What are the advantages to using script writing software?

It's hard to say really because it's hard to appreciate something you're not missing. For me, I use Final Draft because it's been specifically built for that single purpose. It just seems to "work." It can be tricky to pick up, I wasn't sure if I'd like it but I would never go back to Word now, personally. You can probably do everything in Word that you can in FD but I suspect, and from my experience, it's easier and more intuitive, especially with things like margins. It's also got a wealth of helpful scriptwriting tools (scene navigators, script notes, production reports, help with transitions, templates) which can help if you like that sort of thing.

Well, I guess you could say that I am an authority on this, because I have used both FinalDraft and Screenwriter for years (as well as the now lamentably defunct Sophocles) and have developed templates for Word for both screenplays and stageplays. (Yes, I know the dictionary still says *stage play*, two words, but I prefer to spell it as one word by analogy with *screenplay*.)

Your question is not all that easy to answer. The dedicated programs let you do all sorts of things (already mentioned above). The reports do not really matter unless you are going to be involved in production. They are, however, really neat. You can find all your scenes that have certain characters or that are INT or EXT, and you can do other interesting things.

From a practical standpoint, though, for you as the writer of a spec script, the most important thing that these programs do is to handle end-of-page dialogue breaks by putting (MORE) at the bottom of the page and (CONT'D) at the top of the next page after the Character name. However, doing this is really not necessary. You are going to turn the page and read whatever is next, whether there is (MORE) at the bottom of the page or not.

Word processing programs like Word let you have more flexibility in what you can do in terms of layout. However, for screenplays this is not important, because the dedicated programs already have the essential paragraph types coded in the programs.

I think it comes down to this: If you have the money to blow, get one of the dedicated programs. Otherwise, use Word until you make a sale or find yourself in a situation where you really need FinalDraft or Movie Magic Screenwriter. You can always use the free Celtx, but I have to confess that I find it awkward and intimidating in its present stage of development.

For screenplays, you will eventually need FinalDraft or MMS. But you don't have to hurry. Use Word until you need the dedicated program (again, though, if you have money to spend, you might want to get FD or MMS).

For stageplays, lots of contests specify that they want a Word file. So don't dismiss Word as unimportant!

I still use (and swear by) Wordperfect. I've used Page2Stage a lot and tried FD on a 30 day trial. I've also used the BBC templates for Word. I always go back to WP. I write everything out longhand then transcribe it to WP. I put the major formatting issues in macro's - like character names and indents - I find that faster than the drop down lists. P2S is too smart for me making decisions on which character will speak next so I have to undo stuff. I also use many formats besides the "standard" - When I have a reading and need six to ten copies, I go to the acting format you see in published scripts to save paper. Many theaters want it in an electronic format and WP generates PDF files in a blink. I can also generate HTML for a web site when I post a play on my web site (PW protected) so I don't lose them in the event of a disaster at home.

FD, P2S and the other programs can do just about anything but it is overkill for me because I don't make use of most of their capabilities since I write my stuff by hand.

Just my two cents worth.

Doug

Probably a good decision, BloodMoney.

BloodMoney, take a little time to look at using Styles in Word. You can set up paragraph styles and make the following style be what you want, as in Character Name is automatically followed by Dialogue. You can assign shortcut keys to switch between styles. What version of Word are you using? I use Word 2003. I may be able to help you out with a template that is simple. I could send it to you by attachment, and later I will put it on my website. Feel free to email me. My "at gmail dot com" address is rolandraystroud (I'm hoping the spam bots cannot figure that out ).

And, Doug, I am WordPerfect lover myself. I developed templates for it, too, with the macros, so that I could just hit ALT+S for a Scene Head; ALT+C for Character, and so forth.

The main problem that I have had with WordPerfect 12 is that it sometimes (not too often) has glitches that I think are incompatibilities with Microsoft Windows. Back around the turn of the millennium, in the glory days of WP8, I belonged to a WordPerfect board on AOL. We knew back then that some Windows DLL files would "break" WordPerfect, and you had to reinstall some files. All of that was a long time ago, but I suspect that there are still some incompatibilities that surface from time to time.