Screenwriting on the iPhone • Part 1

This is the first of a two-part post I plan on throwing up about screenwriting on the iPhone and I want to be clear up front that there is *no* way I’d ever try and write anything of size on such a small device – the scale of the screen and keyboard would become very maddening, very quickly. But if I could use a full-size, Bluetooth keyboard this would be a very different article.

That said, I do find myself without a laptop often enough that the iPhone can be effective in some situations. And there are actually a couple of decent ways to work on a script using the iPhone.

The most obvious of these is Screenplay, the only screenwriting application currently available for the phone. After a disastrous first version that crippled (among other features) spellcheck, they’ve released v2 which is much more inline with traditional programs like Final Draft and Screenwriter.

As you can see from the picture above, the main screenplay elements are included in this app. But, unlike FD et al, there is no way for the program to intuitively know you’re writing Action, for instance. Instead, you’re forced to define which field you’d like from a UI at the bottom of the iPhone’s screen. In addition, you need to preload your character names, locations, etc. if you want to easily be able to reference them in the future.

Which is the crux of Screenplay’s problem – the major feature that all of us using professional screenwriting apps appreciate is ease of use. When I start typing in a main character’s name, FD immediately indents, capitalizes, etc. – without any input from me. What takes zero steps in a real screenwriting program becomes multiple steps in Screenplay. Multiply this by the number of times you switch between location, action, character names, dialogue and – whew – you are looking at a lot of effort. And before someone screams about FD and Screenwriter costing exponentially more than Screenplay, I’ll point out that Celtx is able to accomplish this as well – and it’s FREE.

I’d also point out that there are various ways to get your stuff on and off the device. You can upload a screenplay to your website, manually enter that URL into the app, and download from there. Or you can use their own “dedicated screenplay storage account”, which is described as being “currently provided free of charge”. So keep that credit card handy if you wanna jump on that option.

But none of these methods are as easy as competitors like Writeroom (which is what Part 2 of this article will cover). All require (surprise, surprise) a maddening amount of effort on the part of the writer – which is just another way to say it’s gonna suck up time when you could be writing.

Which is why this app isn’t something I find myself using very often. Sure, it was cheap enough to take a chance on (I bought it when it was $1.99 – now it’s $7.99). But does it actually help me accomplish anything?

Nope.

So, if you’re looking for a screenwriting program for the iPhone, I’d check out Part 2 of this article which covers a very worthy alternative that – ironically – is more suited for screenwriting than the app called Screenplay.