Final Draft® – The Ultimate Choice for Screenwriters and Playwrights
For over 25 years Final Draft has been the industry standard and market leader in screenwriting software. Used by 95% of film and television productions, Final Draft is the first choice for both professional and aspiring screenwriters, TV writers, playwrights, producers, directors, and industry executives.
The Script Vault has been recommending Final Draft to its clients ever since our company was formed in 2002 and we’ve recently partnered with Final Draft so you can now use the ‘Register Script’ tab within Final Draft’s ‘File’ menu, which will then take you to either The Script Vault’s website for UK users or the Writers’ Guild of America website for those wishing to register their copyright in the US.
So why do we love Final Draft scriptwriting software so much and why do we think all writers should be using it? Well we asked our CEO and founder Fred Lawless to share his thoughts on Final Draft…
‘I was introduced to Final Draft by a BBC producer who told me if I started using it I’d have several more hours a day to write because the software would save me so much time – she was absolutely right! That was 25 years ago and I’ve been using it ever since, in fact I use it practically every day.
So why is it such a great tool for scriptwriters and playwrights? Because it lets you write without having to worry about anything other than the words you’re actually writing. To start a script you simply choose a template based upon what type of script you want to write. There are templates for movies, stage plays and many different types of TV shows including US and BBC variations. They also have templates for novels and if you want to create your own custom template that’s a quick and easy task also, then all you have to do is start writing.
It’s just one click to toggle between dialogue, characters and action/stage directions and most of the time the software will correctly guess which of these you’re likely to want to type next. Stuck for a character name? Final Draft’s names database has 90,000 names to choose from and if halfway through your script you change your mind it only takes a couple of clicks to change a character’s name throughout the entire script.
If you have a co-writer you can invite them to join a session which then allows real-time collaboration on a script for any number of co-writers, which almost makes it feel like they’re in the room with you. Then when the time comes to share your script you can save it in lots of different formats including PDF.
But for me, the most valuable thing about Final Draft is that I can take it with me wherever I go, even if I don’t have my laptop with me! The ‘Final Draft Go’ app means I can edit existing work or start a new script just by using my iPhone or iPad. By storing my files on Dropbox or iCloud it means I can use any of my devices to write or edit and everything gets updated automatically. Boring train journeys have become a thing of the past for me with Final Draft Go.
Anyone who wants to write seriously for the screen, TV or stage really shouldn’t be using basic word processing software, dedicated software is an absolute must and for me, Final Draft is the best scriptwriting software out there. Oh and by the way, if you’re a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain member (and you should be if you’re a writer!) then you can purchase Final Draft (or buy an upgrade) at a very generous discount by using the link on the Guild’s website.’
