'Screenplay' iPhone App Review

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Many writers have dreamed of penning the perfect screenplay, one that will catapult them into fame and out of the misery of obscurity. Rarely, however, does one complete such a screenplay. What holds these writers back? Some say lack of drive or family support, but RCR wondered whether the real reason was the lack of a good iPhone app.
Thus, with heady determination and plenty of support from his mother, this reporter downloaded “Screenplay,” a $4.99 app for the iPhone developed by Black Mana studios, and spoke with several screenwriters about their writing habits and whether they would find an app helpful.
The major benefit of a screenwriting app is its omnipresence; a writer’s lack of notebook or pen becomes unimportant. “I’m struck with ideas everyday,” says Washington, D.C., screenwriter Erica Mountain. “A screenwriting app would be awesome.”
But with the iPhone’s built-in notepad, why shell out $4.99 for an app that will do nothing more than spell out words? The answer is in the formatting.
In screenplays, action, dialogue, and transitions all must be placed at certain indentations, in a certain font. Various names or actions are capitalized in different places. Here is an excerpt from the 1980 comedy “Airplane!”

Attempting to manually format in such a way on the iPhone would be ludicrous.
Black Mana Studios’s tagline for its product is, “Write the next blockbuster movie directly on your iPhone!” After spending half an hour imagining myself saying witty things at press junkets, I was excited and ready to write my first feature screenplay. Here was the opening screen of the app:

I clicked “New Script,” and gave my creation a title:

I searched for Johnny Depp’s cell number online, but couldn’t find it, so I went back to writing.

I added my characters into the “characters” tab, then clicked “New Scene.”

Once I was done, I was ready to begin my masterpiece:

The bottom of the screen provides buttons that allow the user to switch easily between the different parts of a screenplay, which necessitates certain formatting changes. Once a character is introduced, users will never be asked to type that name again, which is a nice touch, but anything less would be unacceptable.

The red insertion line is a nice touch, as it allows users to quickly make changes between lines, which could have proven a burdensome task with less thought-out applications.
Another nice feature is the “Undo” button (seen below), which pops up with a simple shake of the iPhone. This is possibly my favorite quirk of the program, as it feels intuitive and often comes in handy.

Once I started writing, however, I realized a screenwriting app had several drawbacks. First, when inspiration struck, getting it down took much too long compared to the lightning-quick onslaught of brilliance flowing through my mind. It was frustrating.
Peter Putka – an EMMY award-winning New York screenwriter – expressed another problem, one inherent to all apps. “There’s not enough space on the screen,” he told us, and he has a point. Below is the most text I could fit on the phone, utilizing the app’s fullscreen mode.
That’s not much text at all, and one imagines that if there were a long scene, constantly scrolling back and forth would prove tiresome.
When asked what they would look for in such an app, the No. 1response by screenwriters was compatibility with screenwriting software. The app is compatible with Final Draft (both forward and backward, claims the company), but whether it works with other software is unknown.
Final Verdict: The app is probably worth the $4.99, but don’t expect it to replace the software on your computer (or even your netbook). Its optimal use was best articulated by Brad Abraham, a screenwriter based in New York. “Often when I’m out, an idea will occur to me … so I could see a screenwriting app be a great way to get those ideas down. It could be handy for [that] stage of the process, moreso than actually writing a screenplay.”