processor banging out a movie script that beats all the odds and sets off a Hollywood bidding war. Your life is transformed! You’re whisked to “The Coast” where you spend your days on the set huddled with Arnold HIMSELF! You start “doing lunch” with Demi, Sly, and Sharon Stone as, one-by-one, they all pitch you on adding a part for them in your next screenplay.
At Spago, the maitre d’ waves you past the line and leads you directly to a prime table...
Wait just a second. This is a great fantasy, but before you cancel the kids’ summer trip to Disneyland, maybe we ought to take a realistic look at the harsh reality of scriptwriting.
You see, over the years, the rules defining just
how Hollywood-type movie scripts should look have become so rigid you’d think C.B. DeMille himself brought them down from the Hollywood Hills engraved on stone tablets.
Every script is made up of a variety of elements; narrative, dialogue, character names, screen or stage directions, notations for visual or sound effects—that kind of thing. In Hollywood, each and every element of a “professional” script has a specific format. Narrative starts at the left margin which is x inches from the left edge of the page, typed upper and lower case. Character names go here, all caps, centered. Dialogue is indented this much, with these margins. If a character is speaking at the end of page 5, the word continued is put at the bottom of that page and the top of the next page... the rules go on and on.
And those are just the rules for one kind of scriptwriting—the Hollywood type movie script. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Most scriptwriting isn’t done for the movies or television. Most scripts are actually written for in-house presentations, corporate videos, and training tapes; projects that in stage and screen terminology fall under the general heading of “industrials.” If that’s the reality, why does every scriptwriting program seem to address the Hollywood scriptwriting market? Good question! I only wish
I had a good answer.
Industrial scripts have fewer and much looser rules. They’re usually written in what is called A/V (short for audio/visual) format. Basic A/V format is two columns of type. The left column describes the visual part of the program, while the right column contains the narration or dialogue. Depending on the kind of script you’re working on, other small columns for stuff like timing cues, line numbers,
or scene numbers can be added, but, generally speaking, a “two-column script” is just that.
Wait!, I hear you say, most of the standard word processing programs can handle multiple columns. Why not just use one of those for A/V scripts? Because in scriptwriting, what’s in the left column relates directly to what’s in the right column. Most of the major word processing programs don’t seem to understand that fact. Try writing even a simple A/V script in most word processing programs and you’ll discover that their idea of a two-column format is where the first column snakes into the second. Even if you find a word processing program that lets you specify two independent columns, (and many don’t) editing your copy by adding or deleting lines anywhere in your script usually destroys the relationship between the cues in column one and the narration in column two.
So, scriptwriters have suffered in silence, wondering why someone hasn’t written an affordable, intuitive, Macintosh scriptwriting program where what you see on the screen looks like what you want your script to look like, that prints your script just like it looks on the screen, AND doesn’t cost an arm and a leg!
I’ll admit that the program I’m reviewing here, Scriptwriting Tools from Morley & Associates, does take a lot of the pain out of writing scripts, screenplays and story treatments on the Mac. It’s not perfect, but after trying it out for a while, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not half-bad either. And at $79 retail,
it’s a great alternative to the super-expensive dedicated scriptwriting programs that are out there.
Getting started
When I opened the package from Morley & Associates and started reading about Scriptwriting Tools, I instantly feared the worst. There, right on
the cover of the manual it said “Time Savers and
Idea Starters for Using Microsoft Word On The Macintosh.” Microsoft Word! You mean this program isn’t even a word processor? Yep. I mean, nope, it’s not. For a brief moment I thought it was (shudder) another “post processor” What’s a post-processor?
I’m glad you asked.
Historically, most computer screenwriting programs have worked like those horrible typesetting programs from ten years ago. To get your text to print as a script, you had to hide formatting commands inside your text that specified how each paragraph would be formatted. On the screen, you saw a continuous stream of paragraphs peppered with little hieroglyphic-like symbols. If things went well, when you actually printed the beast, it looked like a script. If things didn’t go so well... well, back to the drawing board. I call this type of scriptwriting program a “post-processor,” and I’ve learned to avoid them like the plague. After all, doing the work twice – writing the script, and then going back to format it – is the kind of wasted effort computers are supposed to eliminate.
