Software
Review: Movie Magic Screenwriter 6.0, Pg. 4
Performance
Other than the calendar incident mentioned above, and the few feature that were hard to get out of, I didn't notice much in the way of performance issues. The program itself froze up on me a couple times, but I was running it on an older machine, taking notes in Google documents, and saving screen captures. One might imagine that a program like this would take up a good deal of one's system, but I had a lot more freezes and delays using Adobe Photoshop than Movie Magic 6.0.
Value
Movie Magic 6.0 normally sells for $249.95, but it is currently being offered on sale for $179 at Amazon.com. There is also a free 5-day trial available on the Write Brothers web site.
The software requires a Pentium 300Mhz (1Ghz is recommended); Windows 2000, XP, or Vista; 60Mb hard drive space free; a video card with 8Mb or greater for full page view, and the internet for the iPartner function. So it doesn't take up a ton of computer space and resources, and works quite well even on older machines.
And has an easy-to-use module for finding one's place in the script.
Final Comments Movie Magic 6.0 might take a bit of getting used to, but it’s got a lot of great features. Although all the bells and whistles might not be suited for the low-budget filmmaker, I can certainly see why Hollywood types are giving it the thumbs up.
I’d encourage screenwriters to take the free trial for a spin, and if you find yourself using a lot of the special features – really using, mind you, not just fooling around - it would be worth buying the software. At the very least, the price has dropped significantly.
Ease
of Use
7.9
Depth
of Options
8.5
Performance
9.0
Value
vs. Cost
8.9
Overall Score
8.6
The
author of half a dozen screen plays, two novels, and a proficient
camera-woman in her own right, Monika
DeLeeuw-Taylor is Microfilmmaker's lead writing analyst and
one of our top film reviewers. When she's not writing a critique for
Microfilmmaker, she's writing screenplays for Viking Productions.
