Sophocles 2007 Beta vs. Final Draft 7 vs. Celtx vs. Movie Magic Screenwriter 6

As far as I can surmise, there are roughly four worthy screenwriting applications out there: Sophocles 2007 (which is currently in beta, but works quite well), Final Draft 7, Celtx, and Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 (as yet unreleased).

There are other alternatives whose niche is simply being less fully featured, harder to use, and cheaper. Hollywood Screenwriter comes to mind. Many of those OTHER programs are merely template programs--which means that they are addons to Microsoft Word, adding additional screenwriter-relevant functions. I've tried them, they blow.

If you're looking for the best cheap/free screenwriting application, you can do no better than Celtx. It's not perfect (by any means), but it looks good, and is mostly intuitive to use for writing. It formats things correctly and is a great buy at $0. It's just so hard these days to beat free.

However, Celtx is missing some of the features of pay programs. It doesn't have a page view; For those of you like me who like to see what you're writing as it would look in the context of a page, it's a feature you'd miss. It doesn't have any virtual index card functionality, and it doesn't include any sort of outliner. It's basically just a barebones screenwriting program that formats things correctly, prints, outputs in PDF, and offers an online backup feature. But, like I said, it's hard to beat free, especially when free works so well in this case.


Final Draft has, for many years, been the mack daddy of screenwriting applications. It is, without a doubt, the industry standard. However, its reign may be close to over. When a free application is available that works so well and looks so good (Celtx), and the competing pay applications are upping the ante by offering far better customer service and applications which offer more features in a better looking package, you know Final Draft is in trouble. For years it's proprietary format helped it keep its stranglehold on Hollywood production houses; but then along comes PDF. PDF was a feature that Final Draft couldn't afford to not include. Yet the inclusion of PDF export in Final Draft opened up the way for the industry to standardize on a different format other than FDR. PDF can be opened anywhere, whereas FDR requires Final Draft or, at bare minimum, the Final Draft Viewer application. True, PDF's aren't really editable. But the industry may be finding that it's cheaper and easier to just print out a PDF, make your notes in red on the margins of the script, and messenger it back to the writer (or whomever). Regardless, PDF has weakened the reign of Final Draft and their file format: FDR. Another key weakness of Final Draft is that their PDF file sizes are ridiculously huge. Could this have been an effort on their part to include a high-demand feature, while making it unattractive to use? Perhaps. Maybe I'm being paranoid.

More than anything, what will bring Final Draft down is its growing reputation for horrible customer service; horrible customer service that has the gall to charge for poor service--after users have already paid a hefty chunk of change or a glorified word processor. Final Draft no longer innovates. They're leaving the innovations to other applications like Celtx, Sophocles, and Movie Magic. They still haven't released a version of Final Draft which is fully compatible with Vista. Instead, their solution is to put up a lengthy intimidating page of solutions to common Vista problems. How professional. I hate it when developers are so far behind the times. A major windows release, and months later they still haven't done anything significant about making their application 100% compatible. Final Draft 7 was also notorious for its plethora of bugs and weird behaviors. Visually, it's unremarkable. Its look is simplistic, though that seems to be more than skin deep. The application just doesn't seem like it offers much beyond what Celtx offers--and Celtx is FREE. Yes, I'm not arguing that it doesn't have features beyond what Celtx offers, but I am arguing that the features it does have don't justify how unresponsive the company is to bugs and needed application improvements or the $200+ price difference. Most of the additional features of Final Draft aren't useful enough to be worth paying for. Final Draft's virtual index card feature is merely okay--but not nearly at the level I'd like to see. The closer an application gets to the functionality of a program called Mindola SuperNotecard, the better. In comparison to the SuperNotecard implementation though, Final Draft falls far short.

I keep trying Final Draft, thinking that maybe my memory of it doesn't do it justice, but moments later--after trying it again--I realize that my memory was accurate, and I just don't like the program. Final Draft 6 was good, but Final Draft 7 was too little too late. Final Draft 8 will have to walk on water to keep Final Draft in the game.

SOPHOCLES 2007 is a great complex program. I've been playing with the beta for a while and have been pretty impressed. Writing three shorts in it went well. There were no crashes or other unexpected behaviors. If Sophocles can be criticized for anything it is that it looks very complex. There's TONS of functionality, and it's hard to figure out how to use it all effectively. For instance, just the main screen displays the standard word processing menus (File, Edit, View, Insert...), the standard icon menus representing common commands (new document, open document, save, cut, paste...), and then the screen below that main menu is split. Both sides have tabs. The left side's tabs are scenes, characters, locations, threads, resources. On the right the tabs are: script, step, chrono, schedule, chart, relationships. There's oodles of outlining functionality, even if there isn't really a virtual index card functionality. Each side has another submenu below the tabs.