Thankfully, I was wrong. Scriptwriting Tools is not a post-processor. But it’s also not a scriptwriting word processor either. It’s actually a set of pre-built templates and “Word settings” files that, when properly installed, customize your copy of Microsoft Word to automate many of the common scriptwriting styles and formats.
Can Microsoft Word do it?
Wait, a minute. Did I say that Microsoft Word
can actually be turned into a competent scriptwriting program? Well, yes. Sort of. It’s NOT going to be the elegant dedicated scriptwriting program of anyone’s dreams. But by installing the prepackaged Word Settings files that are the heart of the Scriptwriting Tools package and using the packaged pre-formatted documents as a starting point, you can “customize” Microsoft Word so it performs common scriptwriting chores and prints out professionally formatted A/V, Screenplay and Teleplay scripts a whole lot better than you might expect.
What’s included
The package consists of a 160 page manual, a single 800k diskette, and a single page Scriptwriting Tools Reference chart showing the keyboard combinations that are programmed to bring up commonly used elements like character names, screenwriting terms such as CUT TO: and DISSOLVE TO:, and common abbreviations such as (V.O.) for voiceover.
Installing the program is easy, thanks in large part to the first section of the manual which is called The “I Hate Instructions” Quick Start. If you’re an experienced Mac user, that’s the kind of beginning that warms your heart. So, catching the spirit of the thing, I jumped right in.
The Quick Start instructions give you a clear warning that installing the program’s Word Settings files will wipe out your old Settings files and eliminate any customization you’re already installed into your copy of Word. So, as they suggest, backing up your current Settings files is a necessary first step.
On the disk you’ll find a folder called “Format Templates” containing a wide variety of pre-formatted Microsoft Word documents that allow you to jump start your scriptwriting. Also included are folders containing customized QuicKeys macros, pre-built Glossaries, a folder of “Specialized Settings”, and two folders called “Examples” and “Case Studies.”
The Examples folder contains just that, examples of all the types of scripts which the program can format. The Case Studies folder presents a fictional company called the Elgin Medical Corporation and shows how the contained formats can be used to complete a Background brief, a Project Proposal, develop Research Questions, produce a Creative Treatment, and finally, complete a Script.
These last two folders acknowledge that the first step in starting any script is almost always research. These folders contain some very basic tips on interviewing and a bunch of open ended question starters such as... “What has been your greatest challenge while…?”
Anyone who has been writing for any time at all will probably already have learned the basics of interviewing, but browsing through these questions might help the newcomer avoid phrasing their questions in a way that allows the interviewee to respond with a mumbled “yep” or “nope.”
Format templates
In the Format Templates folder are sub-folders titled: Screenplay Templates, Two-Column Templates, Treatment/Proposal Templates, and Scene Shuffling Templates. There are also five documents called Multimedia Template, Storyboard Template, Combination Template, Interview Questions, and Research Questions. These are actually a series pre-formatted Microsoft Word documents. Once you’ve successfully installed their Settings, you can double click on any of the templates and start churning out the appropriate style of script.
Templates include: Feature Film, Live-tape TV, 3-Camera TV, Corp/info Screenplay, and three variations of the standard Two-Column A/V script that are distinguished only by how they handle scene numbers.
Added to the Multimedia and Storyboard templates noted above you have at least eight distinct “styles” of scripts you can immediately access.
Examples files
The best way to learn how the scripts work is to open one of the Examples files. Here’s one:
FADE IN:
1. This Is a Scene heading (Slug line). Pressing <Return> at the end of a scene heading (slug line) automatically puts you into this “Action” paragraph style, for describing the scene, action and visuals.
Press <Return>, and two things happen: the cursor advances to the next line and the style changes to “Character.” You may then either type in a character’s name or select a name already installed on the “Insert” menu, by…
• Holding down Control-Option-
• While pressing the first letter of a character’s name, such as an “m” for…
MELISSA
the character name MELISSA is automatically typed. Press <Return> again and the cursor moves down a line as the paragraph style automatically changes to this “dialogue” style.
