Note about the message forum

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The Ongoing Scriptwriting Program Debate

An Anonymous Reader poses the question:

Okay,

In the heart of entertainment ,HOLLYWOOD, what percentage is using final draft and what percentage is using Movie Magic?

My gut feeling is that more are using Final Draft BUT that could be a personal bias against MM. Way back in the old days of stone tablets (ok, maybe not that long ago but close) I had a crummy experience with the original company that made (still makes??) Movie Magic. I wasn't even using the screenwriting program so admittedly, my bias is completely illogical and unfair but there you go.

I have installed a new message forum so please weigh in on the continuing scriptwriting program debates!

More on Movie Magic

Deanne, a writer in Cincy, wrote to say "I use Movie Magic, and you can save scripts as PDF by going to "PRINT" and then choosing "Print to PDF".

Please take note all you writers out there who use Movie Magic for when you send your script out into the world to be read. It's much easier to read in PDF and will help your chances of getting a fair reading immensely.

Thanks for the info, Deanne!

Is Your New Year's Resolution to Sell Your Script???

New Years is a great time to renew your resolve to sell your script. Here’s a couple of tips to keep you from getting taken to the cleaners on the way to the red carpet:

Requiring money up front – SCAM
If ANYONE tells you they are interested in your script but they need you to pay ANY kind of fee up front to represent you or your project, run to the nearest exit. The most common one I’ve heard of is when an agent or manager requires you get your script covered by a “certified reader” for a fee. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never heard of such a thing as a “certified reader”.

It’s not unusual or out of line for an agent or manager to ask you to give a synopsis of your script before they’ll consider your material. They may even give you a few names as suggestions of readers to use. What a legitimate company WON’T do is refuse to consider a synopsis SOLELY based on the fact that it doesn’t come from a “certified reader”. If they do run, don’t walk, to the nearest exit.

Asking for a free option – NOT A SCAM
It’s perfectly legitimate for a producer to ask for a free option on your script. Just be sure to give them a LIMITED free option – 6 months is a typical amount of time but you may want to make it shorter. For instance, if it’s about the Olympics or a “true” predicted natural disaster, then time might be more of a factor. If they want to keep pitching the script after the option runs out, make them pay some kind of fee.

The producer may also want you to address notes for free. That gets into sticky territory. They are honestly trying to get the script in the best possible shape to sell; you have to decide if their notes really make it better. If so, you’ve just gotten free script notes, be happy. If their notes don’t make any sense, it’s time to consider whether they’re the right people to be involved in your script in the first place. Even if they sell it, will they keep your vision of the story or turn your brilliant take on “Santa Clause V” into a horror movie? Are you willing to go there for mere money? Only you can decide....

Follow Up on Screenwriting Program Question

This in from Cynthia, a reader:

"I've always preferred Movie Magic Screenwriter myself, but I used to run an annual screenwriting contest and by far the most entries were in Final Draft format. We even got more in Word format than Movie Magic.

Kind of gave me the impression that Final Draft has become industry standard.

Anyone else have an opinion on that?"

I have to say that after judging several contests, I'd have to agree with Cynthia. Most of what I read is saved as a PDF, which is the easiest way for anyone else to read your material and yet keep it safe. If it's submitted in the scriptwriting program, most of them are in Final Draft. Maybe 5 out of every 100 are in Movie Magic Screenwriter.

The question is, does that mean that Final Draft won't let you save/print your script as a PDF? Will Movie Magic?

As a reader, my advice is that whichever program you use, send your script out as a PDF. It protects your work as much as possible and is universally the easiest way to read them. FYI, Movie Magic is a pain in the neck to read on screen. It's hard to zoom, it's harder to navigate through the pages, it's just plain impossible to get it to look good on screen. Or perhaps it just doesn't like my Mac. Since my advice is to ALWAYS make reading your script as easy as possible even if it's just for the person you're paying to proofread it, I would never recommend sending it out in the Movie Magic format. Investigate it further, surely there must be a way of sendig out a Movie Magic script as a PDF??

What Screenplay Program Do You Prefer??

I was at a Catholics in Entertainment meeting the other night where a writer asked the guest speaker, Barbara Gangi from Paulist Prods., the all important question, "does formatting make a difference?" It seemed he'd written a script and had been told it needed to be formatted correctly, with scene breaks, day parts, etc. He couldn't understand how that could make a difference, couldn't they see past that? I squelched the urge to groan and was grateful when Barbara confirmed what I've been saying all along - format matters. She put it much more nicely than I would have, suggesting that if given a script that looks neat and professional vs. one that's all in caps, wrong margins, etc., she's going to read the more professional looking one first. From my POV, I've read some crappy scripts that looked perfect but I've never read a great script that looked crappy.

The point was brought up that script writing programs are easy to use and not that expensive. It got me thinking - what do writers at large prefer? So take a moment to vote in my poll (see the sidebar). If you want to go further and share some reasons why you like (or dislike) certain programs, go to my new chat room and elaborate a bit.

Can't wait to see the results!!

Seriously? Supers are NOT that super

Can someone please explain to me why so many writers today feel compelled to start their scripts with supers to set up their story? And why they feel it necessary or even a good idea to specifiy that it's written over black. As if that makes this lame cop out dramatic somehow. Yes, it worked in Star Wars, for example, as a way to give you all the back story. But they did it in a cool way with the scrolling thing and then jumped right into the action.

Maybe I'll give you that in some stories you need to let the audience know right away the politics, relationships or social situation and a super is the most expedient way to do it. However, far too often I'm reading supers that are ridiculously unnecessary - quotes from poets, for instance. Or setting the date. People come to movies to watch the action unfold, not read it! If your script is set in the future and the only way people are going to know that is from the date supered on screen before hand, you are in big trouble already.