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Screenwriting Software: Market Overview |
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by Rich Wilson © 1996 All rights reserved
Most recent-model cars have a warning buzzer that sounds if you open the door and try to exit without taking the key out of the ignition. Obviously, this simple little invention does not make drivers less forgetful, but the end result is the same as if it did: fewer keys get left behind in cars. Technology gives the illusion of improving people's mental faculties.
It even applies to writing. With the widespread use of computerized spelling checkers, many writers appear to be much better spellers than they really are. Such examples make it tempting to seek technological solutions for whatever limitations we may have in education, experience or eloquence. And where better to sell such an appealing concept but in the high-stakes world of screenwriting?
Thus, there are now computer programs that cover every aspect of the field, from the first hatching of an idea to the formatting of revision pages in the final production draft. Some of these products can make screenwriting less tedious, but nobody has yet invented an artificial replacement for imagination and wit. Unfortunately, technology is a supremely hot topic in the public consciousness, and is often reported uncritically in the media. Regardless of various things you may read, believe this: No software can make a non-writer into a writer.
This article should help clear the air, and give you honest, objective, first-hand reports on a wide range of software and related computer products that can help you make the most of your story-telling skills. Other articles will examine specific products more closely.
The issues discussed here -- the relationship between technology and art, and specifically between software and screenwriting -- do not depend on the computer you use. Most programs referred to here are PC-based, but many of them are also available on Macintosh.
As many readers know, the issue of "environment" or "platform" is suddenly much more complicated than the old "PC vs. Mac" arguments we've heard for years. For one thing, the Macintosh operating system is now available for other hardware platforms, and there are Mac "clones" for the first time. And of course, there are multiple operating systems on the PC side, with varying degrees of compatibility. There are still a fair number of DOS-only users, especially on older computers; people with various flavors of the "old" Windows; a smaller but significant number of OS/2 users; and a growing number of people running Windows 95.
[News since this article was written: Although Macs are still fine computers, some in the industry are now concerned about Apple's longterm viability. IBM has backed off a bit on its promotion of OS/2, and Windows 95 did not sell quite as well as originally projected. There will be an "update" for Windows 95 in summer 96, but no version number change.]
At this writing, the biggest group is using IBM-compatibles with Windows 3.1 or 3.11, along with DOS 5.0 or higher. That is the environment used for any evaluations mentioned here. As new products are tested in the future, every effort will be made to provide compatibility information for as many of these other environments as possible.
Is software necessary to write a good screenplay? Obviously not, given the many great screenplays written before the advent of personal computers. But software can help you write a good screenplay by reducing the tedium and helping you concentrate on the creative work. To see how, let's look at the overall process of writing in general. For this article I will break it down into these areas: invention, organization, composition and formatting, and revision.
Dramatic theorist Lajos Egri said that every good story should start with a premise. And even with a premise, you still need a concept or story idea that will demonstrate that premise. A working writer in Hollywood may be hired later in the process, and asked to flesh out somebody else's premise or story concept. But for now let's concentrate on creating original spec screenplays.
My personal preference for brainstorming new ideas is to write an outline (as defined in the traditional sense). This gives you the freedom to jot down ideas in a rapid, stream-of-consciousness manner because the software lets you leave all the sorting and categorizing until later. Standalone outlining software was big for a while, and I have used DOS-based products like PC-Outline and Grandview (my current favorite). However, such programs have been pushed out of the market as outlining abilities have been added to other types of software. Virtually all word processors, and many "PIMs" (Personal Information Managers) and other programs now provide outlining of some kind.
Now and then, a product appears that claims to help people with more severe cases of writer's block. A program called The Idea Generator Plus works by stimulating the writer's own imagination with a series of questions. IdeaFisher can take a single word, look into its database of associations, and come back with words, things, actions, or ideas that relate to that word. Plots Unlimited uses a different type of database; the writer provides little more than a few central character types, and the program suggests a series of individual scenes or plot points that supposedly work together to form a storyline.
In my opinion, no software can possibly replace a writer's own ability to invent characters, relationships, settings, or dramatic conflicts. I find IdeaFisher intriguing because it starts with your input, and can suggest associations you might not think of on your own. But the process is a lot like using a thesaurus. Having a whole page full of synonyms in front of you is useless if you aren't equipped to select the most appropriate one. The bottom line for now is: do not expect software to invent good stories. That's your job.
Organization has two aspects. One is taking all the little notes, ideas, news clippings, or other tidbits you accumulate, and sorting them out for easy reference. The other aspect is more crucial: the placement and ordering of beats, plot points, act breaks, climaxes, etc. A computer with the right software can be very helpful in both areas.
This is another application for which an outlining program is very useful, but there are other tools available more specific to screenwriting. "In the old days" many writers would break out the index cards, write a scene heading on each, and shuffle them around until the storyline made sense. There is something visual about a storyline that makes this approach appealing, but it's somewhat labor-intensive. A Mac-based program, Corkboard [now known as Three-by-Five], is designed to do this onscreen with a lot less trouble.
