There are also a few more minor improvements to the usability of certain functions. We didn’t have a chance to evaluate the collaboration capabilities, but the new feature is designed to let multiple writers work on the same script simultaneously without having to constantly save and share new versions. The Alternate Dialogue tool would also be useful when combined with Final Draft’s new collaboration capabilities, when a collaborator might want to try a different wording without overwriting someone else’s work. This is great for experimenting and trying out different modes of expression for different characters.

This allows you to save different versions of dialogue and cycle between them as you choose your favorite. For the most part, writing and formatting can be done almost exclusively with the keyboard, greatly speeding up the writing process compared to a standard word processor.Īlso new to version 10 is the Alternate Dialogue tool. You can cycle through all possible script elements using tab - a handy shortcut - or select the appropriate element from the menu in the toolbar ribbon at the top of the screen. Final Draft will also put the line in all caps - the script formatting standard for scene headings. abbreviation that tells us the scene will take place outside. If you type an E at the top of the page, Final Draft knows this is likely to be a scene heading using the standard EXT. Like in previous versions, Final Draft 10 uses predictive Smart Type to anticipate which element you’ll need next. The Story Map comes in handy here, too, since you can drag cards into the Story Map to create Structure Points, or page goals for each beat, then hover over those Structure Points to view the attached card while you’re writing, even when not in Split view. The Split view option was also nice for referencing the Beat Board while writing the script. We liked being able to freely move and resize cards, and the color coding option made it easy to quickly find the information we needed to continue writing. Like in the default page view, the Story Map bar lines the top of the screen to give you an overview of your script. The Beat Board view starts as a blank grid. The Beat Board is designed to be a flexible brainstorming space where you can create moveable cards to store notes about the different story elements. We opened Final Draft with a kernel of an idea for our screenplay, but it definitely needed development, so we navigated to the Beat Board, a brand new feature in Final Draft 10. Final Draft 10 even includes studio-specific templates if you know you need to follow a particular studio’s standard. We kept our document in the default screenplay template, but there are dozens of templates available, including ones for graphic novels, manuscripts and query letters in addition to a selection of scripts for film, stage and TV. The Story Map bar at the top of your page is set to a 120-page target by default, but since we wanted to write a script for a five minute short film, we adjusted that target down to five pages.

There are plenty of options for customizing the workspace as needed. When you open up Final Draft 10, you’re greeted with the main program window with a toolbar at the top and two sub-windows: the main story editor where you’ll add your text and the Navigator window where you can jump between scenes, find and add script notes and keep track of characters. In addition to formatting, Final Draft also offers robust organizational tools, script breakdowns and production reports to help with pre-production tasks beyond the actual writing of the script.

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