It can be a little overwhelming when you first look at it. The default view has the script on one side with the scenes/sequences/acts list on the other side. Both sides are resizeable.

Sophocles is obviously a program designed with modern computers in mind. It looks equally good on my laptop screen as well as my external monitor. The icons are well designed. They're a little on the small side, but that's appealing to me. I like it when my writing program stays out of the way as much as possible. Final Draft's icons are far to big. They take up space that could be better used to display more of the page I'm working on.

All in all, I guess I don't have many complaints about Sophocles 2007. I might suggest paring down the default view--not losing any functionality, but moving it off the main screen so that it's not as intimidating and overwhelming and cluttery. Also, maybe include a tutorial showing how all the additional functionality can make my life as a writer easier. Show me how to effectively use Relations/Charts/Schedule/Threads/etc. Make sure that every feature you put into the program is thoroughly fleshed out and works flawlessly. I'd rather have less features which work perfectly (and are useful) than tons of features which only work okay (and aren't tremendously useful).

I guess Sophocles just takes some time to get use to. It takes a while to figure out what everything does and how to use it effectively. Don't get me wrong; you can simply start writing after you open the application. That part, at least, is very intuitive and obvious. It's just everything else that Sophocles offers that could take a while to learn how to add to your repertoire as a writer. I've enjoyed using Sophocles, and these days find myself debating buying it when it leaves Beta or simply making do with Celtx.

Another application which intrigues me, which I haven't had the opportunity to try is Movie Magic Screenwriter 6. I tried Screenwriter 2000 a long time ago and wasn't impressed, but recent screenshots of this newest version look far more promising. Also, the feature list versus Final Draft is impressive. I hope to try version 6 in the next month or two. If I like it I'll write up a little review of it.

For now, Sophocles 2007 and Celtx are my two favorite screenwriting applications.

Another application which has been useful to me in writing is SuperNotecard (by Mindola software). I'm not affiliated with any of these companies. These are just my insights as a writer. My approach to software as a writer is that it should be so easy to use, and so darn helpful that I don't even realize how powerful it is and how much I'm in love with it until I'm dreaming at night and my wet dreams aren't of women, they're of my software.

IN SHORT...

Final Draft 7: Expensive, simplistic, poor reputation, not innovative, mostly words, some troubling bugs in the past. C- (not a good grade for a program costing $200+)

Sophocles 2007: Expensive, tons of features, solid program, writing is intuitive, innovative, looks good. B- (because it's not completely refined for a $200+ program)

Celtx: Cheap/free, works great for writing (very intuitive)--but otherwise limited feature set, looks good, haven't encountered any problems. B+ (I'd like it to have a few more tools for writers: an outliner, virtual index cards, reports, etc.)

Movie Magic Screenwriter 6: great feature set, hopefully it looks a LOT better than Screenwriter 2000. I'll review it if/when I have the chance.

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What're they up to this week?

I've decided to spec Two and a Half Men. Not because I think I'll do it justice, but simply because I want to. At least I'll have fun shoveling shit--assuming that's all that comes out of the exercise. Obviously I'm not setting out to create crap, but, at this point, I have no illusions about being any kind of adult prodigy (if there is such a thing).


As I'm thinking about what I want my spec to be about, it occurs to me that it's a lot harder to write in the framework of characters lives but still be fresh, funny, and interesting week to week. Most shows on TV, especially sitcoms, feature characters that never really do anything major, and whom always end up exactly the same at the end of each episode.

There are books which will tell you all about this. I'll boil it down for you: people like to see the same thing week to week because it's like comfort food. Most people like to eat one or two different kinds of ice cream or junk food whenever they're in the mood for it; it's the same way with anything/everything else--TV, movies, books, whatever. People like the same ole. Oh, we all play lip service to the pleasures of "variety" but ultimately it isn't variety (for the most part) that makes us happy.

There's an additional component that makes sitcom rely heavily on characters rarely, if at all, changing. In life we're all basically the same year to year, day by day. It's frustrating to always forget where the hell you put your keys, but no matter how hard you try, most of the ways you are become set in concrete after a certain time. If you ever do change it is very slowly, and only by working very hard at it. TV, more than most story mediums reflects this aspect of reality. Think about it: did Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, or Pheobe really change that much over many years that Friends was on the air? Not really. Not at all. They were essentially the same people at the end as they were in the beginning. Yet we stayed with them for ten years, breathlessly anticipating each weeks adventures in the land of Friends.