A somewhat similar function is available as an accessory to a DOS screenwriting program called ScriptThing. Being text-based, it is not as graphically appealing, but it is functional, and has the advantage of being tied directly to the screenplay itself. Another screenwriting program, Scriptware, has a "scene-shuffling" ability that is also similar in concept, with the same advantage of being linked to the script itself.
All these tools are great if you have your plot points pretty well in hand. But what if you don't? Most readers are probably aware that there are different schools of thought about plot structure, often propounded in well-known textbooks or seminar programs. Syd Field and others suggest a three-act structure which is further divided in a relatively strict count-the-pages plotline. John Truby sees a pattern in successful screenplays that he breaks down into 22 separate steps. Robert McKee and others have even more variations on the story structure process.
Some of these theories about plotting have been incorporated into software. John Truby's program, for example, is based on the approach taught in his classes. Collaborator is based generally on a three-act approach and Aristotelian principles. Recently upgraded, Collaborator has been around a long time, and interfaces directly with popular screenplay formatting programs. It continues to be very thorough -- even including questions about the target market for the finished film. Future articles will explore other new products and developments in this area.
[Note: Dramatica, a product from Screenplay Systems, takes a highly non-traditional approach to story and character development. Among writers and educators it seems to have both fans and detractors. However, it was not available when this article first appeared, and was still under evaluation at the time this website was developed.]
Most readers are familiar with the layout of a movie screenplay page. The many rules and conventions for margins, spacing, and pagination can be a potential distraction when one is just trying to get ideas recorded quickly. The first word processors offered only slight relief, which gave rise to a product called Scriptor. Its only job was to format and paginate a script after it had been written, and it was perhaps the first commercial software product aimed at screenwriters.
Then along came a quirky but handy program called MovieMaster, which had the advantage of formatting a screenplay as you wrote it. Its lack of any real word processing tools encouraged several companies to develop sophisticated packages of macro commands to use within well-known word processors. With them, WordPerfect or Microsoft Word could work reasonably well for screenwriting.
None of these solutions was perfect, which led to other specialized screenwriting programs. Scriptware improved on many aspects of MovieMaster, but demanded a lot of memory and disk space. More recently, the whimsically-named ScriptThing appeared. A unique aspect of ScriptThing was its ability to create scripts that could be "programmed" and then "played back" in non-linear fashion. This made it well-suited for writing interactive programs, which allow users to control the flow of the finished program.
Meanwhile, word processors continued to evolve, allowing the creation of even more powerful tools with macros. Any technically-inclined writer could put together a few macros to make screenwriting easier with any advanced word processor. But the time and effort involved are excessive, which has opened up a market for new commercially-developed macro packages. Notable examples are ScriptWright and ScriptWizard, both of which use Microsoft Word for Windows.
One might almost divide screenwriting into two separate fields. One is the writing of original screenplays on speculation, and the other is the revising and rewriting of screenplays that are in development or production. For the latter, all the specialized packages described here have various mechanisms for tracking revisions, deletions and additions through multiple drafts. Since some production entities may impose their own formatting guidelines, writers may have to check the abilities of any given product to ensure that it can meet specific needs.
Since virtually all these programs have spelling checkers, there really is no excuse for blatant spelling mistakes or typos. Programs like Grammatik (included with WordPerfect) can even flag commonly misused homonyms ("their, there, or they're?") and explain the correct usage for each. An online thesaurus can be very handy; some writers consider them to be essential. The DOS version of the Random House Webster's Electronic Dictionary and Thesaurus is well-made and more complete than most diskette-based programs of its kind.
Another obscure goodie is WordPerfect Rhymer. Now that it is included in the "Perfect Office" software suite, it may become better known. Primarily a rhyming dictionary like a poet would use, it has other features that might help locate just the right word in certain situations.
[Note: WordPerfect and some of its companion products were purchased by Corel since this article was written; the packaging, pricing and availability may have changed.]
CD-ROMs are now being used to deliver many potentially valuable reference works -- encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, bible concordances, great literature -- not to mention film and television databases. But sorting through the many competing products can be mind-numbing. This is an important area that will be examined in future reviews.
I use the heading "conclusions" facetiously. The world of technology is moving so fast that new things begin before the "old" things are finished; there really are no "conclusions." Such impermanence may seem scary, but I believe that the skills of the screenwriter will always be in demand, and that the only adaptations we will have to make will be in the way our messages are delivered. Consider that we are still using many of the same dramatic principles used by the ancient Greeks. Drama and comedy have remained popular for all these millennia, while fortunes were made and lost, empires rose and fell, and new planets were discovered and explored. Change never stops, and neither does the human appetite for a good story. Focus on that, and watch future this space for reports on tools to help you create those stories!
[Reminder: this article appeared in early 1996, and of course is partially outdated already. But the main thrust is still valid. Check other reviews on this website from time to time for news of updated and newly-released products.]
