When I first got interested in writing a screenplay the biggest challenge I thought I would have
is learning how to format the script. Well it may not have been my biggest challenge afterall,
but it sure was a big pain in the you know what!
The first time I tried to format a script I realized immediately how big an undertaking it was going to be.
So I tried to find a free program that could format it for me. What I found was a program called
Celtx.
Yes it's free and for some people it may be what they're looking for, but it didn't really do what I needed it to do.
So since I had no money and couldn't afford expensive formatting software I figured I would have to manually
format my script. It only took a day of cursing at my computer to realize this was not a viable option for me -
the hassle was just not worth it. The indentation for each part of a screenplay has to be perfect and doing this
manually I estimate would take five times longer than writing the actual screenplay!
Since I was trying to meet a deadline and had to finish formatting my script in 2 days I was desperate to
find a solution.
My answer came when I found a FREE full working 5 day demo of Movie Magic Screenwriter.Click here to download it.
I tried the free download and it worked exactly as described - no problems with the software at all.
You can see a video that shows you how to use the program
here - but I have to say it's a very intuitive program!
The only thing I had to look up in
help was how to create day/night in the slugline. And it was easy to learn, you just right click
with your mouse at the end of the slugline and then you just use a shortcut key CNTRL + D for Day and CNTRL + N for Night!
The software costs $200 (do shop around for discounts!)
Essentially the free trial gives you enough time to format a previously completed script. Make
sure you're done editing your script fully first so you don't waste time rewriting during your free trial!
So now let me tell you what this software does and does not do:
You can:
* Copy and paste your script into it and it will format it - make sure to UNCHECK the box that says aggressive as it will
edit out words you want to keep in your script!
* It can save your script into various formats - txt, pdf, html, etc.
* The PDF save function has TONS of options to save different elements of your screenplay
such as:
sluglines
dialogue for each character
* It can tell you some statistics on your script such as:
how long your average dialogue "speeches" are - you should aim for under 3 lines per "speech"
how many times your characters speak
The only drawback I could find with the program is sometimes it doesn't properly recognize
what the text is - ex. is it a character speaking or is an action and so you have to go back
and manual format the parts it couldn't recognize. It'll take you an hour or two to do this but
it's really nothing to whine about.
The free trial basically enables you to properly format your script so you can sell it and THEN afford to buy the program!
So if you can't afford to buy this program my suggestion is that you perfect your script(s)
then download the program, copy and paste your script into it, fix whatever it didn't format
correctly then save your file into all the different formats.
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