Customer Reviews

Write Brothers Movie Magic Screenwriter (PC & Mac)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

For years, I used to use Microsoft Word to develop all of my scripts in. While it could be done, it wasn't the best nor the easiest way to do it. I had always put off buying specialized software to do something that but the problem is that I spent more time formatting and paginating my scripts than I did writing.

Finally, I decided to break down and buy scripting software. But before deciding on which one to buy I did a little research on the titles that were currently available. I wanted to make sure I got the best product for the right price. What ultimatly sold me on Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 was that both the Writers' Guild of America and Project Greenlight both recommend this software.

One of the claims made by the software company is the ability to get up and running right out of the box. I found this to be--for the most part--true. Upon receiving my copy, I was entering my first script in about 30 minutes (including installation time). There are some things that you may need to know, but the software company was intuitive enough to add booklets that contain this information in it so that you didn't have to hunt through the manual.

There are also a nice collection of templates included with the software that allows you to write for both movie and television (like I do). The templates for the TV shows comes in many different flavors (Sci-fi, sit-coms, dramas, etc.) and are even set up in the format used by several different shows.

What I especially appreciated was the fact that Screenwriter 2000 kept track of the names of my characters. I used to have to do this on scratch pads and Post-It notes or I would have to read back in the script to find a name. In Screenwriter 2000, I can call up a list of names to find the one I'm looking for. I'm able to do the same thing with scene heading, so I can keep my scenes in a consistant format.

Since I post some of my work on Zoetrope.com for review by other writers, the fact that I can create an Adobe file (.pdf format) was also of importance to me. While I could use a translation program to turn my Word document into an Adobe file, such translators have their problem and don't always retain the format that you created. With Screenwriter 2000, my Adobe documents come out looking the same as the original file. But this feature wasn't as intuitive as I had thought it would be. I was expecting this feature to be a part of the file exporting system. Instead, it's part of the print function. (You "print" a .pdf file.)

While there are a lot of pros about the software, there were also several cons, which is why I only rated it four stars. One is that this software is set up to installed on both the Mac and the PC from the same box. Becuase of that, they designed the user manual to address both opperating systems by printing it as a flip book. (One side has the instructions for the PC--flip the book over--the other side has the instructions for the Mac.) This means that the index is in the center. If you use an index as often as I do, plan on placing a bookmark there.

Another problem is that not all of the features available to the PC user is available to the Mac user. As of this review, only one feature--the Storyboard Linking--was not available on the Mac. However, this should be of little consiquence to the average user (unless you're a professional writer in Hollywood with a Mac).

Finally, one feature that was touted to me time and again was the voice readback capability. By using a Text-to-Speech engine, you can have your script read back to you, even to the point of assigning different voices to the different characters. It took a little effort to get this feature working on my PC, and when I did it sounded like a room full of Stephen Hawkings reading my screenplay.

Still, as softwares goes, this is possibly the best product out on the market.

I am both a working screenwriter and script supervisor. I use Movie Magic Screenwriter for both those jobs. Its an excellent, straight-forward, and cleanly built program for formating and writing professionally styled scripts.

Compared to Final Draft Movie Magic's formatting simply looks cleaner - with more accurate and useful spacing, sluglines, and transitions - and is far easier to use. Now this doesn't mean it will teach you how to write or what to write, but it does mean what you do write will at least look good.

Minor problems I've had and things that could change for the better...Screenwriter is a tad unstable with Windows XP and occasionally crashes at start-up (although I have yet to lose a file because of that). Some of the production tools - like scene numbering and CONTINUEDs - are buried deep in the program and not the least bit easy to get to. Also they still have annoying and non-standard formatting in there sluglines and transitions. For instance you can select Continuous and Moments Later for a time portion of your slugline. Any oen that works in production knows that there is no Continuous or Moments Later. Simply either DAY or NIGHT. For transitions they still have CUT TO which is no longer used.

Aside from those minor things Movie Magic is an excellent script writing program.

Choosing screenplay software for me comes down to Final Draft and MM Screenwriter 2000.

Final Draft looks and feels a little more professional, but MMS 2000 has some features that are a little better.

For example, MMS 2000 has a nice little "automatic scene bookmark" feature that allows you to use a single button click to navigate to any scene in your script. Nice. FD has bookmarks, but you have to create them all yourself.

Both products have an index card feature that allows you to view your script in outline format. MMS 2000 allows you to make edits to the script while in this format. FD does not. Its also easier to move scenes around in MMS 2000. Its a little clumsier in FD if you're moving a scene say, from the beginning of the script to the end.

