Customer Reviews

Final Draft AV 2.5 Win/Mac

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am so disappointed with this software. It crashes and seems to be extremely sluggish. I expected much better from a product that costs so much. I need to be able to create scripts for my clients, so I don't know what I'm going to do. But I may have no choice at some point to buy something else. I've got to get my work done and not have to constantly be frustrated with the way the software stumbles along.

We had such high hopes for this. After struggling to create columns in Word, this seemed like the perfect solution. But the constant crashes make it extremely frustrating to use. If only it had an automatic backup it would at least be usable. But the hours and work lost are adding up. For me the crash rate is extremely high. A colleague uses it as well and has had only a few crashes--though one is too many IMHO. I've tried both the PC and now the Mac version. Today I noticed there was an upgrade so I downloaded it and tried to install it. The install failed and now I can't even open my past scripts. I tried calling customer service but you have to enter a credit card and agree to pay for support before you can even talk to someone. They do allow limited free support at first. If you have money to spare this may work for you. Write in a word processor and then paste the audio portion into the second column. Then write in your visuals. That's what I'm going to have to do from now on if I can get it working again.

If you're doing AV scripting (TV, particularly), this is a must. It's MUCH easier than struggling with Word columns or templates, and it delivers a very professional looking product.

But there are too many missing or problem features. First, it has an irritating tendency in Windows XP to shut down due to errors. So save...early and often. Then, there doesn't seem to be a zoom function for Windows (there is for Mac), so you're stuck with a full page at a time, which isn't great if your eyes aren't as strong as they used to be. And when it comes to sharing...if the person receiving your script doesn't have Final Draft AV, you'll have to export as a .pdf or a rich text file.

In other words, for as long as this product has been around, Final Draft hasn't attended to some basic issues. Make it exportable to .doc format for Word, make it zoomable, and above all, figure out what the code issue is that's shutting it down and it will be a MUCH better program.

I bought this to work on a long form documentary. I have about 70 pages and it takes 5 minutes to just open up. It is extremeley slow to use. Very frustrating. This is true when I use it with my IBook 600 mz or with my dual core 2g. This program is worth nothing unless you only use if for one or two pages, which I guess would not take up too much memory. Don't know cause I haven't tried. Good Luck

The program continually crashes and is difficult and clunky to use. As unpleasant as it is to use Word, it is less frustrating than this program. After 30 minutes on hold at customer support to see if there was a patch or fix for the crashing issue, I gave up. I wish I had read these reviews before purchasing. Avoid this program and do it manually on Word. You'll pull out less hair.

It actually does what it promises to do.
Because many operations can be completed with a single keystroke, and because it is flexible, it cuts the time of writing a script in half (compared to Microsoft Word). The manual is very well written, which should be no surprise.
In more than a month of use, it crashed on me once, but I have not lost any data.
It still needs a little polishing. In particular, it locks the user into only 4 structures: character, dialog, video, and parenthetical. This needs to be modified to conscribe to news reporting and reality television norms such as Voice Over, On Camera, and other common elements of modern scripts.
I recommend modifying the keyboard shortcuts by moving them to function keys. I am using F1, F2, F3 and F4. Much easier than 2-key commands.
However, it is a good value, and it has no competition.

I have been struggling with Word with Tables to create two column scripts for over 10 years!! Thank heaven that the guys at Final Draft have made a program that keeps the columns lined up!!! Really, it is a pain, with everything out there to make a script that will only be a few minutes - it takes over 3 hours of sweat to get it right. The program doesn't do a lot, but what it does do it does with precision and ease. If you write AV two column scripts, GET THIS PROGRAM. It is worth it!!

I rarely write reviews. In this case, it felt irresponsible not to.

I received Final Draft 7 and Final Draft AV as a software suite about six months ago, for Christmas. I've used Final Draft as my primary scriptwriting software for years, both for my own amateur screenwriting and as a professional writer in the videogme industry. I have few complaints about Final Draft.

Final Draft AV, however, is a nightmare, at least on Windows 7.

If it worked properly, it would be fantastic. I do a lot of writing for interactive media, and the two-column approach works beautifully for creating a clear blueprint for visual artists and sound designers.

But the software crashes. It crashes a lot. It crashes a lot and offers no opportunity to recover what you were working on before the crash. It just blinks out completely, taking any and all unsaved work with it. Say goodnight, Gracie.

Now, I'm a fairly compulsive file saver, but when I'm on a roll, I tend to zone out. Most writing programs offer an autosave feature that can back up your work every N minutes. Heck, even Final Draft offers this feature.

Final Draft AV, however, does not. If you forget to save for say... an hour, you lose an hour's worth of work. Which is what just happened to me. Nutbunnies!

I should get back to work, since I now have a nice long night ahead of me. But I thought I'd take a minute to vent my frustration and maybe warn a few fence-sitters about this program.

Trust me, for all the heartache and lost work you'll suffer, you're MUCH better off just using a two-column table in MS Word to handle your AV writing. Final Draft AV is not ready for primetime.