I bought, rather it was bought for me, Final Draft 8 a few weeks ago and have been wading through the features and functionality of it since.  I use to write souley, and still like to from time to time, on Sophocles... After Movie Outline came into view, I bought it and never looked back.  I had experienced massive problems with my time on Final Draft 7 and it caused me to pretty much forget about the existence of it all together...

Anyone who has used or uses final Draft 8 should instantly see "some" improvements to the structure and ease of use over Final Draft 7.  Final Draft 8 is the last 8 years of screenwriting software honed to near perfection.  It is missing some key elements that make Movie Outline my personal all time favorite -- Such as the character generator and the free form auto format fix that allows you to write and write and write and then, systematically, goes back and fixes your spelling, grammar and anything you might've missed.  For that MOL is easily the best software you can buy for screen writing in my opinion.

Now, as for FD8; it's got a great navigator, a great new set of tools to customize the overall look and feel of your script as you write it... It's got index cards, which are always welcomed.  It's got a pretty slick spell checker that allows you to choose your own language preference and tons ,tons more.

What I don't' really like about it --

The title page isn't locked. By this I mean, if you screw up a line and have to redo it... You're gonna screw the entire pages format up. They also don't justify your contact information to the standard right... I hate when I see scripts justified to the left. It really nerves me.

Another thing that might hang people up, but shouldn't, is when people say FD8 doesn't save to PDF... It does. You just have to print to PDF. Sure, it's not as easy as I'm use to, but it is there.

I really like FD8 and it offers me "almost" everything Sophocles offered me, and clearly more than Celtix, Scriptbuddy, MSscript & Movie Magic ever could... It's fantastic software with absolutely no crashes or bugs to be seen on my end thus far.  If you have Movie Outline or the money for it, skip FD8 or ask me for it. I kidd... I do... I kidd... I've already been hounded enough for free software. "ha"

But if you don't and want the next best viable software on the market... Go for it. Sure Sophocles is still better in some ways, but what it lacks FD8 has in spades in other areas.  I'll always love the user generated feel of Sophocles; being able to color coordinate my text, script scenes, page colors and the way it handled notes and how you could easily generate log lines with it; but FD8 has a lot of those options too... Just not as predominate in certain areas.

FD8 ---> 8/10 :  

My opinion if you bought FD7 as I did you should automatically get a free upgrade.

I have thought of upgrading my FD7 to FD8, but after I thought about it I decided that I don't really need it. No matter how good the software is, it isn't going to help me come up with stories.

I reserve the right to change my mind at any moment however.

I don't know. I like Final Draft 7. It's great. Lol.

I get to write one scene. Then, I have nothing to follow it up so I move onto another project with such ease.

I think I'll probably stick with this forever. Lol.

I have FD8. It’s my first screenwriting program so I have nothing to compare it to. I’ve always just written my stuff. I don’t need extras like colorful text or index cards. All I’ve ever really needed is courier font, spellcheck, and a dictionary. No program can really help me with research so I’ve never placed a great deal of emphasis on screenwriting programs.

I like FD8 okay. I like having my dialogue justified automatically. I even like the overall look of the FD format. And it allows me to put any producer at ease with regard to format by simply saying the script is written in Final Draft. I don’t actually use anything other than the basics though. I have my own way of organizing a story and I doubt any software will ever use my method. My method is either ingenious or retarded, I’m not sure which yet.  

I will say I’m disappointed in the thesaurus. I honestly thought such a new program would have a much better thesaurus. My old Microsoft Word dictionary is more useful for coming up with synonyms.

I’ve only written two features on it, one for a development company and I’m finishing up the first rough draft of my next original feature, my follow-up to “Tormentor.” I’ve also written a couple of shorts, mostly just for fun and experimenting with the new software. The first thing I wrote on FD8 was “Drivel Stick” to test it out.

So far I’m satisfied with FD8 but time will tell.


Breanne