Get the program that had as much thought put into it, as you put into your scripts.

Just as two scripts may have a similar premise, but one be average and uninspired, while the other just jumps off the page; two software programs may sound like they're very similar, while one be far superior to the other.   Screenwriter 2000 was designed by a produced writer who spent many years working as a production script coordinator in the trenches in Hollywood, and it shows not only in what features Screenwriter 2000 has, but even more importantly in how those features are implemented.

Below you will find a selection of just some features or issues (like editing) that both Final Draft® and Screenwriter 2000 either have in common and how they both handle them.  Click on the buttons at the bottom of each section to see actual screen captures of both programs and lots more details!

• The Name Bank Advantage.

A very simple example.  Screenwriter 2000 has a great feature called a Name Bank™ which is a collection of over 30,000 male, female and family names.  It allows you to get inspired with some really interesting names for your characters and is a great resource.  In Final Draft® 5.0, they have a Names Database with 90,000 names in it.  Clearly their Names Database is superior, right? 

• The Rewriting Advantage.

The real writing is always in the rewriting. And Screenwriter 2000 was built with this in mind. That's why it maintains your script format not only when you first type in your script, but throughout even the most intensive rewrite without you ever having to think about it.

• Element Integrity is always maintained -- it will never change text in an element from one type to another without you explicitly telling it to so you can cut and paste across elements without having to worry that action will suddenly become dialogue or worse.
  
• Dialogue always keeps its Character Name. Break up a long speech with an action line, cut and paste part of a dialogue element, or drag something into the middle of a speech... it doesn't matter; Screenwriter 2000 will ensure it always makes perfect formatting sense and every dialogue has the character name it should.
  
• SmartCheck™ is always on the job.   There are certain formatting errors that often come up during a rewrite such as you deleting some action and not realizing that you've left the same character speaking twice in a row with nothing between the two speeches, or when you delete all of a character's dialogue but inadvertently leave the character's name.  Screenwriter 2000's unique SmartCheck feature will automatically scan your script for these and other common formatting errors before you print, allowing you to correct them (or even doing it automatically for you!) before you print the script, keeping you from having to reprint pages over and over again just to correct formatting issues.

• The Customization Advantage

Simply put, Screenwriter 2000 is the most flexible script writing program on the planet. It gives you the most control over how the program works, and how it handles your script than any other program out there, allowing you to tailor it to be exactly the program you'd have made if you'd built it yourself.

• Most Intelligent Page Breaking. Exactly how dialogue and action should (or should not be broken) is often as much a matter of aesthetics as it is of hard and fast rules. Screenwriter 2000 gives you the most intelligent and flexible options for deciding how it should break these elements over a page break. And at the end of the day, if you simply don't like one of its choices, you can always squeeze more text onto a page, or tell it to keep that crucial piece of exposition all together.

• Most flexible Text Entry. Although most of the major script writing programs use some variation of a TAB / ENTER methodology for changing among the various element in the script, there are some subtle but important differences between the way these work. We believe that our implementation is by far the best, because if you don't like our choices, you can select other ones to make it work the way you find most intuitive. Similarly, you can set the basic movement and editing keys to work like whatever program you're most used to so that the program conforms to you, not the other way around.

• Best Use of the Mouse. The Writer's Guild of America West's comparison Review of all script writing software said that we use the mouse "more effectively than Scriptware® or Final Draft®," and this comes as no surprise because again, we give you the most flexibility in deciding how mouse text selection works, what rules to use for dragging and dropping, and even what style of Right Click menu should be use.

• The Spell Check Advantage.

Any word processor worth its salt has a spell check, but you'll be hard pressed to find any other program that makes a spell check sing like Screenwriter 2000.  

• Automatic Acceptance of All Character Names in the script as valid words.  Whether its XLOPHER from planet XLOPOLIS or DR. SPEINGOLDEN, as long as the character has dialogue somewhere in the script, the spell check will automatically "learn" that name for that script, and will not only accept it as a valid word anywhere else in the script, but it will even know how to correct that name if you type it in with a letter inversion typo!
  

• Acceptance of words ending with -in' as valid spellings.  Screenwriter 2000 recognizes that dialogue is often ungrammatical and you may want to write "dyin' for a drink." or "sleepin' around."   No problem, as Screenwriter 2000's spell check will happily accept as valid any word that ends with -in' when it knows that same word ending in -ing.
  

• Optional Real-Time Spell Checking.  Screenwriter 2000 can check your spelling as you type, and not only can it automatically underline misspelled word on-screen (and offer spelling suggestions when you right click or command-click on them), but it can also automatically:
  

  • Fix Letter Inversion Typos -- are you like me and always typing words like "teh" or "thta"?  Give Screenwriter 2000 the go-ahead and it will automatically correct them for you, often before you realize you've even made a typo!

  • Automatically maintain Sentence Capitalization and Sentence Spacing (two features which will spoil you for any other word processor!) so you can just type and let it handle the dirty work.

  • Automatically correct Double Capitalization Errors.  So MIstake becomes Mistake without you doing a thing!

  • Automatically correct any learned Misspelled Word.  If you always misspell a word the same way, such as "acceptence" rather than "acceptance" just add this word to Screenwriter 2000's auto-correct list and it will automatically fix it for you every time you misspell it!

• The Script Note Advantage.

Virtually all dedicated script writing programs have a Script Note feature that allows you (or someone like a director) to insert a non-printing note in the script.  What Screenwriter 2000 does that's so exceptional is give you the following capabilities:

• Hide & Display notes either individually or for the entire script
  
• Categorize types of notes by using up to 25 different Script Note colors all within the same script
  
• Optionally Print the Notes within the Script for ease of reference during development, then with a simple check box, make then not print for your final submission copy.
  
• Print any color or colors of Notes separately with reference page numbers
  
• Print any color or colors on the backs of the facing pages so that they are lined up with the element that they preceded!  This gives you all your notes in the printed script, at your fingertips, but it does not change the length or layout of the script at all!  Amazingly useful.
  
• Note Commander™ gives you control of all the notes in the script from one convenient location, allowing you to view notes by category, jump to the script note's position in the script, edit the text of any note, delete any type of note, hide or show groups of notes and more!

The Production Advantage.

This is one of the areas in which Screenwriter 2000 really excels.  So much that it's in its own section with the Final Draft Comparison at the very end.  Click here for info on Screenwriter 2000's Production Features and how they compare with Final Draft® 5.0's production capabilities

And there are many, many more advantages Screenwriter 2000 has, and I hope we've gotten the point across that you have to not only look and see what features a program has -- and we've got a lot more than they do!-- but also take a look at how the features that both programs do have really compare to one another.  We think you'll be very surprised!

All comparisons & Screen shots were generated with
Screenwriter 2000 (build 4.00b) and Final Draft® Version 5.0.2e

Final Draft® is a registered trademark of Final Draft Corporation
Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 is a trademark of Screenplay Systems, Inc.