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Screenwriting Software: Closeup Review #5 |
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BC Software (named for co-founder Ben Cahan) first made its mark as a provider of Macintosh screenwriting software. Now BC has ported its primary product, Final Draft, to Microsoft Windows, to take advantage of the larger market of IBM-compatible computers. (It also has updated the Mac version.) This is a rare -- possibly unique -- event in the short history of screenwriting software, so it is intriguing on that basis at least. The remaining questions for PC users are: how good is it, and should you buy it? Read on.
INSTALLATION
Version 4.1 of the
program was used for testing. It comes on 3.5" diskettes, one of which is
called a "key" disk. That disk is part of an unobtrusive approach to copy
protection that allows the installation of a limited number of copies of the
program. Any further installations will require the key disk to be present in
the floppy drive, or the program won't run. The only problem that can arise
from this is when the user repeatedly "blows an install" by erasing the files
on the hard disk without uninstalling first. That should be fairly rare, and I
expect the company will help users who run into problems. The full installation
of Final Draft requires a mere 3MB of hard disk space. The program worked very
quickly on my test bed system, a 133MHz Pentium with all SCSI drives, running
Windows for Workgroups 3.11.
HELP & DOCUMENTATION
The manual is
well-done and contains a good tutorial. Although it seems designed for
beginning writers, it will be helpful for anybody wanting to learn the
program's commands. The program itself has context-sensitive help, with
graphical screen captures that can be clicked on for more detail. Even outside
the full help system, the user can turn the mouse cursor into a sort of
"help-pointer," getting information about an object just by clicking on it.
EDITING INTERFACE
The value of a
program like this lies in its ability to do things faster and more easily than
one can do with a word processor or typewriter. Final Draft uses many of the
concepts common to this type of program -- drop down menus with character
names, storing notes and bookmarks within the script, etc.
The other thing a screenwriting program should do is make it easy to move from one element to another -- to reduce keystrokes by guessing your next move, and doing it for you. A good example is when writing dialogue. After one character speaks, the most likely next element will be another character speaking back. So when you press Enter, the program moves down two lines, positions the cursor at the correct tabstop, and offers a list of character names.
Final Draft has a competent and flexible approach to this process. One can do most things using the Tab and Enter keys. Alternatively, one can issue editing commands using Control key combinations with the alphanumeric keyboard, or with Function keys. Some of these alternative keystroke assignments seem quirky at first, but they probably become familiar with use.
FILE HANDLING
Final Draft creates
compact files, roughly 200K for a full screenplay. It has a functional
auto-save feature, to prevent lost work in the event of a system crash -- but
it does not make backup copies, or use temporary files. Given the other
safeguards, this is a surprising lapse that should be corrected. There is one
small and unusual point of comparison between Final Draft and some of its
competitors. The Windows versions of ScriptThing and Scriptware apparently poll
all "fixed" drives in the system when performing Save and other file operations
-- which can interfere with a CD-ROM, for example. It is a minor problem, but
one to which Final Draft is immune.
CONFIGURATION
Many aspects of the
program's interface and operation can be customized -- but sometimes it is
difficult to find how or where to do so. For example, control of the flow of
dialogue and action across page boundaries is done in a dialog box reached via
File/Preferences. I would expect this to be under the Format menu somewhere,
especially when there is a whole system for editing the characteristics of each
script element. That system, although a little limited, works well. For
example, the program does not come with an element for the script's title on
the first page, which gave me a chance to test the Format/Edit Elements
command. It worked fine and I was able to add "Title" to the list of elements
in the drop-down menu.
DISPLAY
There is a handy Print
Preview, but one can not edit in this mode. The "Scaling" option (known in some
programs as "Zoom") allows the choice of several preset magnifications, with
75% being close to a full page display. However, the scale setting can only be
changed by mouse; it does not appear on any menu, and I could find no way
access this command from the keyboard. That should be changed. The "Speed View"
command hides all page breaks, which speeds up scrolling and allows the writer
to concentrate on the script's flow.
LAYOUT
Final Draft allows the setting
of left/right margins, line spacing, and other aspects of every script element.
The default settings are generally fine and one can pretty much use the program
right out of the box. One setting I find curious, however, is that scene
numbering is "on" by default. I am guessing that many, if not most, customers
for a program like this are writing "submission" scripts on speculation, for
which scene numbers are generally considered out of place.
Another surprise is the way the program handles page breaks by default. It will insert "MORE" and "CONT'D" for dialogue that crosses a page boundary -- but the default setting does not care where that break occurs. I would expect to find the default to be breaking dialogue and action only at the ends of sentences. Luckily, all these settings are relatively easy to adjust to the user's taste and needs.
IMPORT/EXPORT
Like any good
screenwriting program, Final Draft allows one to import scripts written with
other software -- but only in ASCII or RTF format. To compare this feature, I
started with a screenplay that I wrote with Scriptware, then exported it to
ASCII format. When imported into Final Draft, numerous elements were
mistranslated -- shots became character names, action became dialogue, and so
on. Nearly every page required several corrections. This feature needs to be
improved.
"CHEATS"
The original screenplay I
used for comparison was 110 pages long in Scriptware. When imported to
ScriptThing with its default settings, that script became 120 pages. But with a
couple of minor "cheats" to line spacing, ScriptThing made a decent-looking
version of that same script at 107 pages. When I imported it into Final Draft,
the same screenplay came to 132 pages using the defaults. After
extensive adjustment to left/right and top/bottom margins, and setting the line
spacing to "tight," I was only able to bring it down to 116 pages. I am
guessing that the shorter script lengths in the competing programs is partly
due to their ability to cheat the right margins. However, I doubt that explains
it all, and if there is some way to further control this in Final Draft, I
could not find it.
CONCLUSION
I get the impression that
BC Software's primary goal with Final Draft is to capture the Mac-to-PC
crossover market. Indeed, its ability to share formatted files across these two
computer platforms is unique. However, its design and feature set do not make
it very competitive in the rough-and-tumble world of Windows software, in which
there are far more players. Its file import/export options are somewhat
limited, some of the configuration commands seem misplaced, and its control
over layout lags the state of the art by a year or more. It also lacks many of
the advanced features offered by some of its Windows competitors, like easy
rearrangement of scenes*, two-column scripts, and more.
* UPDATE: Since this review was first written, Final Draft's importing was improved greatly (although not quite perfected). And it has a great new index card view/ scene-reorganizing feature that is flexible and easy to use.
On the other hand, the upside of its conservative design is that it is dependable and stable, with an uncluttered interface. It boasts a fine manual and online help system. It safeguards one's work with multi-level undo and auto-save, and allows transfer between programs using the Windows clipboard. It also provides tools like Script Notes and revision-tracking that can be useful for sharing files among writers, collaborators and producers.
For those shopping for IBM-compatible screenwriting software, Final Draft may be the new kid on the block, but it is worth considering -- especially for writers working with both Macs and PCS. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee, and a downloadable demo version is available online if you want to take a test drive.
Final Draft 4.1 for Windows
List price $299
BC Software
800-231-4055 (US only); 310-636-4711
Rich Wilson is a professional writer, producer and director with over 25 years of experience. He has numerous credits, both local and national, in television, film, newspapers, magazines, and interactive multimedia. He is also the owner and webmaster of the Online Communicator Website, where this article originates.
