Using macros and custom indents, you could probably write your script in Microsoft Word, but I wouldn’t recommend it. There are a variety of scriptwriting software options, some of which are paid, some of which are free:
The industry standard for screenwriting software is
Final Draft. If this is true for you, congratulations on your writing job, but unless you can’t avoid it, I wouldn’t buy it because it’s a terrible buggy mess. Final Draft terrifies me. Don’t give them any cash.
When I was younger,
Movie Magic Screenwriter was my favorite. It was much better and less frustrating than Final Draft. But in my five years as a working writer, I’ve never heard of anyone else in the industry using it. Additionally, if you’re going to spend $200 on a screenwriting word processor (which you shouldn’t), it might as well be the one that everyone else uses.
Because it is free,
CeltX is used by a lot of people. Although I haven’t used it myself, reading scripts written with the program suggests that it lacks a lot of functionality and occasionally formats scripts strangely. So I’d be careful. Yet, a ton of
individuals talk up its cooperative and cloud functionalities. Therefore, I might be completely wrong here.
The last time I played around with
Amazon’s Storywriter, an in-browser screenwriting app, its functionality was completely lacking. Yet, it’s another
conceivable free arrangement worth looking at.
Since I had enough of
Final Draft for the last time, I started using Fade In recently. It has been touted as the new industry standard by numerous professionals and individuals in the industry. It appears that Rian Johnson used it to write the sequel to Star Wars. It
can do more than what Final Draft can (including importing and exporting in the format of Final Draft). Additionally, it does not appear to crash on you at critical times. Despite the fact that I have not yet worked much with the program, I am pleased with my experience thus far. The fact that it costs fifty dollars instead of two hundred is the best part. To upgrade from Final Draft 9 to Final Draft 10, Final Draft wants to charge me $79.95. Final Draft is a joke.