• You are welcome to promote here, but members are also welcome to reply with their opinions.

New screenwriting software

F

Fade In

Someone finally invented a better screenwriting mousetrap: Fade In Professional Screenwriting Software. For more than just your final draft.

Coming soon for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Sign up for more information and updates at:

http://www.fadeinpro.com
 
Interesting. I've used Final Draft ever since it first came out. That's going to be a tough sell.

Especially with freebies like Celtx out there now.

I was using Wordperfect 5.1 before Final Draft. Imagine having to type a script on a Selectric or (gasp!) a manual typewriter!

We've never had it so good.
 
So far you tell us nothing. You are collecting e-mail
addresses, but your site says absolutely nothing
about the software. Before I will sign up for more
information, I would need some information.

Care to answer a few questions from potential customers
here on the boards?
 
You raise a very good point about collecting email addresses with little initial information offered. Although collecting addresses is certainly not the intent: actually the intent was to not splash a big promotional blurb across the forum but instead send it directly to those who are interested.

But definitely, as for questions, please ask away...
 
Can you please tell us how much it is, and what makes it better than software currently available?

Also please, is there a reason you called it FADE IN instead of FADE IN: ?
I know it's only a name, but it strikes me as funny since it's professional screenwriting software.

-Thanks-
 
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There’s no problem promoting a product. That’s why we have a place
for promotions. I’d much rather see a nice, big promotional splash
that tells me about your product than a request for my e-mail
address. Promote away!

I like the “mousetrap” line - a little overused, but still gets
the point across.

What will your software offer that the free Celex doesn’t?
What is different from Movie Magic or Final Draft?
 
Fade In came about largely because complaining about the unfortunate state of the art of screenwriting software (i.e., the industry standard Final Draft) is a popular pastime among working screenwriters. An infamous, perhaps apocryphal observation by one well-known filmmaker was that Final Draft is version 8 of a text editor and they still haven't ironed out all the problems.

Many of us have used Final Draft on and off for years. Many of us have written and rewritten scripts with it. We've had it crash. We've had it behave badly. We've wanted things from it that it couldn't deliver. But it gets used nonetheless, partly because it was first and is the de facto industry standard, and partly because it works, sort of and most of the time.

But, industry standard or not, it's hard to imagine that there's no way to improve on it. And that's what Fade In sets out to do.

1. What makes it different than Final Draft or MMS?

Fade In is written by and for professional filmmakers. It's an entirely new application, with a custom script rendering engine written from scratch and optimized for one purpose only: writing screenplays from start to finish.

It's the nature of software that something that's been around for many years and many versions/incarnations undoubtedly has a lot of glue and tape under the hood of an updated interface to hold things together, and the fact that FD and MMS still exhibit issues that users have complained about for years suggests that the situation isn't likely to change without a fundamental rewrite of those applications. Which is what, in a way, Fade In aspires to be.

It provides all the required features of editing, screenplay management, and revision control. It runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux from the same core code base. It works with various formats, including Final Draft. And it is continually being enhanced with additional (and new) functionality.

2. What will it offer that free software (i.e., Celtx) doesn't?

It really isn't meant to "compete" with Celtx. Fade In is aimed at writers who want or need something that performs at a professional level, and the fact is that those writers are using Final Draft or MMS, not Celtx.

3. How much will it cost?

That's not decided yet. But considerably less than FD or MMS.
 
I will be interested in seeing something as soon as you have
something to show.

I know nothing about software. I don’t understand what “script
rendering engine” means. I’m just a writer. A writer who has been
using Movie Magic since it was called Scriptor. Can you tell us
writers what that might mean to us?
 
There will be a demo version, as well as screenshots available (hopefully) before too long.

Sorry for lapsing into programmer-speak about the "custom script rendering engine". All that really means is that the core part of the application, the part responsible for doing all the work of displaying and editing the screenplay, is written from scratch. It thinks about a screenplay as separate scenes, action, characters, dialogue, etc.* Although to the user it's as seamless as editing in any other application.

It seemed like the right way to do things from the start. And Fade In is all about trying to do things right from the start.


* As opposed to applications that use a more generic text editing design internally, whether using style runs to shape the look of text after the fact or using HTML and CSS or some other approach.
 
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