Script It screenwriting software

Not long ago, we reviewed a product called Movie Outline, which was an exhaustive but expensive screenwriting program.

Script It is a more accessible, more affordable product from the same company. It's aimed at anyone who has ever harboured ambitions to take on Hollywood screenwriters at their own game and provides lots of built-in help for beginners.

The program's main component is a special word processor specifically tailored to producing documents in script form. If you have ever seen a screenplay for a film or TV programme you'll know that dialogue, directions, scene headings and so on all adhere to a strict set of formatting rules.

Script It handles that side of things, providing easy access to all the formatting tools needed to produce an industry-standard script. It also intelligently predicts formatting as you type, guessing when it's a character's turn to speak, for example, and formatting the text accordingly. The net result is that it's much easier to concentrate on the creative side of things without having to worry too much about the technical aspect of producing a ‘proper' script.

In addition, Script It comes with good features for constructing stories and arranging ideas. The Scratch Pad, for example, can be used to organise various character notes, research and so on. There's a character name generator, a glossary of industry terms and scene-by-scene analysis of three existing screenplays: Ghost, Spider-Man and Scream.

Script It was created under the guidance of a professional screenwriter, and this experience shows through in the program's simple, tabbed interface and its eagerness to demystify and streamline the script-writing process.

At £50, Script It is a cheaper investment than Movie Outline, which costs £130 and is aimed at established writers. Whether you need such a program at all depends largely on whether or not you have any aspirations in this area.

As such, it's definitely something of a specialised product. But if you think there's a screenplay inside you waiting to come out, but are frustrated by the mechanics of putting it all down on paper, Script It could be just what you've been looking for.

Script It is available for download from the Nuvotech online store