Pressing <Return> while in this “dialogue” style…
automatically puts you into this “Action” style. Pressing <Return> again automatically puts you into the style for…
Character’s name
You can then either type in a character’s name, or hold down Control-Option- while pressing the first letter of any character’s name on the “Insert” menu; such as “p” for…
(CONTINUED)
As you can see, the pre-formatting that has been built into the templates can take a lot of the work out of formatting a script. This approach works best for Hollywood-type screenplay style scripts, because they avoid the hassles most word processing programs fall into when they try to work in two-column format.
What happens when you venture into two-column land? Well, as expected, this poses some challenges for Scriptwriting Tools. Instead of two independently accessible side by side columns, you see offset paragraphs where the first paragraph displays in the left column and the second below it and to the right. Working this way it’s easy to get confused about how your pages are breaking and just where your paragraph pairs will eventually end up.
If you try to defeat the problem by working in the “Page View” mode where you can see your columns as they will print, other inconveniences start cropping up. As an example, I popped my cursor into a narrator column on the right side and wanted to add a paragraph to the copy. When I hit a carriage return the program popped me over to the left column. I went to delete the paragraph mark, but I couldn’t select it. Word didn’t want me to delete the “new style paragraph” marker. My only easy solution was to leave the page view and go back to the regular word processor where I was able to delete the offending marker. I suppose you could learn to always use two carriage returns to add a new paragraph to your narrator copy, but I’m not at all sure I want to learn to type differently just for writing scripts.
FADE IN:
This is the paragraph describing the first visual.
On the screen it should appear in the upper left corner of the screen. The audio paragraph to which it refers should be below and to the right of this paragraph.
NARRATOR: This is the first audio paragraph in the script. Hold down Control- and press u to get this audio style.
Although on the screen these audio and video paragraphs appear offset, they will print out directly across from each other. Press Option--i
(-i in Word 4.0) to preview how they will look.
By pressing <Return> at the end of an audio paragraph, the next paragraph will automatically be formatted as a video paragraph. (NOTE: This happens only at the end of a paragraph. Pressing <Return> when the cursor is within a paragraph will not change its style. To change styles in that situation, use the Style (Control--) commands, while the cursor is within the paragraph you want to change.)
Hold down Control- and press v to get this
“video column” style. By pressing <Return> the next paragraph will automatically be formatted as an audio paragraph.
To get the following bulleted list style, hold down Control- and press b,
• The bullets must be added manually (Option *).
• While in this style, <Returns> will continue to add additional bulleted items.
• To create the next video paragraph: press <return>, then hold down Control- and press v… and the paragraph you’re working on will assume this video style.
As you continue to type your script, the style will automatically alternate back and forth between audio and video column style every time you press <Return>.
Another video paragraph.
This “Music and Special Effects” STYLE differs from an audio paragraph only in that it is single-spaced and all caps. It is defined by the style “Music and SFX.”
To manually change the style of a paragraph, hold down Control- while pressing the appropriate letter key.
The code for these keys is:
• u - Audio
• b - Bullets
• v- Video
• m - Music and special effects.
So what’s the bottom line on Scriptwriting Tools?
Very high marks for the occasional or beginning scriptwriter. It’s easy to use right out of the box, the instructions are clear and concise, and it can produce very professional looking movie scripts. If you’re exclusively concerned with producing Hollywood style screenplays, Scriptwriting Tools’ formatting controls take a lot of the work out of this kind of writing. Plus, it’s AFFORDABLE! So if you can’t justify risking next month’s rent money on one of the “big gun” scriptwriting programs, this is a GREAT alternative.
But if you’re a working writer hammering out corporate A/V style scripts, you’ll probably be disappointed. Like me, you’ll probably need to wait a while longer for that single, simple personal scriptwriting program that does everything you need and want without asking for the proverbial kings ransom in exchange.
