Buy Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 (PC & Mac)Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 (PC & Mac) Product Description:
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
The Virtues of Staying Hungry
By Lenny
I have been using Screenwriter for a few years now, after defecting from Final Draft on the advice of a good script editor (who's now a very successful producer, as it happens...)I recently wrote a review of Final Draft 8 comparing it unfavourably to Screenwriter 6 and it occurred to me that I hadn't actually reviewed Screenwriter 6.0.. so here it is.If you want a program that will help you structure and lay out a movie or TV script, with the least amount of distractions, bugs or technical problems, this is the one for you. If you're a self-taught typist like me you'll appreciate simple features like hitting F12 to put a word into uppercase or shift-F12 for lower case, without taking your hands away from the keyboard. Plus the automatic sentence spacing, name capitalisation, and intelligent spelling corrections ('freind' becomes 'friend' without you even noticing) - all of which can be customised or switched on and off.Screenwriter is the perfect servant - reliable, unobtrusive, intuitive. Final Draft is a slightly dim servant with a persistent cough and dirty fingernails.Enquiries to Screenwriter Tech Support, in my experience, get a response the same day. The online activation system is simpler, less temperamental, and more forgiving than Final Draft. If, God forbid, your disk crashes and you lose your OS, Write Brothers will let you activate Screenwriter again. As far as FD is concerned - you're screwed, pal.The Write Brothers are not the front-runners in the screenplay software industry - indeed, some writers seem never to have heard of Screenwriter, and think Final Draft is the only program available. As a result Final Draft, in my opinion, has become lazy and complacent, while the people who make Screenwriter are hungry, ambitious, and eager to please the client (hence the title of this review).Why to I keep harping on about Final Draft? Because of course it is the industry standard (largely due to early adopters like me who told the BBC that anything was better for screenwriting than Word... which is still true). And most if not all industry clients like scripts to be delivered in FD format. But FD has just changed its formats, and FD8 scripts won't open in FD6 or FD7. Moreover the page count is different in FD8 and FD6, and between PCs and Macs. What sort of industry standard is that?Personally I use Screenwriter and submit it as an .rtf or run it through an old copy of Final Draft 6, if clients insist on FD.Screenwriter is no cheaper than FD; both are expensive, especially if you are just starting out. But technically accomplished specialised software programs always are. Once you buy one, however, upgrades are relatively cheap. I have to say that whenever I have upgraded Screenwriter to a new version I have seen major improvements in functionality and usefulness. FD sometimes seems to offer little more than new icons (and FD 8.0 actually mislaid some formatting functions due to bugs!).Four stars because it isn't perfect. I recently found my Screenwriter Help Files did not exactly correspond to the actual program, though it wasn't a major problem, and Tech Support quickly set me straight. And I'd love it if there was a way to import my outlines (which read like short stories) into the outline tool in Screenwriter, but there doesn't seem to be. That said, I haven't given five stars to anything since Raiders Of The Lost Ark... or maybe Aliens.If you want to write scripts, go for Screenwriter. You won't regret it.
38 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
Fantastic software
By M. Rodriguez
I checked out a few screenwriting programs over a period of time and the one I've felt most comfortable using is Movie Magic 6, which just works elegantly and smoothly. A PDF instruction manual plus a built-in tutorial run you through the basics. I found them incredibly useful to grow more confident using the program.The NaviDoc is one of the program's greatest features, allowing you to make outlines and notes on your script. You can prep acts, scenes, sequences, beats etc by describing what you want to write. These appear colour-coded on your page, but don't appear when you export as Word or PDF files. This allows you to write down your thoughts which you can then work off of right in front of you, while you're writing the intricate details.It doesn't try to hold your hand while you write. It doesn't tell you how to write. But as a writing tool for just allowing you to get down what's in your head, it's amazing.If you check out Final Draft's reviews you'll notice one particular review by a BBC writer who recommends Movie Magic over Final Draft 7. Final Draft 7 has had quite a few bugs, ranging from page numbering and activation issues through to files not opening (as well as not exactly being a joy to use). Movie Magic just works.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.Simply excellent
By P. Carrel
I deliberated for some time before finally shelling out on this program, and now I wish I'd got it sooner. I love how simple it is to use, and how it looks after all of the tedious aspects of formatting for me. My work just looks so much more professional, layout-wise, right off the reel. Five twinkling little stars from me.
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