Final Draft Version 7 Academic Win/Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a writer, here's my story. I bought Final Draft mainly because I felt I needed to upgrade from Microsoft Works or get left behind. Well, I've worked with Final Draft for a while, and to be honest I do not think it was worth the $150.00 dollars + postage. It's very hard to format scripts, especially ones that had been saved in other formats - it adds all these extra spaces and it's terribly time consuming to remove them. Also, it sometimes adds in a character heading when one isn't needed and it's very difficult to get rid of those showing up all the time.
I cannot figure out how to use the Tagger part at all. The most disappointing part for me was that it DOES NOT read the scripts back - it does however save your script in a new format that you cannot add to. And finally my last complaint is that the disk explaining how to use it is NOT INCLUDED and sells for $30.00 extra bucks. Now, maybe it's just my computer - it's an Everex with Microsoft Windows XP that's not even a year old. Maybe it's just my bad luck.

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Use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling word processor specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. It combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one self-contained, easy-to-use package. There is no need to learn about script formatting rules - Final Draft automatically paginates and formats your script to industry standards as you write. Final Draft 7 combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one all-purpose screenwriting tool. Use your creative energy to create the story that burns inside you. Final Draft handles the technical details - all you have to supply is the heart. Format Assistant checks for and fixes common errors - missing dialogue, extra spaces, blank elements etc. Break down your Final Draft scripts to their fundamental components and export them with the Tagger tool No more retyping your scripts over and over -- export them to PDF format and share them with anyone Built-in Script Registry - online WGAw registry service helps you protect your scripts Import/Export from any word processor New Index Card functions new stand-alone application that enables you to ?tag? elements of a script [cast, costumes, props, etc.] and export the results into any movie scheduling software. Created with the help of veteran assistant directors, producers and unit production managers, Tagger means no more going over a paper script again and again with highlighters. Over 2 Dozen new templates Customizable Reports Format Assistant Improved Final Draft Courier Font

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Montage (Mac) Review

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(More customer reviews)The main advantage I see of using Montage over other software packages I've looked at is its simplicity and ease of use, focused on the writer. It opens quickly, has an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn interface, and at the same time has nearly all the features you'd actually need or use from more complicated and expensive programs.
You can set up several different screenwriting templates, depending on what kind of thing you're writing - various BBC genres, the standard American screenplay formats, comic book dialogue, television and musicals. You can have the various elements of the screenplay color coded or not, and can create your own template.
It's easy to shift between various views, such as the overall script view, the title page, or a scene or outline view; and there are templates for fleshing out information on characters and locations, or for various research notes. There is a place to outline tasks, contacts, queries, for writing up a synopsis. These various views are integrated, such that if you change the name of a character on the character view, the name will change throughout the script. These are all searchable via user identifiable key words. You can add annotations or notes to specific bits of the script, which would be very helpful during the revision process.
While the window for Montage is a standard Mac-style window, you can easily enter and exit a full screen view for a focus on your script that completely eliminates the distraction of seeing your other apps. The program as a whole is strictly focused on writers - while you can attach pictures for the characters and locations, there's nothing here that supports storyboarding and the like.
Some features don't work as intuitively as I'd like. For example, in the "Research" view you can add various topics with notes for each, but you can't tab from the name of the topic to get to the notes field - you have to actually mouse click into the notes field to make it active. I understand that a new edition of Montage is forthcoming, so it may be worth waiting. As it is, this is a simple and streamlined, no-frills alternative to some of the overpriced screenwriting programs out there. I like it because it puts the focus on writing - and makes it easy to avoid distraction from the main task of screenwriting which is using your imagination and hard work to create characters and a compelling story.

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