Saturday, February 09, 2008

Scripped is web-based beta software for formatting and writing your script. Like Google Applications, you can do your work from a whole mess of different computers, and it's always available to you on the internets. (Also, like Google Apps, if your internet is down, you're hosed.)

Has anyone tried this? Any catch to this apparent bargain?

Labels: software

11:22 AM

6 Comments:

I just took it for a spin. No auto-complete so you have to type in the full scene heading and transitions and such. It does seem to have very nice draft organization, with a list of various drafts on the load up screen. It's not going to replace other software yet, but I'll keep watching to see if it improves.

No fees, but they might be waiting until they build up their feature list for that. I noticed that you're also asked to input your logline. I suspect that they might try to become an InkTip-like site down the line, but with built-in editing.

By  Steve Peterson, at 1:29 PM  

This is first I've heard of it, but thanks for the heads up. I'd previously tried ScriptBuddy, but found it far too cumbersome and lacking in options.

Scripped is unquestionably the better of the two. Draft management is a great feature, as is the export to PDF function, although there doesn't seem to be a title page option, and I'm not sure yet how it handles MORE and cont'd, and widows and orphans.

When it comes to freebies, though, Celtx is still the king.

By  Lee, at 1:43 PM  

I'm a full time web app developer. I thought of developing an online script editor. I can tell you in one word why it's flawed: airplanes. That next eight hour flight from LA to New York, you can't touch your software. So, you still need a copy of Final Draft, and then what's the point?

Script editing is a rich text editing experience, and I will tell you that a web browser is completely unqualified for desktop publishing. We are years from that changing, if ever. After signing up for the app and spending 5 minutes on it, I can tell you the interface is "Meh," which is totally expected.

Some desktop apps are better as web apps, such as project management tools. Some apps are better as desktop apps with web functionality.

As for the social networking features, how useful is a network when the contributors are amateurs flocking to something free? A decent writers with real credits will sure be deluged with "networking."

On the bright side, hundreds of thousands of students will use it. That demographic is perfect for advertising, so Google will buy it and serve ads for "New York Film Academy." The author cashes out for millions. Fade to black.

By  sandofsky, at 2:38 PM  

I'm a students, and I loved it! (Guess sandofsky was right)

There's still a ways to go in terms of usability and annoyances. Nothing particularly wrong with it, just places where you go "What the hell?" and wonder why they didn't put in 'that' feature.

It's great for people who work from home, work, starbucks, and any other place with a internet connection. You don't have to worry about your hard drive crashing because it's online, supposedly safe.

I still use Celtx though primarily... It's free too, and seems more functional.

By  Jason Sanders, at 4:17 PM  

I switched to Montage about 4 months ago and haven't even considered looking at any other software. Probably my favorite new software discovery in years. Full screen writing mode and split screen view of the same script are my new best friends.

By  Kody Chamberlain, at 5:04 PM  

we're building online tools for independent film people and i think that is great! I'd like to meet with them as there is a way to monetize this system without ads. I'd love to integrate this into our incubator and allow people to use this tool.

For the record we're building a next generation online film funding engine that uses AI, HIVE and Due Diligence to appease the distributors so that they will prebuy films again.

cheers

By  David Geertz, at 2:43 PM  

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