Sophocles Screenwriting Software User Reviews
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"The Best"
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Pros
Reasons this is better than Final Draft:
1. One of the most impressive features -- automatically formats parentheticals, which Final Draft doesn't do (you don't need to tab between them and dialogue).
2. If you have written a script in .rtf, .txt, or .html format, you can import it effortlessly into Sophocles and the program with format it perfectly (very cool).
3. One click to create perfect Adobe, .txt, or .rtf documents of your script of small memory size.
4. Great user interface -- avoids that clunky zoom feature in Final Draft. Edit in one window and Print Preview in another. More comfortable for those used to Word processing software like MS Word.
5. Lower cost. About half of what FD costs and a better quality product.
If you're looking for software that will create perfectly formatted screenwriting documents with little effort, this is easily your best choice.
Cons
Quibbles:
1. I wish it would allow you to insert notes in between the text, like on word processor, instead of just attaching them to scenes.
2. It could use a much more sophisticated Find/Replace feature, like in MS Word, but no screenwriting software has that, that I know of.
3. It runs perfectly in Windows XP. That previous reviewer didn't know what he was talking about. I have owned this program for several years and it has never crashed once.
4. Another reviewer complained about the watermark on printed pages??? Well, duh. This is not free software, so print output is disabled on the trial version.
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"Allows you to worry about your story, not format."
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Pros
A previous poster mentioned trouble using program with Windows XP. It works fine on my XP computer. Purchased three years ago. Ease of use would be my top compliment. This was one of the best buys I've made, regardless of the outcome of my still unfinished screenplay!
Cons
Anyone hoping to print their product from the demo mode is out of luck. I understand the designer's reasoning... after all, if you could do everything in demo mode, why would anyone purchase the software?
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"This product will not be useful to users of MicroSoft products."
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Pros
Despite the glowing reviews others have given this software, I am unable to rate it on it's own merits.
Cons
My experience with Sophocles is limited to my computer (an M/S XP unit) telling me that the program is not a win32 compatible program and cannot be opened by Windows.
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"An excellent and professional tool."
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Pros
Easy to use. User friendly interface. Excellent help menue. Very good hot key implementation. A professional tool in a light weight and easy to use software.
Cons
The demo does not allow export of text and watermarks the printed pages. But this is understandable.
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"90 day trial"
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Cons
In addition to other limitations, listed on the download page, this program's trial ends after 90 days.
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"too expensive, and water mark in demo"
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Summary
Sophocles is amazing software. Not one program can match how useful and how many features this program has. There are some problems. Unless, you pay $120, you can't export, and their is a bold black watermark, when you print, blocking what you typed. I would reccomend Drakkon Script Creator. It is not as fancy as Sophocles, but you aren't very limited in the demo.
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"GREAT"
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Summary
Its a great program to use Highly recomended
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"Superior screenwriting softare."
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Summary
The software makes it so easy to write for theatre or screen, you need only an idea and list of charactors to devlop a full working script. If you have a working script conversion to this softare is simple and recommended as it allows you to easily bounce from scene to scene, between plot points and/or charectors, to ease the burdon of developing a seamless and well organized script.
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"good screenwriting software."
Version: Sophocles Screenwriting Software 2003
Summary
Of the several I've evaluated, this is the only scriptwriting software I'm considering buying. The $120 is a tad steep as I'm only dabbling in screenwriting and I don't think the playwrighting format is in the demo. This is a complete standalone scriptwriting word processor, which intuitively helps you format as you type. It will keep your dialogue from running through a page break, learn character's names and try to guess what you're doing next, automatically put parenthetical directions where they should be. Although I didn't find it in the demo, the help file states that you can format simultaneous dialogue in columns, a very nice feature. There are tons of document analysis options telling you word count, character list, running time, number of lines per character, where your dyad (two person) scenes are...who interacts with whom, and apparently some powerful versioning and production formatting (which I can't completely comment on, not being in the business) which apparently will print out just the updated pages all involved need when the script changes.
The interface is divided in half with the script on the right and an explorer-esque outline tree on the left which allows you to write synopsis of each scene and notes as you go, so you can easily produce a quick outline and rearrange scenes with a simple drag-and-drop.
This is not the type of program that tries to teach you how to write a screenplay, rather a powerful and fluid way to get your ideas down without having to bother with page format and hitting the tab key repeatedly to line up columns.
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