Our Verdict
Fade In is a fully featured professional screenwriting app for Mac OS X , Windows , and Linux , and is price affordably . It has all the features you ’d get in the more expensive apps , such asFinal DraftandMovie Magic Screenwriter , and there ’s even free and paid iPhone , iPad , andAndroid appsavailable .
As an independent filmmaker for many years who has written screenplays in AppleWorks , Word , Movie Magic Screenwriter and , for over a decennium now , Final Draft . Fade In , fromGCC Productions , offers many of the same features found in the pricier apps , and far more than the loose and discounted ones , such as Celtx .
Like all major screenwriting computer software , Fade In makes it prosperous to just write ; it manage formatting of fit , aspect header ( such as INT . HOUSE – DAY ) , character names , dialogue and more , using the tab and return keys . It keep track of fictitious character names and locations , so you do n’t have to type them out all — just the first couple of letters . Fade In also supports CONT’Ds and MOREs , has a jolly good spellchecker and dictionary . you’re able to routine scenes , and there is a full screen mode that keeps you focus on writing . They also provide several templates , include screenplay , stage caper , television : half - hr situation comedy , and television : one - hour drama .
If you ’ve compose a script , or register a book on screenwriting , such as Screenplay by Syd Field , you recognize it ’s all about staying organized . Fade In bid the common organisational tools , such as creating index cards , or a list of your scenes . What I really care is organizing by color , and not just all the scenes , but by integral sequences , or import game points in the handwriting . I really like this fully customizable agency of organise a script .
This is especially utile when it come in to revisions , whether you ’re doing another gulp to tighten the book , or on - dress rewrites . In the rescript mode , you may lock pages or panorama , people of colour code the latest scene revision , and negociate everything . you may also create various report and breakdowns that are require for budgeting and programing . You ’ll be able to export into a format that can be easily opened by a variety of pre - production computer software .
A vulgar and growing trend in screenwriting software is the use of different apps . Final Draft is the industry touchstone , but many filmmakers and writers are turning to a mixed bag of apps , including Fade In , Celtx , Adobe Story , and more . This does have the potential to be unmanageable if your carbon monoxide gas - writer is using Celtx , while you compose with Fade In . The only unity when launch the script files is using Final Draft ’s .fdx format , or .rtf . Fortunately , Fade In can open , edit and export RTF and FDX , along with .epub , PDF , XML , and more .
In this age of cloud computing , it ’s great that you may access your script online or from another figurer via Dropbox . I like this , because Dropbox is proven , and I do n’t have to ante up a monthly or annual fee for a cloud overhaul on top of the monetary value of the app .
There are two Fade In Mobile apps , for iOS ( iPhone and iPad ) and Android , one is free and the other is paid , but has many more feature article . you may import screenplays you ’re working on in the screen background app via Dropbox , and work on more than one script at a prison term . I advocate going with the paid app .
Bottom line
With all the major features — and then some — found in manufacture standard Final Draft , but at a quarter of the cost , GCC Productions’Fade In is a great and affordable screenwriting app . It ’s ability toimport , edit , and exportation in the common .fdx format , is a vast addition . But what passes the giving test for me is that the program gets out of my way and lease me be originative , while handling the task formatting , organization , autocomplete typing , and more .