Two and a Half Men is no exception--or at least it shouldn't be. Alan, Jake, and Charlie really haven't changed much if any. Jake is only growing up physically, not really internally.

Keeping all this in mind, it becomes apparent why so many of the Friends episodes were entitled simply "The One Where Ross Likes Bananas" (or whatever). Since your characters cannot change that much, or effectively at all, in the course of an episode, your story must really be about nothing major. Or, if it's a major subject, it must be handled in a minor way. If someone's died, you have to make it no more important than Alan taking up bowling to meet chicks. You can't have anyone (at least in the core cast) coming to any really big life realizations. The fact that Two and a Half Men is already starting to head this direction (in the finale of the 4th season) gives me the impression that the show may be near the end of it's lifespan. Perhaps the showrunners are tired of the show, running out of steam, or some such.

Regardless, for the purposes of my spec, I have to come up with something minor which I can make a big deal about but which won't change any character's life, or something major which I can make light up and avoid changing a character's life.

I have to put myself in my characters POV, drop into their lives, and voyeuristically get a peak at what they're up to this week; something trite, meaningless, irrelevant overall...like a new pet or a hygiene problem.

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Me

Me.

I, too, don't want to write today

For the inspiration behind my post, look over here.



I, too, often don't feel like writing; it's not--as the author of that other blog post mentions--something that I can't live without. I'm another person who wants to write, who adores having written, who thinks about writing and ideas and character more than I think of anything else, and I've even written some significant things (five feature screenplays, three shorts, 10k words of a novel...); but I am still not a person who can't imagine a day without writing. Like the guy at Indecorous, I struggle, daily, with writing. For me it's hard. I believe I'm talented, and I believe I can write some pretty entertaining stuff, but that doesn't make it any easier for me.



Writing is what I want to do though. For no apparent reason it's the only thing that really appeals to me. Is this because I'm masochistic--maybe just a little bit? Is this because it is my "calling" which I'm expected to excavate and develop one tedious step at a time? I don't know. All I know is that of all my talents and skills (I programmed for a while and was considered "brilliant" at it, I can sing, I can play the violin and guitar, and so on) writing is the one that has never gone away. I'm 29 now, so it's had more than enough opportunities.



I'm also at the point in life where I feel like I should be doing something "real." I feel like I should be buckling down and maybe getting a college degree. It's a thought. But then I remember that I've tried college once...no, twice. Or was it three times? Yeaaaah, I think it was. Scratch that idea. Whenever I try to bring myself to do anything else, I feel a sense of nausea. In addition to the overwhelming urge to hurl, I also procrastinate the other things I try to bring myself to do. Procrastination by itself isn't a sign I shouldn't be doing X, I suppose, since I also procrastinate writing, but with everything else when I honestly think about how I feel about it, I feel bored. Lifeless. Dead. The prospective of doing anything else bores me to tears and makes me feel sick.



Life, for me, most involve writing in some capacity. That much is obvious. Am I abnormal in that writing is hard for me, but it's what I want to do? Or is that far more normal than those who claim to enjoy every moment writing?



I've decided that my "problem" is one of lack of focus. While it runs counter to my nature to focus on one thing entirely, I think it just might be what I need to begin realizing my potential. Oh, there are books which suggest that YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING (!) you want to do (e.g., Refuse to Choose). I think such books are bullshit. Why? Because one looks at what we know about those who achieve, one finds that they did it by focusing almost exclusively on ONE area of interest.



More relevantly, I've tried balancing all my plethora of interests. I've tried cultivating my drawing skills, tried studying Spanish, tried practicing music every day, tried learning to program in other languages, tried learning to be a medical transcriptionist; none of my trying did me an ounce of good.



Next I'm going to try focusing. I'm going to be hardcore about it, too. I'm going to restrict 95% of my online blog reading to those blogs which focus on writing--and, more particularly, TV writing since that's what I want to do. I'm going to forgive myself for not tapping my potential in other areas. This will be harder than it sounds. My parents have always given me a very hard time (withholding financial assistance in times of need) for not "finishing anything." This approach will give them more ammunition for the next time I need their help. Hopefully I'll never need their help again. When I was down and out after my divorce, broke, and in shock after being "diagnosed" with Bipolar II (even though that diagnosis later proved to be completely bogus), they took me in and paid for me to take an online course in medical transcription. Medical transcription pays decent, and it was a nice thing of them to do, but I hated the course. It was 100% memorization. Then, once you finish the memorization part, you get into the transcription part which suddenly expects you to have a working knowledge of terms and be able to distinguish one from another in a string of gobbledygook spoken by a doctor with an impenetrable Indian accent.