But which to pick, you say? In the end, I still like FD better. The beauty of these products is that they race to copy each other, much like Netscape and Internet Explorer used to back in the day. Whichever features one has, the next version of the other is also sure to have.

I've been using this product for about a year and it's about as easy as a program like this gets without sacrificing its professional end product. It's a cinch to learn, with easy fast-keys, a WORD-like interface, and a ton of features you may never get to. Great for plays, video game scenario building, etc., but its strength clearly lies in screenplay creation. All I have to do is think of the story I want to tell, know a few choice commands, and I'm flying with this program.

Great paper tutorial and a reasonable price for this type of program.

I'll keep this short because I'm supposed to be writing! I used to use Final Draft for all my TV work (Wire In The Blood, Hornblower). I even recommended it to the BBC when they still used Word for screenplays. Then a friend and producer showed me Screenwriter and I have never looked back. It's far more intuitive than FD in so many ways, it makes it easier to just concentrate on the text. And technically Screenwriter is far more solid - I have never used a version of Final Draft that didn't have numerous really irritating bugs, which tech support could never seem to resolve despite endless patches. I haven't patched Screenwriter for years quite simply because I don't need to - it just works. I'm sorry I ever backed FD now, but it's almost the standard program in the UK. I often write my stuff in Screenwriter and import it into FD for submission.

Note that FD tech support costs money whereas Screenwriter's doesn't. How can the smaller company afford to provide free tech support? I suspect the answer is simple: that hardly anyone ever needs it. And to the reviewer who complained about the CUT TO's clogging up his script: you can switch all that stuff off you know!

I love this product. It is a full-featured, infinitely customizable program that lets you forget formatting rules and focus on the important thing: your script. Final Draft may have a better user interface, but MMS 2000 is fast, powerful and very easy to use. I can't say enough good things about it.

Download a free demo and see for yourself. This is the best!

As being the novice in screenwriting, I was originally going to use MSWord to try to format my script. However, after purchasing a couple of screenwriting reference books, I realized that formatting isn't an easy task. A writer would take more time trying to format the document rather than focusing on the creation of the script.

After thoroughly researching a variety of programs, I settled on this one. I find it easy to use. Everything is already set up for me...all I have to do is type. I also like the text to speech feature. All thought the voices sound robotic, I am still able to visualize if what I am writing makes any sense aloud. I am also able to catch little mistakes like if I forgot to type an "a" or a "the".

This program is also formatted for novels, tv scripts and stage plays. Therefore, at this price, I think it's a GREAT deal. However, if you are a student you can get the academic price of $90 from the Academic Superstore, but you must show proof of currently being enrolled in school. See http://www.academicsuperstore.com/eligibility.html for requirements of eligibility.

I am sure there are other programs that are just as user friendly or not, however I think the key thing as a writer is to just find a product that is going to WORK FOR YOU! That one program that you are going to feel most comfortable in creating your document. That is the most important element...find something that works for you as a writer and if at any time that product is no longer accommodating your needs then you have the choice to switch.

I bought the Movie Magic Screenwriter a few months ago. It works great. I had no difficulty importing a draft from microsoft word. I run the program on my mac powerbook G4. It works great, I can make PDFs and print easily. There have been no crashes, and it all works seemlessly. I definitely recommend the software.

I was going to purchase Final Draft, but the reviews talking about crashes, etc, scared me off. And that this software is recommended by the Screenwriter Guild convinced me.

Enjoy.

Of all the screenwriting / scriptwriting software out there today, this is by far the best one. Everything you need to get started is there and it's very user friendly. I had never used it before but was able to start writing within minutes of opening the box. I also recommend david Trottier's book The Screenwriter's Bible, as a companion for the software. I have found both to be invaluable.

This all started when I began writing a screenplay on spec. I setup my Word program with as much of the Hollywood standard format as I could, but I started having problems with certain elements (e.g., parentheticals within dialog, CONT'd's at the end of pages). So I picked MMS because it seemed to be the most powerful at the lowest cost. I also liked that it had play and novel formats. It did a decent and fairly painless job of importing my screenplay from Word. Unfortunately, it turned many of my shot headings into character elements for dialog. I had to manually fix all these, but MMS made changing the type of element fairly easy.

So far, my only real negative is with scene headings. Hitting enter after a scene heading, a list of possible time references comes up (day, night, continuous, etc.). I often like to use SAME TIME as a time reference, but I haven't found any way to add or change the list.

Otherwise, I'm very satisfied with the program so far, and it does so much a regular word processor won't do for you.