Screenwriting software
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Screenwriting software applications are word processors specialized to the task of writing screenplays. The need for such programs arises from the presence of certain peculiarities in standard screenplay format which are not handled well by generic word processors. A good example would be the formatting and revision-tracking requirements of shooting scripts. The page-break constraints imposed by standard screenplay format are also difficult to implement using standard word processors.
Most of the major screenwriting programs are standalone desktop applications. These include Celtx, DreamaScript, Final Draft, Montage, Movie Magic Screenwriter, Movie Outline, and Sophocles.
Some new solutions are web applications and run in a web browser with no software to install. These include ScriptBuddy, Scripped and Zhura.
Many other programs are available as add-ins for generic word processors such as Microsoft Word. Examples include Dr. Format and Script Wizard. There is also a package for LaTeX called screenplay.
Some screenwriting applications, such as Celtx and Sophocles, also incorporate production scheduling and budgeting capabilities. Others, such as Zhura, provide additional collaborative editing tools.
[edit] History
The first screenwriting software was a stand alone script formatter, Scriptor, from Screenplay Systems. It took a text file generated by a word processor and inserted the proper page break tags.
When used in conjunction with a TSR program such as SmartKey or ProKey -- keyboard utilities that assigned a sequence of commands to keystroke combinations -- the "dot commands" that Scriptor required could be inserted semi-automatically.
Additionally, keyboard macros could be programmed to properly indent and enter abbreviations -- allowing a user to customize the working of the word processor.
SmartKey was popular with screen writers from 1982-1987, after which word processing programs had their own macro features.
An update to Scriptor understood the style sheets used in Microsoft Word for DOS. And so the need for key macro programs was lessened.
Scriptor's limitation was that once formatted it was difficult to re-import the resulting text back into a word processor for further editing.
The next generation of screenplay software hooked into Microsoft Word. Warren Script Application was initially released as a set of style sheets for Word for DOS. It was updated for Word for Windows circa 1988.
gScript, a shareware script formatter / template, as released via CompuServe in 1989. It was included on the disk accompanying the book "Take Word for Windows to the Edge," published by Ziff-Davis in 1993. It has since been updated and released commercially as ScriptWright.
This third generation of screenplay software consists of the standalone script writing programs such as Movie Magic Screenwriter, Final Draft, Scriptware.
The latest generation adds online storage and collaboration.
