Best Screenplay App
I’ve used other script-writing apps, and I can attest this is the one to get. Here’s why:
- Dead simple UI
- Great beat board features
- Syncing across platforms is unparalleled
- Some feature parity and text selections issues in mobile, but none that are dealbreakers.
- Dead simple UI
- Great beat board features
- Syncing across platforms is unparalleled
- Some feature parity and text selections issues in mobile, but none that are dealbreakers.
Love it
I love the app, the only thing that kind of really annoys me is the paywall on everything. Especially for those of us who are just starting.
Used to be Amazing
Arc Studio was my favorite screenwriting software until the updates for the free version rolled in. Now, you can only access the free version on a browser—annoying but I can deal with that—and you are only allowed two free scripts. Two. I switched to Arc Studio from WriterDuet for the same reason except they at least allowed three under the free version. This isn’t even a free version anymore it’s a free trial. I’m an aspiring screenwriter so it’s not like I’m making bank over here lol. I’ll have to find another software which saddens me cause I really liked Arc Studio. I’m not saying everything should be free cause I know the people who worked hard on this app need to make money too, I just don’t like that I’ve poured a lot of time into scripts on this app and now the changes make it unusable for someone unable to pay what the app is asking for (a lot of money).
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Say Goodnight, Final Draft
Arc Studio Pro is the app that Final Draft should aspire to. It’s clean, neat and elegant. It helps you focus with your outline to the side and helps you with the pre-writing (populating character names, creating bios, as well as locations and story arcs.
This is a fully featured app as opposed to the extremely watered down version of FD. It allows you to take snapshots, tracks your revision history and creates a character arc timeline which allows you to see the journey of your characters across the entire script.
I highly recommend that you do the pre-writing because it will give you a clear path forward. Some people like to go for it, and the program allows that flexibility.
The app also keeps track of your writing activity and nags you when you’re slacking off (at your direction, of course).
It writes Final Draft files as well as Fountain files, which FD can read if your production company insists on using Final Draft.
The yearly subscription is well worth it.
This is a fully featured app as opposed to the extremely watered down version of FD. It allows you to take snapshots, tracks your revision history and creates a character arc timeline which allows you to see the journey of your characters across the entire script.
I highly recommend that you do the pre-writing because it will give you a clear path forward. Some people like to go for it, and the program allows that flexibility.
The app also keeps track of your writing activity and nags you when you’re slacking off (at your direction, of course).
It writes Final Draft files as well as Fountain files, which FD can read if your production company insists on using Final Draft.
The yearly subscription is well worth it.
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Finally, a true challenger to FD…
I’ve been writing professionally since 2007—I’ve seen my share of apps and somewhat gimmicky programs that purport to replace Final Draft once and for all. Yet they each have fallen short in one area or another and eventually, they disappeared and/or their developers stopped caring—the updates ceased to innovate and grew few and far between.
I’m thrilled to say that we may finally have a “winner”—for certain, this is the closest that anyone has come to taking on the evil corporate behemoth that is FD. While the mobile version isn’t quite as inspired or robust as the desktop app, it’s still a real joy to write using it. And that’s the key to Arc Studio’s success: they found a way to make a genuinely beautiful screenwriting app that is stable and enjoyable to use. They topped it off with a suite of brilliant features I’ve never seen in such a piece of software—the Stash is something I use all the time. It’s ingenious yet simple—and that’s, perhaps, my favorite facet of Arc Studio: the elegant simplicity, the streamlined UI, the fundamental understanding that the vast majority of writers don’t want to look at (and become distracted by) a complex toolkit of bells and whistles while they’re trying to write. In essence, the makers of Arc Studio know what to keep “under the hood” in order to help you get the most out of a writing session.
I’ll end with a simple feature request (and it might be there already, I just can’t find it): in the iOS version, please give us the option to look at our scripts in page view, as opposed to a slightly disorienting scroll! (When I’m working on a long feature project, I like the ability to see its pages.)
Thank you for all that you do—particularly the weekly updates. It’s a great sign that those behind the app are always innovating it and striving to make it better.
I encourage anyone to try Arc Studio. I bet during your free trial week, you’ll be won over, just as I was.
I’m thrilled to say that we may finally have a “winner”—for certain, this is the closest that anyone has come to taking on the evil corporate behemoth that is FD. While the mobile version isn’t quite as inspired or robust as the desktop app, it’s still a real joy to write using it. And that’s the key to Arc Studio’s success: they found a way to make a genuinely beautiful screenwriting app that is stable and enjoyable to use. They topped it off with a suite of brilliant features I’ve never seen in such a piece of software—the Stash is something I use all the time. It’s ingenious yet simple—and that’s, perhaps, my favorite facet of Arc Studio: the elegant simplicity, the streamlined UI, the fundamental understanding that the vast majority of writers don’t want to look at (and become distracted by) a complex toolkit of bells and whistles while they’re trying to write. In essence, the makers of Arc Studio know what to keep “under the hood” in order to help you get the most out of a writing session.
I’ll end with a simple feature request (and it might be there already, I just can’t find it): in the iOS version, please give us the option to look at our scripts in page view, as opposed to a slightly disorienting scroll! (When I’m working on a long feature project, I like the ability to see its pages.)
Thank you for all that you do—particularly the weekly updates. It’s a great sign that those behind the app are always innovating it and striving to make it better.
I encourage anyone to try Arc Studio. I bet during your free trial week, you’ll be won over, just as I was.
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