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And I hate it. What do I love?

Its ubiquity: Everybody uses it. (And if you’re running a like me, you need to be able to open whatever file the client sends in. And 95% of the time, that’s either a PDF or, you guessed it, a Final Draft file.) What do I hate?

Well, “hate” is a strong word. I reserve that for folks like the Westboro Baptist Church, Monsanto, and shows like The Bachelor. But what do I strongly dislike about Final Draft? Three major things: Dislike 1) Its penchant for crashing in the most inopportune moments, no matter what version I have, and no matter whether I run it on my PC or my Mac. (Of course, maybe this is just me. Someone who’s worked in IT, designed networks, and built and repaired pc’s and macs for 30 years, AKA “a total computer dummy.”) Dislike 2) The interface/user experience.

It feels so, well, 1994. The game has changed when it comes to simplicity and elegance. That “1990’s desktop” feeling permeates Final Draft, and its cousin, Movie Magic Screenwriter. To strain a metaphor, it feels like I’m driving a 1994 Ford Taurus in the age of the Smart Car and the Mini-Cooper. Dislike 3) The price. $250 is a big chunk of change for most screenwriters. But I don’t blame Final Draft – they’ve created and marketed a great product that basically came to dominate the screenwriting space.

And that wasn’t just through great marketing. There are tons of great things about Final Draft, and most folks wouldn’t dream of trading their Final Draft for another screenwriting app. But remember 1992? That was the year Microsoft released their first Microsoft Office package. It had Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and a precursor to Outlook called Mail. All for the low, low price of $799. Yet there’s something to be said about keeping your flagship product at a premium price.

If Final Draft were to suddenly cut their price from $250 to $79, granted, a lot of old school screenwriters and industry professionals who use it might – might – take pause, and question whether or not their favorite venerable screenwriting software standard has dropped some of its features. But is Final Draft really worried about that? In my opinion, speaking as a screenwriter and a script reader, Final Draft is missing the big boat right now. And that boat is: everybody’s now a screenwriter. A skiff attached to that boat is the fact that those screenwriters are moving faster and faster away from the “desktop” application, and more towards tablet-based apps and mobile apps. Final Draft appears to have caught wind of this, and has developed their Final Draft Writer app for the iPad. But here’s the big problem: That one’s $49, which, granted, is a welcome break from the $250.

But how many screenwriters are taking a look at their $249 version, and then their $49 version, and then wondering how much is missing from the $49? At the time of this post, Final Draft’s website didn’t really give a clear idea of how the two versions’ features compare. (Maybe it’s there somewhere, and I need glasses.) Point is: Final Draft can have its $249 desktop version, and its $49 iPad version, but in my opinion, based on my experience, that price point disparity can cause confusion, among both older screenwriters and younger, more mobile-oriented screenwriters.

And confused potential customers tend to abandon their shopping cart. Now, sure, screenwriters who got their start during the heady days of the typewriter, like me and many of my generation, are probably not keen on the idea of writing a screenplay on a tablet, but for thousands of young screenwriters, writing movies on an iPad or an iPhone is not as far a leap. And that’s more and more becoming the reality of screenwriting. And, if you can even conceive it, as I’ve, admittedly, had some trouble doing: even more portable than a laptop. I’m not going to be the one who rings the death knell on the idea of desktop apps in general, but I will say this: the day of the $249 desktop app will soon be over.

I’m no Final Draft company insider, but if I was the CEO, I’d take a long hard look at what sense it makes to have a desktop app priced at $249 which doesn’t seem to be much different from the mobile app priced at $49. Please note: I’m not here to rake Final Draft over the coals. They put out a fine product, but that product is just, wellgetting old. Meanwhile, the number of new screenwriters grows every day.

How many of them 5 years from now are going to be gravitating towards a $249 price point? How many of them can afford to pay their student loans, let alone finance a copy of Final Draft? But take heart! There are now cheaper and free alternatives that, in my opinion, really give Final Draft a run for its money. Whereas software development used to be the realm of large, well-funded companies and teams made up of dozens, if not hundreds of developers and programmers, now it’s all about the smaller, more agile companies rushing in to fill an ever-increasing demand for lighter, cheaper apps.

And a few of those apps have finally gotten my attention. And I’m a desktop guy who, up until recently, would vehemently poo-poo using anything other than Final Draft. Trelby (FREE) PC / Linux (no Mac yet) Wow! This app is, hands down, the most elegant, easy-to-use, streamlined little firecracker of a screenwriting program I’ve ever used. And I’ve used them all.

