Story CS5.5
Publisher: Adobe
Platforms: PC & Mac
Description: Online Screenwriting Program
MSRP: Free (with CS5.5 purchase through April 12, 2012)
Expected Release: Available Now
Official Website: story.adobe.com
Tutorials: Click Here
Critique Issue: Issue #74 (02/12)
Critiqued By: A.J. Wedding
Final Score: 9.8
Screenwriting programs haven’t changed all that much in the last ten years due to the simple, specific nature of the necessary formats for scripts. But just like the iPhone, you don’t know you need it until you play with it. Adobe has taken screenwriting to a whole new level with Adobe Story, offering easy to use tools, multiple formats, synergistic workflow, and the ability to collaborate with anyone anywhere in the world. Although there are new updates every 8 weeks, this latest CS5.5 upgrade has really solidified what worked well and added some new features based on customer feedback.
- Adobe Story has real time updates for production breakdown information.
Ease of Use
If you’re used to most screenwriting programs, you will have little to learn with Adobe Story. All of the same basic formatting tools and smart character name recognitions allow you to start writing your masterpiece immediately. There is also an outline view for quick movement from scene to scene.
With CS5.5, writing with a partner is even easier than it was in CS5, and you can even set up permission levels to only allow them access to certain parameters, currently limited to reading or reviewing capabilities.. This is done very simply and becomes important when working with multiple partners or producers that you don’t want to directly edit your work. You can even access your scripts on your iPhone! (You can read them for changes and make comments, although, as of yet, you can’t actually change the script directly.)
You need not worry about limiting all of the exciting online features, because you can write offline very easily. (You will need to download a standalone AIR app first, but, after that, it’s simple!) You can write on a plane, in the woods, wherever your adventures take you. As soon as you are back online, Adobe Story will upload your changes. Simple.
- Many new script formats including multi-column for commercials and storyboards.
Depth of Options
The options are where Adobe Story truly shines, and where the CS5.5 update has done the most work. Creating multi-column scripts is now available! Used mostly for commercials or storyboarding, this option allows you to import photos or drawings to coincide with each scene. This accelerates your production planning by taking advantage of the metadata capture that Story does automatically. If you are an Adobe OnLocation user, now you can import your scripts directly into OnLocation for automatic shot list generation and Premiere Pro CS 5.5 for synchronization of your script with the footage you shoot for a word-searchable video file!
Some of the great updates seem simple but have great potential. One of the most difficult things about co-writing a script is that you’re afraid of what the other person has worked on or you sit wondering if they have done any work at all. Adobe Story can send you email notifications if anyone you have authorized has made notes or changes. You can then decide to accept or reject each change line by line! Not sure which version is better? You can compare different versions of your script side by side. Here in Hollywood, once a script is printed and handed out to the cast, any changes that are made are on a different color paper to replace each edited page. Every time there is a revision, a new color is used. Now you can use this same process by marking your script versions by color, no matter what part of the production or scriptwriting process you are in.
The metadata tagging can be done automatically or manually for virtually every aspect of your production. This allows you to generate virtually any kind of necessary production report from props to costumes, sets and locations. Everything you need to efficiently plan your production from the beginning.
Though not a new feature to the program, it’s worth mentioning to those unfamiliar with the first version of Adobe Story that you can even import scripts you have written in multiple formats, including Final Draft. It will automatically format them for you to use within the Story system and access all of the amazing features. Additionally, it supports custom script templates, so you can format things exactly the way you need for your particular project!
- Simple controls for revision marking and management.
Performance
Having been a beta tester for Adobe Story very early on, I can say that it has become rock solid in a few short years. Adobe has done a great job in truly listening to the people who work in this business and giving us a wish list of capabilities that many may have thought were just too ridiculous to ever come true. In my opinion, you simply will not find a screenwriting tool that has this many helpful and easy to use options.
- Online tutorials at your fingertips.
Value vs. Costs
It’s free…for now. But given the high cost of Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter, I would say that it’s worth at least as much. (And they cannot compete with this many tools in one package for folks who purchase the full production package!)
Closing Comments
The future of production is in people that are in it from start to finish. Microfilmmakers have been doing this for at least a decade. For people like us, a swiss army knife like CS5.5 and Adobe Story that can be there for us from idea to finished film is priceless.
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Breakdown
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Ease of Use
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10.0 |
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Depth of Options
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10.0 |
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Performance
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9.0 |
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Value vs. Cost
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10.0 |
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Overall Score |
9.8 |
AJ Wedding
A.J. Wedding is a graduate of Western Michigan University and has won festival awards for his first feature film, "Pop Fiction". As a writer/director, he has won several awards for his short films, and recently garnered worldwide distribution for a feature film titled “The Disappearance of Jenna Matheson” releasing this year. His hit web series, “Infamous” created an instant fanbase, and spawned interest from networks to create a tv series based on it. A.J. currently works with The Production Green, directing and editing commercials as well as developing his next feature film, "Junior Crew."
6 Comments
Hi my name is Charlotte, I would love to have input on writing one’s memoir. I’ve collected data back to early childhood but at a writers block on where to begin.HELP!
Hey Charlotte,
We deal more with actual film scriptwriting than autobiographical writing. Obviously, films often come out of memoirs, so that’s not a hard and fast rule. With that said, MWP does have a number of good writing books you can look at to get the juices flowing!
-Jeremy
Hi, i know this is not a very recent article but I’ve been looking around for reviews for this product and kept running into this one. I don’t know that I’ve been using the same Adobe Story that is being described here. The one I’m using is very primitive when compared to Celtx or Final Draft. The autotagging feature sounds wordeful but in fact Isn’t very reliable. It will tag things. It just won’t always tag them in the right caregory. Most of my characters were labeled as props last time I used it.
I believe this software holds potential. I use the creative suite for every project I undertake. It is very much my weapon of choice. Still, Celtx is a full featured pre production package (my personal preference), Final Draft is a mature screenwritting software and story has yet to implement index cards. Who knows if they’ll ever get into scheduling and budgeting. Which of course they should if adobe really intends to create a complete pre to post solution as they state in much of their propaganda.
Hopefully what we are looking at is the bare bones of what te reall adobe story will become.
Adobe still notes that they are not trying to create something that would replace a mature screenwriting program. Hence, the regular version is free. It’s main use is in getting script notes or working together with other writers. In those two areas I think Adobe has really done well. And the fact that you can input any script format means they aren’t stopping you from writing in another program, they just want to help you along the way. I’ve actually had many situations where I had a friend writing in Final Draft while I only have Screenwriter, and we could never share files. Now we can choose to import them into Story and work online, or simply use it as a tool to transfer the file between our two screenwriting programs.
Earlier versions of the program definitely had their glitches, and I can see how you could get some bad metadata tagging. Also, they set the program to work with the major screenwriting programs so if you imported a script from Celtx, it might not be very well supported yet.
The most recent version with CS6 has been greatly improved but I wouldn’t hold my breath for budgeting software to be implemented. They have added some scheduling and reporting capabilities, but they are only available to Story Plus users.
“Adobe still notes that they are not trying to create something that would replace a mature screenwriting program. “-As an IT expert I must say that version 5.5 indicates mature version. Only alpha or beta, or v.1 can be considered to be unstable, unfinished, test or earlier versions.
“Adobe still notes that they are not trying to create something that would replace a mature screenwriting program. “-As an IT expert I must say that version 5.5 indicates mature version. Only alpha or beta, or v.1 can be considered to be unstable, unfinished, test or earlier versions.