Q&A: Which software program is best for screenwriting / scripts: Movie Magic Screenwriter 6, or Final Draft?
Question by Snicklefritz Grubb: Which software program is best for screenwriting / scripts: Movie Magic Screenwriter 6, or Final Draft?
Any suggestions? They both claim to be the industry standard, and about half like FD, and the other half like Screenwriter.
What do you like?
Best answer:
Answer by Maryn Bittner
The screenwriters I know online–this is people who’ve sold options and/or had their work produced–seem to prefer Final Draft, although one uses Celtx and has used Movie Magic.
Unless you’re utterly serious about screenwriting, enough to know you’ll be at it for many years to come, the software is just an expensive formatting shortcut. You can produce a perfectly-printed screenplay using any word processing software.
The font is always, ALWAYS, Courier New (or some other form of Courier), 12pt.
The margins are as follows (from the left side of the paper):
ACTION ELEMENT: Between 1.5″ and 7.25″
SLUGLINES: Same as Action Element
CHARACTER NAME: Between 4.0″ and 6.5″
DIALOGUE: Between 2.5″ and 6.5″
PARENTHETICAL: Between 3.5″ and 6.0″
TRANSITION: Between 5.0″ and 7.25″
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