The interface is sleek, plain, and modern, and fully customizable. I jumped right in and started writing a scene, and it just flew. Right on to the page. Very intuitive tabbing For new screenwriters: By tabbing I mean, for example, you type INT.

COFFEE SHOP – NIGHT, then hit Tab and it jumps down and awaits your input for the action/description line. All good screenwriting programs do this, of course, but Trelby’s just feels FAST. Faster than any I’ve used. I know I know.

It’s a small thing to complain about. But those tiny bits of “lag” – even if they’re just mere milliseconds between your keystroke and what appears on the screen – they really add up. Especially over the course of a 90-page screenplay, consisting of 6 months of work, and 20-30 drafts. Trelby’s lag is virtually non-existent, even when I loaded in a test script.

Oh, and by the way, Trebly inputs Final Draft files, and saves Final Draft files, so if you’re thinking of making the switch, you can do so in a very friendly, non-destructive way. Other great features I love about Trelby: it exports Fountain markup. (Fountain is the new open-source markup language that lets a lot of different new screenwriting apps share a common script formatting standard.

Think of it as a behind-the-scenes bit of code that standardizes how a screenplay is supposed to look, which is shareable and FREE for new, smaller developers to use and incorporate into any new screenwriting software they’d like to create or enhance.) The only major drawback to Trelby that I could find was that it doesn’t have the ability to lock and color-code revision pages. If your production is going to PINK, there’s nothing I could find in the software or on the website that enables you to do it with as much ease as you would in Final Draft or Screenwriter. But for me, the lightweight feel of Trelby, and its ability to export to Final Draft, are the things that are gonna compel me to give Trelby a shot on my next screenplay. For me, the lag is unbearable on other software packages, so this is a real lifesaver. For others, they may not care or even notice the lag, so Trelby would be less appealing, especially without the easy color-revision pages feature.

The good news is, Trelby is open source and seems to be adding features all the time. Paid version available) Available for PC, Mac, and Linux. Celtx has been around for a while, and they’ve won over a lot of screenwriters with their feature-packed free screenwriting software, and their cloud-based paid version. Both feature all the goodness you’d expect from a world-class screenwriting program, but the paid version offers a few more wells and bhistles.

The most prominent of those features being clip art you’d use for scene blocking/storyboarding, etc. The suite is responsive enough, but the major drawback for me is the sheer amount of clunk and window space it takes up.

It seems everything you do opens up another window, and it fills up your screen pretty fast. Avatar legend of korra season 2. Not to mention the amount of tabs, buttons, and menus can really be daunting for the uninitiated.

The suite itself is powerful and quickly becoming its own standard. But the design and usability? It definitely feels like sitting down in front of an Avid video editing program for the first time. And I’m not sure that’s a good thing for all screenwriters. FadeIn Pro ($79. Demo available for free download) Available for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOs FadeIn Pro’s features list is overwhelmingly plump. And its design and usability puts it ahead of Final Draft in many ways.

FadeIn is impressive. It’s a great screenwriting program, and packs a wallop of elegance and usability, as well as all the features you’d expect from a screenwriting package.

Scene navigator, easy tabbing, lots of import/export options (to/from Final Draft and many others), and even page-color/revisions. For $79, it may be worth it to just jump right in.

I advise not trying the demo, as it’ll only drive you away. The underlying program is solid and I’m sure it won’t disappoint. The bottom line: Final Draft is still the big gorilla. People still see it as the industry standard. But with more and more modern, elegant, streamlined, super-responsive, and future-proof desktop and mobile screenwriting apps hitting the market, and especially with their increasing compatibility with Final Draft files, you owe it to yourself as a smart screenwriter to take a second look.

Final Draft will probably always be there in case you’re not happy. But with so many new awesome screenwriting program choices, how can anyone not be happy? I really enjoyed reading your post and found the recommendation very usefull. Not unlike you, after some 25 years in IT, I switched to screenwriting and then producing feature films. When I started, some 15 years ago, I tried out Final Draft and found it cumbersome, so I made my own version based on Word styles and macros, which I used happily ever after, imposing it successfully on practically all the screenwriters I work with, who were happy to find something very much FD but without the constraints. And of course, free.

When I switched to Open Office some 5 years ago, I adapted my styles, and now I’m really free (although I must admit I’ve lost some minor features, mainly because I wasn’t patient enough to trial and error my way through undocumented OO stuff). Only recently have I stumbled upon a particularly tough cookie screenwriter who won’t hear about anything but FD. So your recommendation for alternatives was a blessing.