They probably won't see it this way, but paying for that course was worthwhile. Yes, it didn't give me the "skill" they were hoping it would, but it helped me to regain my footing. It's nice knowing others believe in you, support you, and are willing to put their money where their mouth is.



I'm gonna forgive myself for wasting their gift; and I'm gonna forgive myself for not learning and doing everything else I wanted to. I'm going to wrap up the few projects I agreed to do which are in other categories of interest (like the one for my sister programming a website for her). Once those projects are wrapped up, I'm simply not going to accept any more projects like them. It's not fair to myself to burden myself with all kinds of other crap which I don't, really, ultimately, want to do. If it doesn't fit with my core driving motativation (writing) then I won't do it.



Becoming a professional writer is difficult enough without diluting my time, energy, and focus on other things which are demanding all by themselves.



Maybe if I am successful in focusing my life--in making my life all about writing--then maybe I'll discover one morning that I actually can't wait to write, and can't imagine a day without writing.



Or I won't; either way I'll still end up one hell of a writer.

Perhaps the best fit is TV

I can write "long form"--though putting fiction or non-fiction in such a context bores me to death--I just don't like to.



I don't enjoy just how steeped in all the details a writer has to be when crafting novels or anything over 60 pages single spaced. When I realized that, and added into the equation my love of movies, it was obvious that screenwriting was a far better fit for me.



However, as I've written screenplays, I've found myself unhappy with some of the specifics of feature screenwriting. While it demands a much greater brevity--which I like--and is far more visual--yet another good thing--it tends to be a lot of work for a two hour shot of characters I love, in a world I've worked hard to create.



Enter screen left: TV writing. Writing for TV requires the brevity of feature screenwriting, but it allows a writer to spend a LOT more time with the characters he loves, in the world he's worked so hard to create.



The odds of success are no better than they are for any other kind of writing, but odds rarely expose why they are what they are. Like the saying goes, "in Hollywood no one ever fails, they just give up." To me I read that as meaning that if you refuse to accept defeat, you'll eventually succeed. Granted, while I think that you need unrelenting determination to succeed, I also think you need at least one of the following: passion, talent, or skill. Skill is not to be confused with talent. Skill is the ability that some have to create by the book. Those who have skill but no talent lack the nuance and finesse that those with talent supply, but they can get the job done.



So the question now is, what do I have? Do I have passion, unrelenting determination, skill, and/or talent? I don't know right now. I guess we'll discover what I have as the future unfolds.



I remember reading, somewhere, that the whole "life must be balanced" idea is a myth; that everyone who ever accomplished much of anything only did so by NOT being balanced at all. In every case of accomplishment and success, those who have achieved have done so by focusing almost to a fanatical level on their area of interest or expertise. Einstein didn't become Einstein by trying to be a balanced person: learning equal amounts of various subjects and trying to juggle multiple passions and interests. As far as I know, Einstein became Einstein by focusing on his area of interest in science 100%. His focus was all-consuming.



What I've read about those who are successful artistically suggests the same thing. Those who are successful in TV or film don't spend much time playing XBox, or traveling (strictly for fun), or watching tons of TV (unless it's essentially for "work"), or playing sports, or being very well-rounded. Sure, they might play lip-service to the concept, but most of them have become so successful because they fought for their dream with such passion that it excluded the possibility of having the normal American lifestyle (watch TV 8 hours a day, work 8 hours a day, sleep 8 hours a day). They might struggle to have a relatively healthy family life in addition to their work in TV or film. But, somehow, most of them are satisfied. Most seem to feel that what they do is meaningful; that deep down part of themselves that yearns to live a purposeful life is at peace doing what they do.



What that in mind I've tried to become more focused. I've started caring less about being a "balanced" person, and started caring more about being a person completely focused on writing--and, more specifically, TV writing. I'm trying to get to the point where 95% of everything I do online is directly related to writing. Allowable activities are reading other writers on-topic blogs, research, and the like. I'm rereading those screenwriting books I've already read, and reading new ones. I've bought books on the art and craft of TV writing, and am studying them intently. I'm watching TV shows that I really enjoy--because those are the shows that I'll be specing.



I'm trying to cut the fat out of my life and get toned in my approach to doing this: to making a career as a TV writer a reality.



Yesterday I watched and broke down the pilot for Two and a Half Men.



Today I watched the second episode, and then the last episode of the most recent season (the 3rd, which just wrapped up). Today I was looking to see how the tone, characters, and scope of the show had evolved.



Tomorrow I'll look for more clues as to where the show is now, and where it might be heading.



Perhaps the next day I'll have a great idea for a spec and start breaking it down.



If I truly care about doing this, and give it everything I've got then even long odds won't ultimately stop me.



