Final Draft

Best collaborative writing

Opmerkingen: I have used Final Draft as a student and then on some companies where I worked. On my new job this is the software we use for every script and I find it so comfortable and easy to use and to send the new versions. Is great to collaborate specially when developing tv scripts, I like the option to track the changes and the beat cards.

Pluspunten:

Final Draft is the best option when you are a professional writer. Even there are other softwares Final Draft is the one if you are working on the film or tv industry as most proffesionals and producers tend to use this one. The new version is great and the options to write along a colleague and see changes on real time is what I love the most.

Minpunten:

I think is a little expensive for the ones that are just starting. Is not that much intuitive you need to learn trough the practice, but anyways there are plenty of tutorials on their site

Essential Software

Opmerkingen: I’ve had a good time using it as I sold a script. Wouldn’t have been possible without it.

Pluspunten:

Absolutely essential for screenwriting. So once I made the leap and spent the money ($200) it was incredibly easy to write my script. The one time I needed support it was personal and solved my problem

Minpunten:

Just a bit of a learning curve with not much instruction. You have to kind of intuitively figure it out

Final Draft is the loaded with features for scriptwriting and for moving into production

Opmerkingen: Final Draft is the industry standard for a reason. No plans to change now.

Pluspunten:

Final Draft does all of the things it claims to do. It makes screenwriting easy and relatively automatic, once you learn the interface and keyboard shortcuts. It is very deep with tools to help creativity (beat boards, etc), formatting (formatting checkups before printing are a great last-step tool), and organization. Versioning is a must in screenwriting, and FD has a decent scheme for that. The ability to use the Navigator to search by character, scene, and notes is killer. And the REPORTS section is wonderful, with breakdowns by character, dialogue, scenes, etc.

Minpunten:

Volume licensing can be a little cumbersome. FD uses a "customer number" system with annual renewals that, for us, at least, have often come at odd times and with a bit of a process if someone is moving from one computer to another, or moving a license from one user to another.

The biggest brand, but not the greatest value

Opmerkingen: I loved what I accomplished with it. Seeing the scripts and really getting a knack for the craft that brought them to life. I was unfortunately rubbed the wrong way by the way my script fell apart and being told the only way to save my work was to buy the incredibly expensive, new version of the software. This led me to a much more cost-effective alternative that I have been incredibly happy with since.

Pluspunten:

There was an incredible thrill seeing a software that easily and smoothly formatted my words into industry standard screenplays -- ESPECIALLY after having done it for quite some time manually in a more commonly used word processor. The ease of use and the quality of the final document was a true thrill when I was beginning my career.

Minpunten:

The list is long. Numerous features never worked for reasons that as far as I can tell were due to the compatibility of different software versions. While that might sound reasonable, the updates were frequent and always cost substantial amounts of money (for just an update!). This led to several collaborators having a different version of Final Draft that couldn't communicate with each other. While I understand the need for updates, I do not understand the frequency and the fact that it would knock out certain features such as the writer collaborating feature (which can now be easily replicated with online websites). I also reached a point where my software was working fine, but told that I needed to update it in order to work with my new computer. I went along with this, yet the update completely crashed my software, leading me to find alternative options.

Final Draft

Pluspunten:

I love this software. I feel like a expert at it since I use it everyday. It’s industry standard and is easy to use. From beat boards to revision mode, this software has endless uses.

Minpunten:

Sometimes when working with the program, leaving revision mode, or dual dialogue, the program freezes and I have to shut it down. I make sure to save and save often, because the software though great, sometimes feels like it forgets it’s build to do what I’m asking it to do.