It’s not that I can’t spare $249, I simply find it high robbery to ask so much for so little. A trivial style sheet, which takes a couple of hours to taylor to your needs, will supply over 90% of your needs as an experienced screenwriter. So FD or eqiuvalent should not cost more than ten bucks or so. ANyway, this is just to thank you, when I read your post from 4 years ago, I felt like meeting a soul body. All the best, Elie, Producer from Paris. This is my main complaint with Trelby. I’ve been using it for a few months now, and this bit makes copying old scenes into new drafts a real hassle.

You can copy blocks of text to the system clipboard, but they come back unformatted, or formatted poorly, which means you’re going to spend time formatting everything just to copy between drafts in the same program. Major drawback, but for someone who can’t afford Final Draft, just something we have to deal with for now. Otherwise, this is a great program. Though I definitely agree that often times the Celtx screen to page placement issues do become annoying, I would only point out two things.

Celtx is primarily for storyboarding. Or at least, that is the main function it performs well. And the second being that, ultimately it IS a GREAT option if you’re broke or a writer/storyboard guy with have the patience to learn ways around the placement issues, when printing.

Its also a good alternative program, simply because if you have a non funded writing staff all using Celtx, there are no real issues. Beyond that, every writer should learn to storyboard their ideas. And for those worried about having their ideas stolen. You have a far greater chance of that happening in an unrepresented studio meeting where they “pass” on your project, then it happening via Celtx. You dont have to connect with Celtx, if you chose not to do so.

Cheers, keep writing. Hi, I’m new to scriptwriting.

I’ve been writing my script in the final draft trial version, this has now ended and I need help! I can’t afford to buy Final Draft so I’m thinking of using Trelby, as recommended. All the features are locked in final draft and I can’t print it out. You mention importing in to Trelby. Does this mean I can import my saved script from the locked up trial version of Final Draft?

Any help you can give would be brilliant as I’m at a loss as to how to progress with my script. Great little Article. Too bad that there is no Trelby Mac Version yet. But i have hope, some People working on it. It is one of the best Focuswriter under the Screenwriting Programs for me.

@Jim Porter Its not necessary. Celtx will work on Mint and other Distribution – except on newest Linux Systems it will crash and nobody knows, why. Sometimes then it works fine, if you start it with sudo (gksudo on Gnome, ksudo on KDE) – but its not an all-time option.

@All I have some other Options too. If you like Markup Languages, than use Fountain ( – it’s like Markdown or reStructured). Trelby can handle those too and for Mac you can use Writer ( – Opensource) Atom can work with fountain and Markdown and runs on every System. Scrivener is also an not so much cost Option – it has a Screenplay Mode for writing and handles Final Draft and fountain (Mac Version only of the Moment) too. The Windows Version runs fine under Wine on Linux beside the free, but sometimes buggy Linux Beta Version.

And another alternative: DramaQueen. They hold a free Version beside paid Plans.

There are many other good alternatives out there. And fountain for Smartphone/Tablet Users are one of the best Options (DubScript for Anroid as an Example). 2016-07-25 NICE THREAD I am a novice screen writer and use Scrivener.

From memory it was about $50. Very versatile, slightly pedantic, but on a large script the spacing has changed (each line touches the line above it and is a pain to fix manually). There is a memory drop bar for each spacing action you do, (text format bar) but it is still very hard to navigate each time. There must be some global setting but I cant seem to fix. I don’t have time to waste on it, I’m just going to buy something else. For convenience it’ll probably be Final Draft Pro, but I’ll give Trelby a go (hopefully wont be a cut and paste nightmare).

I’ve used Celtx before but a couple years ago they wanted payment – not sure if that changed (i think it has). Brian, answer to a question please? I have Movie Magic my friend on the Left Coast has Final Draft.

We would like to write a script together. Are the two systems import/export compatible at all? Will she be able to open what I send her and vice versa? It seems the answer is no but I wish to get the final word on this so I am asking you. I have read your blog.

