_prods · Fri Oct 10, 2003 7:04 pm

well i havent tried final draft... yeah its that foxwood.. wasnt very good, i just stick to good old word (well, good to a certian extent, being microsoft)

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 8:37 pm

At lest it is reliable. I as a writer tend to write most of my stuff by hand first, because on the comp I tend to just write monologes worth of diologe, and thats a bad thing. Then I type it. But fianl Draft makes that so simple and it has all these reports that will list everything from when charaters do what to how much you swore. Its a great program.

Sayhi · Post by **Sayhi** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:05 pm

Hi there guys. Haven't heard from me scince Spetember 10 or sth., right?

My suggestion is first use a lot of papers and a whiteboard.
Note some of your ideas and then divide the film into scenes. As you think of new details you can fill them in after having organised your thoughts on the whiteboard.
When you're finished with that all you need is MS Word. Just copy from the papers and fill the dialogues in.
I don't think you need a program for this kinda stuff. Spend your money in sth. more useful. A bluescreen, a video editing suite, lights, costumes, fake guns/blood...there are many things you need in a film.

Think smart and simple...

Sayhi · Post by **Sayhi** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:07 pm

I see foxwood hasen't lost a single post.
3000+ posts!!! Good job.
Anyways, where's ornsack?

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:12 pm

Hes around. And a good script program never hurt anybody in fact I think it helps make stuff better. Also it alows you to just write scripts without worrying about all that work. I just think word is more work.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 4:18 am

Have you guys heard of Movie Planner? Its not really a script writing program but it still does some nice stuff. Basically what it does is sets you up for scene by scene whats going to happen. Like you can put in camera movements, type of shot, whos in the shot, storyboards, props, and lots of other stuff. By the way did i mention it is FREE, yeah yet again i come up with another free program

you guys should try it! Get It Here

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 3:26 pm

Final Draft does all of that but story boards, and it does diologe. Try that out use the paper metud but if your really sereuses about writing scripts perfeonaly and such go with final draft its worth the cash.

iamnothing · Post by **iamnothing** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:08 pm

I like Final Draft. The sole purpose of me buying it was so that I wouldn't have to futz with formatting. And it's done that very, very well. I don't know if everyone can justify the price, but I definitely found it to be extremely worthwhile for convenience sake.

Chachi · Post by **Chachi** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:11 pm

Yeah, Final Script is great. Though does anyone know how to turn it into a Word document or something like that? Cause I don't think there's any way to e-mail the script to my friends because if they don't have Final Script, their computer won't know how to open the file.

slimdog55 · Post by **slimdog55** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 3:32 am

Script writing software? A low budget? I use www.scriptbuddy.com. Just sign up for free, and take a few days to learn how to use it. It works fine for me. Did I mention its free?

CORPSE GRINDER · Post by **CORPSE GRINDER** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 4:25 am

I have studied the standard screenplay format for a while and have it down. I just type it all in Microsoft Works word processor. I have all my margins set for all the different spacing configurations like slug lines, dialogue, parentheticals, etc.

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 5:06 am

I would use word but I'm lazy, so I have final draft.

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 5:44 am

I've gotten fast enough with word to make it professional enough and quickly done. I didn't feel like bothering with final draft or anything. But I admit it is a nice program!

chrisgreen · Post by **chrisgreen** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 2:30 pm

I have rsently just tryed changing the settings of word, and i think the whole thing works really well, it's quick, very easy, and most of all it's cheap

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 3:21 pm

The onlything with word is that rule of thunb a page equales about a min on screan doesn't hold true with world, because of the way it uses space. You scripts end up being shorter page wise, and at times harder to read. Final Draft in the industry way, and really simple, but to each him own, if you can't affored it, because it is over priced to say the lest. (The best thing is that the actual program is only about 40mb)

[Edited on 17-10-2003 by foxwood]

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 3:14 pm

Here goes my simple instruction of format.
Act's and scene numbers not needed.

Scene seting and such is all caps and is left justifyed

INT ROOM DAY
INT =intereier
EXT=extereter

Then you put the place and time of day, not always need when inside.

Actions are left justifyed and go like normal pros, always writen in the present tence. "We see They run, never he ran etc)

Diologe is cetered with the tag line being in all caps. with the words also centered underneath.

When you want to mark a shoot, like a zoom or such it is done the same as an action but in all CAPs. as are sound effects and big visual effects like explotions.

A transition is done right justifyed and tells if its a strate cut or a fade, and ends with a collen.

CUT TO:

INT NEXT POST DAY

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 12:21 am

Well put.

You just gave away half a year's worth in professional film classes! Haha

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 12:28 am

Why take those, they are bull cr**, next I'll go into the three act structure, which is cool in most cases even though it has become cool to bash it.

Jass Films · Post by **Jass Films** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:15 am

No need for editing software, just use MS word or something, it's not exactly hard to set it out in the layout you want. And you can easily edit it still.