(4)
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Final Draft, Inc.
Final Draft allows you to use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling application specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics, and stage plays. It combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one self-contained, easy-to-use package. There is no need to learn about script formatting rules - Final Draft automatically paginates and formats your script to industry standards as you write.
What's New
Version 8.0.3: Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.
Requirements
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later
Final Draft User Discussion (Write a Review)
Overall:
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| Downloads:39,126 |
| Version Downloads:1,778 |
| Type:Business : Word Processing |
| License:Demo |
| Date:11 Oct 2011 |
| Platform:PPC / Intel |
| Price: $299.99 |
Overall (Version 8.x):  |
| Features: |
| Ease of Use: |
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Final Draft allows you to use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling application specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics, and stage plays. It combines powerful word processing with professional script formatting in one self-contained, easy-to-use package. There is no need to learn about script formatting rules - Final Draft automatically paginates and formats your script to industry standards as you write.
Copyright © 2012 MacUpdate LLC
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J-Khulasphoc reviewed on 24 Oct 2011
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Babyfett reviewed on 22 Dec 2009
I'm a meticulous outliner and used to outline everything in Word. I've never been into the index card thing. But moving scenes is a bit of a pain in Word so I started to use Scrivener to outline my scripts. Much better, but not perfect. The text in outline mode is a little small, but I loved the notes features and the importing of html snippets and pictures and whatnot, but I didn't enjoy writing screenplays on it and to have to switch between Scrivener and Final Draft while writing was a bit of a pain so I'd ultimately end up just exporting it back to Word. Well now Final Draft claims to have built an ideal outlining program into their program. They claim they took note of other programs like Scrivener and Save the Cat and others. Playing around with the demo I was excited, but when I upgraded for $80 I was very disappointed. I "imported" the outline I was already working on and by imported I mean I cut and pasted each individual story beat and then continued using FD8. Not an easy taste. In the outliner/scene view you cannot enter your summary, you have to switch to index card view. So I figured I would write just fill out the outline in index card view, but alas you cannot enter scene titles in index card view so I figured I would try using just the summary cards, but there you cannot enter the scene headings! This was crazy to me. You need to be able to do all three in each view.
So I finally got my outline entered into Final Draft 8 and as I start writing my information in my outline changes as I go. This was also crazy to me. I need a locked outline so I can go back and refer to it, but when I contacted Final Draft they said there was no way to unlink the two. This is counter productive to me. But the program is designed so that whatever you write in your outlining phase is accurately reflected in the script. Personally I need to separate things to write a good script. If my outline changes it's no longer an outline, it's merely an extension of the script and not an outline. There's an option not to have your summaries show up on the script view, but you still see all your scene headings on the page view and this is very very distracting. I want a blank page when I write. Not 8 pages of scene headings to look at and intimidate me.
Bottom line, if Final Draft can unlock the outline from the script I think this would be a great product again, but right now the big improvements they are touting aren't quite ready for primetime yet. So until it's changed it's back to Scrivener and Word for me. Though I might try Storyist which looks like it has lots of promise for what I'm currently looking for.
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+317
BUT... beware. The activation system will dump you like a shot if e.g. you have a system crash and reinstall, or (as I did) you upgrade to Snow Leopard then have to roll back because SnoLe isn't really ready to print with your new HP printer (tsk). The assumption is that all users are (a) in the ConUS, (b) have an internet connection and (c) aren't doing anything particular much that day in the way of work so can wait for a support dude to reset the damn registration database.. They can do what they like, but it's annoying for the user who, as I am, is on a little Greek island trying to get some work done in peace. Thankfully I'm only using FD to read/revise someone else's work. Screenwriter is a bit more elegant in its approach. Not much; but they've at least automated the process so you don't have to make two trips into town to get the software you've paid for working again.
I don't actually understand the reasoning, really. If you're a pro, you're going to buy the software because you need it. If you're not a pro, I can't see anyone popping $250 for a highly-specialised app, although they will certainly bootleg it to sit in their rooms pretending they're Bill Goldman. But I presume they have their reasons.
Oh, one heads-up. Lord Lightning mentioned integration with Scrivener. Which is wonderful if you're using standard screenplay format. On the current job, I'm not, and Scrivener (which is marvellous) and FD don't really understand what each other are doing. That pesky LYRIC element causes mutual incomprehension. I expect the brilliant Keith Blount will fix it in Scrivener but for the moment it's no go.
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shadow ray reviewed on 06 May 2009
I'm sure Final Draft 9 will have another 3-4 features that every other screenwriting program's had for years when it's released in 2014 or 2015 but I'd rather not wait.
Screenwriter 6 has a few bugs but is very sophisticated and miles ahead of this in pretty much every way. I'm buying that instead and will be encouraging my co-workers to do the same. It's not listed on this site for some reason but check it out, there's a free demo for it.
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gryphonent reviewed on 30 Apr 2009
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But the Mac version is instable and not as developed as the pc-version. For example you can't put the zoom to more than 150%, wich is quite annoying if you have a hi-resolution monitor, and not a perfect sight.
I'm pleased with this release even though it doesn't tackle everything. It's come a long way since 7.0 but we know we still have more work to do. My goal (and the goal of any software company) is to ensure that any problems you are exposed to in the next release are no more than minor inconveniences.
For those of you who have constructive feedback, I'm happy to listen. You can email me directly at: pm(AT)finaldraft.com. I can't promise you you'll get the answer you are looking for but I promise to be responsive. Also, please assume that if you have a problem that crashes the application, we didn't encounter it during testing so we want to know about it.
For those of you with specific technical issues, we offer free email and chat support in addition to the 24/7 phone support. We also regularly send to Apple Stores in LA and NYC representatives who can answer your questions face to face. Please visit our website for the details.
Finally, for those of you looking to participate in the development process, we have an active Product Usability Group that provides feedback and direction for the product. I encourage you to sign up: http://www.finaldraft.com/cpp/application.php.
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Ferruccio Busoni reviewed on 10 Nov 2006
1. I can trust it - because it is an industry standard, I don't have to worry about formatting, fonts or anything. I just write. ("Just add words.")
2. It has a very simple interface. There's just a window with your script in page layout - or, if you want, note cards next to it.
That said, it isn't work the price if you're presently looking for software - but that is only because of Celtx.
+5
stevehops reviewed on 09 Nov 2006
Still, 7.1.3 has fixed many of the previous bugs, but for the price this should be more stable.
Can't wait to try Celix or Montage. On the Windows side there is Sophocles. They say they are also working on an Mac version.
http://www.sophocles.net/