You know what you are talking about. ( not a lot of that going around these days on any front) Anticipating a need for an alternative, I am considering trying to marry Trelby with her Final Draft with this particular script as I can not justify investing another $250 in Final Draft. I have always been happy with MMSW.Thanks.John T. I am personally on the look for the oldest and most basic software there is. I’ve been using celtx since the beginning (just over two years now) and like it apart from the fact that it is online so I have to be connected to the internet to use it, and I dislike how little space there is to write at the bottom of the page because I like to have the whole page blank and move it so the cursor is always at the top. But I don’t see a reason why I should pay so much money when structuring a script is so easy. One of my teachers actually dislikes any software and makes us use Word because he thinks that the basics of a screenwriter’s ability is to know how to structure a page (again, very easy, seriously, we’re supposed to be intelligent).

Also I like to work in a completely isolated environment and you can only get that if you’re not connected to the internet. When there’s nothing to distract you and your whole existence at that moment is focused on writing. So I’m gonna try to find the most basic scriptwriting software and just use that. I am a newbe and am using the tryout version of FD9 but it is buggy as h.ll.

Saving goes wrong frequently: it doesn’t save while it says it does (upon later re-opening the changes appear not to have been saved). Or it says that it cannot save because the file already exists and then forces me to save under another file name? For that reason alone I’m looking for another program. The more after reading about the program crashing. What I like about Celtx is that it organizes the episodes, if one is writing episodes, which I am (two series of short instructional videos in my line of work). I really need that.

Does anyone know of another program that does that? Because I find 10 bucks subscription fee every month that Celtx asks too expensive.

Hi there, I’ve been using Trelby for a couple of years. Glad to see it topped your list! I’ve never used anything else, or felt the need to, so I can’t compare it, but can say I find it to be fabulous. If I ever make any money from my writing I’ll be sure to make a decent contribution to the authorsthey deserve a reward for such a great effort! I like the fact that I’ve been able to export files to FD, as I have a friend that uses that. And I’ve never had any problems with cut and paste.within the same draft it works fine. From another draft just load them both and away you go!

One thing to note is you need to put in the proper margins.top, bottom and right – 1 inch and left 1.5, and then it will match FD page for page. Also make sure you set the paper size for U.S. Have just returned to screen writing after an annus horribilis ( don’t ask dear boy, the vicissitudes of life ) and reacquainted myself with Trelby. Still seems to me to work best on Windows and I do enjoy its speed and relative stability. Did have a problem a while back remotely co-authoring a script.

Partner was using FD8, yours truly on Trelby and he could not see my changes (I could see his). After a month or two of bafflement and being called a lazy bugger resorted to exporting him PDFs and face to face run-throughs on Skype. Do dislike FD like you for similar reasons. There seems to be an FD mafia out there and, alas, many aspiring writers convinced that a script can only be any good if it is in FD. FD will NOT write a good script for you. That takes application and talent. However not using FD can give agents and execs just another excuse not to look at your work.

What non FD software works most seamlessly with it? I agree Sir, most time wasting and disagreeable but the product of panic and deadlines. One can waste so much time saving time. Thank you for your suggestion of Fadein Pro. I shall certainly put it to the test. Your comment on fire hazards puts me in mind of my younger years working an all nighter with a Moviola and fueled by coffee and cigars.

Whole shebang went up including my eyebrows. Nitrate film stock in those days. Bye the bye, hate to be pedantic but one is addressed as Sir Limply, never Sir Stoke – but you were not to know. In Linux with any text editor (I use the Jstar variation of JOE because I like the WordStar keystrokes, but you can use any true text editor) you can type in Fountain syntax and use the offline version of Screenplain to convert to PDF, Final Draft (.fdx) or HTML formats.

With pdftotext (a common Linux utility) you can convert your PDF into formatted text. All done in the Terminal without any GUI. (I even use an Alphasmart Neo — dedicated word processor — to write scripts, then send them into Jstar. Fountain syntax is the key, see information at ). Or, alternately, you can use one of the free screenplay formatting applications (KIT Scenarist or Trelby) to read in the Fountain formatted file (or just type directly into the application). I was a huge fan of SCRIPTWARE. I became friends with Ben Cahan and he gave me a free copy of Final Draft 8, the promo version at the time.

It is the full version, not a trial. I found it to nowhere near as user-friendly as Scriptware. A do have two questions re Trelby, the one it sounds like I’ll switch to. Even after writing 5 screenplays and two novels, I still consider myself computer illiterate. I’ve always had trouble converting things to PDF. Final Draft does make that easy.

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Does Trelby do the same? Though Final Draft does claim to let one put two different drafts of a screenplay side by side on the same screen, I can’t figure it out at all. The manual didn’t help.

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Even talking to a live FD person on the phone didn’t help. Does Trebly have and easy way to do this?