Review: Final Draft v6

Reviewed By: Kirk Hiner

Review Date: November 25, 2002

Product: Word Processor (script writing)

Developer: Final Draft, Inc.

Minimum Requirements: PowerPC Macintosh, Mac OS 8.6 or Mac OS X, 24MB RAM, 15MB hard disk space, CD-ROM drive

Mac OS X Compatibility: Carbon

Retail Price: $199.95 ($69 upgrade)

Availability: Out now

I haven't won an Academy Award. I'd like to, though, just so I could refuse it in front millions of TV viewers because Ghandi beat out Tron in the best costume category in 1983, thereby proving once and for all that the Academy Awards are a sham. And didn't Julia Roberts win something recently? What more proof do I need?

I've never won a Tony Award, either, although Jon Hodges did take home the Actor of the Year award at Ohio Northern University for his portrayal of The Archduke in my play, Congruent Love Triangles.

I've never won an Emmy, although a script Jim Jividen and I wrote for a show we created called, "I'm A Man" was chosen as one of the top 20 of over three hundred submitted in some midwest writers contest that...uh...maybe Warner Brothers was putting on? I don't know. I just remember going to Columbus to meet sitcom writers and producers who basically told us that sitcom writing is an ugly business and we should just be happy milking cows or whatever it is we do in Ohio to make a living.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Because the back of the box for Final Draft v6 boasts praise from Tom Hanks, Steven Bocho, James L. Brooks, and more. These guys make millions of dollars and have all kinds of Hollywood power. Me? I once got a free iPod.

So, I didn't so much approach this review from the standpoint of a budding scriptwriter looking for the best software. I instead simply wanted to discover what Tom Hanks thinks is so great about it. This is quite a departure for me, because, until now, I've always reviewed software in an attempt to discover what JM J. Bullock thinks is so great about it.

Final Draft bills itself as, "professional script writing software," which I was disappointed to learn means it's script writing software used by professionals and not that people who use it automatically generate professional scripts. It's actually just a fancy word processor. Or...perhaps not fancy, but targeted. It's a word processor with all the business crap thrown out and all the macros and style sheets pre-generated. The dorky pie charts, clip art and animated paper clips have been replaced by features that are actually useful.

What Final Draft does best it make it easy for the writer to work on the script without having to worry about industry standard formatting. For professionals, this saves plenty of time as style scripts and such don't have to be set up ahead of time, and there's no need to constantly break the writing flow to properly format dialogue, blocking, and such. For those new to the industry, it's nothing less than a godsend. Final Draft stops just short of forcing you to look like you know what you're doing, so your script will always look right. Judging from many of the movies released these days, I think it's safe to assume that script formatting can often be more important than the script itself. I mean, The Tuxedo must've been magical in its layout in order to get the green light.

So, let's focus on the new writers, since that's my arena anyway. Let's say, in a fit of madness, you decide you want to write an episode of Charmed. With Final Draft, you simply create a new document, choose TV Templates from the pop-up menu, and select Charmed from the list of currently running (and recently cancelled) TV shows. Voila! You have a bit of a script in front of you to show you how it should look, which you can then gleefully delete and start writing your own. Final Draft already has the characters in a database, so typing the first few letters of their name will give you the option to auto complete. Typing a C, for instance, will pull up a list of all characters who's name begins with C. When creating your own characters, Final Draft remembers them for future reference.

Here's the kicker, though. Final Draft automatically bounces to the next element and formats the text accordingly. For example, after typing in a character's name in the stage play template, hitting return will automatically format the next line for dialogue. If you want to first insert a parenthetical comment, hit tab instead of return. If you don't want either of these, you can choose from a list of predefined elements by simply holding the option key and selecting the number of the appropriate element. The elements are displayed at the bottom of the screen when you're holding option, and this list can be customized.

Of course, not everyone feels the need to write an episode of Charmed, thank heavens, and Final Draft, in all its wisdom, understands that. There are templates here for everything from movie scripts to Broadway plays to hour-long TV dramas. There are also about 70 TV show templates from which choose. A good number of these shows have already been cancelled, but who's to say that the USA Network won't try to breath new life into them like they did with Airwolf back in the 80s? I mean, WE is bound to pick up Veronica's Closet sooner or later, right?

If you're not into writing scripts at all, Final Draft also includes templates for novels and generic text documents, as well as the more relevant outlines, query letters and treatments.

So, anyway, no more worries about formatting. You've got Final Draft suggesting what to do, and they've provided examples up front to guide your way. Once you're into the script, Final Draft continues to shine. There are dozens of tools to make text location and navigation a breeze, such as bookmarks, script notes and labels. Revisions can be easily marked and color coded. Different versions of a script can be compared against each other, the variations in which can be identified and saved into a separate file.

Okay, a side thought, here. You know how a lot of movies these days can have multiple scriptwriters (I think the highest number I counted was nine on one of those epic, star-studded cartoons)? You know how those movies are invariably awful? I wonder if Final Draft is to blame for that practice, since it makes it so easy to do. I mean, get this. Final Draft has a feature called CallaboWriter that allows you to discuss the script with other writers over the Internet while changes are being made. The host can make changes to the script while others see them and comment in real time. How excellent is that? Unfortunately, I was unable to test this feature because Joss Whedon apparently doesn't care what I think he should do with Willow this season on Buffy.

If you're stuck in the script and need some guidance, Syd Field is here to help. All I know about this Syd Field guy I learned from the box; he's a "script writing expert" who has "guided thousands of professional scriptwriter for the past twenty-five years..." Okay, fair enough. If he guided Lorenzo Semple Jr. on his script for Flash Gordon, he's my hero. In the computer, however, Syd's a chalkboard that explains the basic elements of plot, structure and character to make sure you don't accidentally end up writing another Highlander sequel. There's really nothing in there that isn't taught five times over in high school English, but many people slept through high school English, so the tips and explanations can prove quite valuable.

When you're done with your script, Final Draft has just begun. Its Format Assistant will scour your document for errors and will make suggestions. Although this did a great job of picking up my mistakes, I found its suggestions to be fairly totalitarian. For instance, if I accidentally had the same character speak twice in a row, Final Draft's suggestion was to simply delete the entire second line of dialogue. I didn't want to do that, I wanted to change the speaker of the second line. Nope. It was delete, ignore, or quit Format Assistant. The latter was the only option, as ignoring would force me to remember where the problem was.

Perhaps my favorite feature, however, if only because it's so freaky, is speech. You can assign Macintosh speech voices to your characters, even going so far as to control the pitch and speed. It's exceptionally creepy hearing your script performed by the Macintosh Community Players...although, oddly enough, the wooden, unemotional performance wasn't too far removed from your average high school production of Harvey or pretty much any of the Star Wars movies.

So, who needs Final Draft? Quite simply, anyone who's serious about writing scripts. And I mean serious. If you're thinking, "You know, I can write a better movie than anything coming out of Hollywood today and blah blah blah," you're probably wrong. Writing scripts, good scripts, is much harder than you'd think. You don't need to spend your money on Final Draft to learn this. Work in your regular word processor first to see if you really enjoy putting a story together.

If, however, you intend to write a bunch of scripts and even plan to make a living off of it (or already do), Final Draft will be as indispensable to you as PhotoShop is to the prepress professional. There are other ways to do what Final Draft does, but none of them are as elegant, efficient or, quite frankly, entertaining. If you don't believe me, just go ask Tom Hanks. And while you're talking to him, see if he'd like to take a look at that sequel I've written for Joe vs. the Volcano, the working title for which is The Rise of Waponi Woo. It may not be that great a script, but it is sure formatted nicely!

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