| When you are embarking on your journey to | | | | theater, machinima, comics, advertising, video |
| take your movie idea and put them onto the | | | | games, music video, radio, podcasts, videocasts, |
| page. It helps to use top-notch script writing | | | | and however else you choose to tell your story. |
| programs. This article will explore the top five | | | | Unlike scriptwriting software and sites, you can |
| best scriptwriting programs used in the movie | | | | use Celtx for the entire pre-production process |
| industry today | | | | – write scripts, storyboard scenes and |
| 5. Montage (Mac users only) | | | | sequences, develop characters, breakdown & |
| The only screenwriting software exclusively | | | | tag elements, schedule production, and prepare |
| developed for Mac OS X. Melding the theory that | | | | detailed and informative production reports for |
| a simple user interface, combined with powerful | | | | cast and crew. |
| and intuitive features, provide the best writing | | | | Retail Price: free. An indie filmmaker’s |
| experience, Montage makes it easy to create, | | | | favourite word. |
| edit, and manage screenplays on your Macintosh. | | | | 2. Final Draft |
| From the ability to import and export Final Draft | | | | This screenwriting software is excellent for writing |
| documents, to using custom, pre-formatted | | | | and formatting a screenplay to meet the |
| templates for film, TV, and theater, Montage | | | | screenplay submission standards set by the |
| guides both the first time screenwriter or the | | | | theater and film industry. It is the only preferred |
| seasoned veteran, from start to finish. | | | | screenwriting software using WGAW Registry for |
| Retail Price: $139.95 U.S. | | | | online submission. |
| 4. Scenewriter Pro | | | | The current version, Final Draft 7, contains over |
| SceneWriter Pro is totally different in that you | | | | 50 movie and television templates. It also offers |
| don’t have to worry about pages or | | | | the feature of allowing users to assign computer |
| writing in a linear fashion from start to finish, you | | | | generated voices to their characters, who then |
| write on a scene-by-scene basis and you may | | | | read the script aloud. How cool is that! |
| write in any order you wish! | | | | Retail Price: $229.00 U.S. |
| However, SceneWriter Pro formats your script to | | | | |
| Hollywood Industry Standards, but that’s | | | | 1. Movie Magic Screenwriter |
| only a small fraction of the benefits that writing | | | | Used to format screenplays, teleplays and novels. |
| your script in SceneWriter Pro offers. | | | | Magic Screenwriter is the grand daddy of them all. |
| From outlining, character development, location | | | | It’s the official script writing software of |
| lists, project notes and of courseindustry standard | | | | the Writer’s Guild of America and has |
| formatting, SceneWriter Pro’s non-linear, | | | | been used by writers of the following movies: |
| scene-by-scene approach to writing will make | | | | Pirates of the Caribbean, Crash, Babel and many |
| writing that multi-million dollar blockbuster a piece | | | | more. The newest version has an outlining ability |
| of cake. | | | | that really helps you organize your scenes. |
| Retail Price: $99.00 U.S. | | | | Retail Price: $209.95 U.S. |
| | | | If you are serious about making screenwriting |
| 3. Celtx | | | | your profession, Movie Magic Screenwriter or Final |
| This program is ideal for you writer/director | | | | Draft would be a wise investment. |
| producers. Celtx helps you pre-produce all types | | | | Also keep in mind that a few of these programs |
| of media – film, video, documentary, | | | | offer free demo trials of their software. |