Using Final Draft CollaboWriter

Since most of my resent day-to-day work has been writing with writing partners, I’ve been using Final Draft’s ‘CollaboWriter’ function. What a genius idea! With this tool, and the use of skype, you can co-write a screenplay with anyone in the world!!! It really is truly marvelous!

I’ve been using Final Draft for five years or so and really do love it. But in using the ‘CollaboWriter’ function I’ve found a load of bugs in the system. It seems crazy that Final Draft hasn’t sorted these out, but here are the problems I encounter:

• In CollaboWriter mode you can’t undo!!!
• No commands work – I’m so used to using short cuts that this takes a while to get used to!
• Can’t change settings – i.e. elements need formatting and revision modes  need to be set before hand.
• Randomly changes format… Formatting (Character, Action etc) Stays okay with the person in control but the person watching will have dialogue as action, action as scene headings etc etc…

That aside, the program has really helped me enormously.

Over the last 12 months I’ve been working with three different writing partners. With one, we have to use the program. He’s based out of England and earns his main ‘bread and butter’ as an airline attendant. As a result we have been writing a screenplay with him sitting in different parts of the world each week! My next writing partner, Ms Kathy Fischer, lives just fifteen miles down the road and yet 75% of the time we sit in our respective offices and write using the program. For us we find that it is extremely focusing. When we come up against something that has us stumped I jump in the car and we will work face-to-face to sort it out. But, even then, sitting next to each other, we’ll use CollaboWriter - we’ve just got used to seeing what each other types. And then there is Nick Maggio, with whom I wrote SIN OF MAN which the Willis Brothers are currently taking out. Nick HATES collaboWriter. And I mean HATES!!! He can’t stand me being able to see the words as he types - he gets very self concious. He wants to get his thoughts on a scene down before I can begin to formulate my ideas and punch ups… I’ll write a scene, he’ll write a scene, and then we will go back and review - for me, this way of working is just as fun and productive as using CollaboWriter.

So, Final Draft CollaboWriter might not be for everyone, but it certainly makes my life easier… I just wish they’d sort out some of the bugs.

If anyone else has any experience working with writing partners, or software to aid the process, then feel free to chime in!