And that is why I've named this blog The Relentless Writer; because I think that being relentless is perhaps the most essential ingredient of success: mine, yours, anyone's.

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A different kind of pirate

Disney's out there giving pirates a good name, making 'em appear all lovable and funny.

Well, I'm here crafting an entirely different tale of pirates, maidens, and really really bad villians. I consider my tale to be a story of loss, love, and redemption.

I've been batting it around for, oh, something like ten years now. At first it was a story about fate pulling together two diametric opposites into a conflict of good versus evil. I didn't want to tell a story about Bruce Willis being awesome and spanking evil yet again. Instead I pitted a vulnerable, naive, pure woman against a monster of a pirate lord. How's that for an apparently losing battle? See, I wanted to tell a tale of how emotional strength, purity, goodness, and fortitude can conquer any kind of physical strength or external show of violence.

What's more, I wanted to make my tale epic through making the conflict bigger than two characters. I wanted them to be mortal, fallible beings sitting in for Gods that couldn't put on mortal form, yet still needed to resolve their differences--in a sense anyway.

However, there's a really fine line between unbelievable coincidence (that my audience won't buy into) and a tale of mythical proportions and execution (which they will). I discovered that the more I thought about it, I was afraid that merely pitting good versus evil seemed shallow. Sure, it's a decent enough idea. But it really lacked a really deep emotional response. I couldn't imagine watching it and really being torn up about what might (or would) happen. I'd give the idea as it stood an 8/10.

Then I considered another possibility, one which I'm afraid has its own flaw. What if my good character and my evil character were friends from childhood who, as they grew, changed into these characters who have a shared past and friendship...but inherent conflict in the present. In some ways it's more poetic, and in others, less. On the one hand, anything nasty that one does to the other will squeeze our hearts all that much more; on the other, the premise may seem all that much more far-fetched. I get the sense that people (myself included) are tired of the "oh, you'll never guess...Bob and Sally, who're so perfect/imperfect for each other, actually know each other from a long time ago. Imagine that!" It gets old. LOST is rapidly reducing the public's tolerance for this type of thing.

But I do love the idea of telling a tale of how two people who apparently loved each other as kids grow into diametric opposites. One bad/emotionally screwed up, and the other good/pure. It's the ultimate character arc--180 degrees.

If I tell that tale, though, then I have a much more emotional movie, at the expense of the epic quality. Hmmm....

It's all I want to do...

All I really want to do is write! I don't want to program solutions to problems which I see the writing world having--or problems of any other sort either. I work at an FBO (a private air terminal) and see numerous ways that software and technology could be useful in increasing efficiency, and avoiding mistakes. While thinking about those solutions is entertaining, I don't actually want to invest years of my life into creating those solutions...even if saying so is equivalent to tearing up a winning lottery ticket.

What I want to do is write. I don't want to spend the time I could've spent writing on dreaming up solutions to what's blocking me. Yet, I also feel blocked--like I haven't found the right tools which I need to keep me from being overwhelmed by details; tools which, I hope, would conform to my thought process.

I suppose I feel like I do best when I focus. I'm not sure I'm that great at straddling widely divergent subjects, investing in both, and reaping appropriate rewards. What ends up happening is that I feel torn, dissatisfied, and paralyzed.

Is one of these a distraction from the other one? Is my "dream" of writing a mere excuse not to face the hardship of doing what I really love (i.e., potentially programming?), or is programming and thinking up solutions to problems an excuse not to write?

To some extent I think I'd have an easier time writing back when there were very limited tools available to the writer--at much greater cost, and inconvenience. Think about the days when the tools of writing had to be virtually handcrafted. Think about the days when you were lucky to have a pen, ink, a paper to write on. The ideas, then, were cheap. It was the tools which were rare. Today, ideas continue to be cheap, but the tools are plentiful. Because of this, writers can spend all their writing time evaluating possible solutions to areas in which their writing is hamstrung.

I've tried whiteboards, my Treo, index cards, virtual index cards (i.e., Mindola SuperNotecard), mindmapping, OneNote, Word, Storyview, Final Draft, and so on. I've even tried beating the story out of my skull with rocks. Nothing works. If anyone who reads this knows of something truly revolutionary I haven't tried yet, let me know.

I don't need a scriptwriting or word processing program, I need a tool which helps me outline, organize thoughts, and especially structure the whole mess. I love timeline/card functionality, but it has to be really intuitive, flexible, and useful.

As an idea of what I'm looking for, I'm pretty impressed by Scrivener (for Mac, unfortunately, I have a PC) and I've been impressed by Liquid Story Binder (though some of its functionality is rough).