Writing screenplays is different from writing novels. Without proper software, you’ll end up spending too much time fiddling with the physical format. One page of your script should be one minute of screen time. First-time writers will want to keep the length of their scripts to around 110 pages.

If you don’t follow the prescribed rules, the script reader will automatically hate you. It shows you don’t have enough wits to honor the system. And if the reader hates you without cracking the spine on your new Magnus Opus, you don’t stand much chance.

For the longest time Final Draft has been the only alternative on the OS X. A buggy and mis-engineered mess of code, it’s still been popular with many. Its file format has become a de-facto standard, much like Microsoft’s Word format.

On the PC, there has been the wonderful Sophocles app that sadly seems to not be actively developed. It’s a fast, intuitive program that somehow manages to just do what you want as you type. Shifting from action to dialog to new scenes: all flawless.

In fact, it’s been so good I’ve been using it on my Mac under Parallel’s PC virtual machine. This works nicely, but it’s kind of a drag having to run a PC program on the Mac just to edit plays.

But perhaps there is hope. Lately, I’ve been trying out Montage for a bit. It seems to bring you into the flow just as well as Sophocles and its gorgeous OS X interface brings out that internal smile of yours, so long hidden away while dealing with Final Draft’s clumsiness.