If you’ve ever done any kind of screenwriting—be it for dramatic works or even documentary post-scripting—you’ll no doubt have resorted to one of two things: wrestling with Microsoft Word templates to get the formatting correct or handing over a hefty bit of cash for Final Draft, the industry standard software package for screenwriting. But did you know that there are alternatives? Alternatives like Fade In Pro.

For many years starved writers turned to Celtx as the free, open source alternative to Final Draft. Only problem: it wasn’t actually open source and it didn’t stay free. At time of writing the cheapest license goes for around $USD15 per month.

Enter Fade In Pro. Fade In Pro has that Steve Jobs’ era Apple magic: elegant simplicity. It has all the automatic formatting you want with very little clutter in the interface. Best of all you can purchase a full license for a one-time fee of $USD80 (a cross-platform Mac/Linux/Windows license).

There’s one more extremely appealing aspect: it’s free to start with. You can download a fully-functional demo version today. And to date there’s been no time limit on the demo version, so you can drag your feet on purchasing for as long as your conscience permits (or at least until you want to print out your scripts without a watermark).

And before you convince yourself that the product must be for the amateur crowd alone, take a look at the accolades by industry heavyweights like Rian Johnson of The Last Jedi fame.

Fade In Pro includes multiple templates for different formats and styles, so you’re bound to find one that suits your project. Many of the included formats adhere to the submission requirements of Hollywood studios.

So how easy is it to use? Well, rather than tell you, we thought we’d show you. Go ahead and download a copy of Fade In Pro, then watch our 15 minute survival guide to get up to speed with the latest features. Watch the introduction here on the site, then follow this link to the second half on moviola.com. As is always the case, the moviola.com training is completely free—Moviola’s gift to the film community.


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