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 - Not worth $172This program is not worth $172. It's not even worth $60, which I've seen it on sale in some areas. It's basically a simple way of doing scripts. You can select things from the menu or hit hotkeys to write things like "EXT" or select which of the previous names you've written should come up. Guess what? You can do the exact same thing on any word program. Maybe there aren't any direct hotkeys to put in "CUT TO:" but for people who write a lot it will take just a second longer to put that in manually. In fact it does take faster than hitting a hotkey, selecting a menu, and maybe answering one or more questions offered by the program. Here's what I suggest instead of buying this program: buy a screenwriting guide ("How Not to Write a Script" by Denny Flinn is what I suggest) and then either buy or use a word program: Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word, take your pick they're all good. 3/4 of you reading this review will already probably have one of these programs on your computer. I give it two stars because it does what it advertises, and in that respect it works. Trust me though, just get a book on screenwriting and write in a word program according to what it says. That's basically this program, but $150 cheaper. Rating:  - Movie MAGIC ScreenwriterFirst of all I took a whole day (24 hrs. can be a lot to me) comparing this screenwriter to all the others through tech. sites, etc. At first Final Draft was looking like the runaway favorite, and I am sure F.D. is great. Just like Indie movie's however, big budget does not always mean big success. Secondly, I received the software and the "The Screenwriter's Bible" in 2.5 days. Time counts when your old formatter has given up its last line, and it wasn't a funny line either. If you can use MS Word you can use this software. Only suggestion is when making the decisions it asks you to make during installation: take your time. Rating: - good productMovie Magic Screenwriter is the first screenwriting software I have used. I think that it is a good product, and user friendly. I crank it up everyday, more than MS word. Only problem is the voices don't work. Rating: - Best screenwriting software for PC ever!I bought what is now Movie Magic Screenwriter way back in version 2 when it was called ScriptThing. Since then not once have I been required to pay for an upgrade and the functionality improvements have been amazing. So I went from 2 to the current 4.73 all on from my original purchase whereas a friend of mine with Final Draft has had to routinely pay for upgrades at each version number. It makes the formatting a breeze. Most of the changes in formatting are done simply by hitting tab or enter at the end of a line. And all the formatting is completely customizable. So you can decide what you want to bold or caps if you like making your writer's drafts a little different from standard. It also imports from a bevy of other formats extremely well. So if you have screenplay's you've already written in Word or Word Perfect it's no problem. You can have it print your screenplay to PDF, collaborate with a fellow screenwriter online, use the index card view to outline and plot out your screenplay. It's awesome. Whenever in the past I encountered bugs and reported them to tech support they've been quick to respond and I've seen the problem fixed in free updates. Try the demo, unlike Final Draft's Demo it lets you save so any work you put into a screenplay won't be lost when you decide to buy Movie Magic. Rating: - Tech support, customization, and upgrading is no problem.Unlike Final Draft, Movie Magic is properly supported, and for free, for registered users of this software. Movie magic will also allow the user to have their screenplay as formally or as skeletally formatted as the user wishes by using the Edit > Format property sheet. So if anyone doesn't want to have (continued) continued for action breaking across a page they can exclude or include that particular formatting detail. They can also switch off and on as many toolbars and speedbars as they wish. So you can have the application window all `bells and whistles' or as skinny as possible. It is a good idea to spend some time with the Edit > Format page and Printer Setup page to get a better insight to Movie Magic's flexibility. And users should keep up to date with the latest upgrades - for free to registered users - to avail themselves of any improvements to performance and elimination of bugs.
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