Screenwriting with Montage 1.5
Budding screenwriters hoping to write the next action-packed blockbuster have a few hurdles to overcome. Besides the obvious creative obstacles, movie screenplays have a strict formatting structure and deviating from it is potentially suicidal for new writers breaking into the industry. Mariner Software’s Montage is a screenwriting application which allows screenwriters to write without worrying about technical formatting rules. Montage takes care of that part for you — you just have to supply the story.
Upon launching Montage, one the most striking aspects of the application you’ll notice is the native Mac interface. I wouldn’t normally bring this up, but it’s notable because most professional screenwriting applications are cross platform and as a result not only look like bad Windows ports, but lack OS X integration with services like the inline dictionary and spell check. Montage has both of these, as well as .Mac integration and Spotlight indexing support.
But Montage isn’t simply a pretty interface. The application has all the expected screenwriting tools you find in competing applications — tools like automatic script formatting, title page support, and return/tab key-based navigation — as well as a few unique ones. For example, Montage has a useful Scene View mode for viewing and editing scripts. Unlike the normal Script View, which emulates how the document looks when printed, Scene View in Montage visually breaks down the script into sections, making it easy to spot where individual scenes begin and end.
Users of other screenwriting programs will be familiar to the other viewing modes available: Outline View organizes a script into scenes for annotation and easy reordering, Character View displays all the dialog and scenes for a certain character, and Location View shows all the scenes of a given location. Extra tools not directly related to screenwriting integrated with Montage include a contacts manager, a tasks to-do list, and a research file depository.
The best unique feature of Montage is the Smart View tool. The tool works like iTunes’ Smart Playlists feature. You dial in certain variables and Montage automatically calls the portions of your script that adhere to the values and displays them. Montage also has a full screen feature for editing and writing — a useful tool noticeably absent in most of it’s competitors.
Key tools which Montage has trouble with are change tracking and page locking. Tracking changes is essential when collaborating with other writers or managing different drafts. Similarly, when going into production, a script is often locked so that subsequent rewrites during production do not change page numbers for existing scenes. Montage has neither of these essential screenwriting features.
Montage is relative newcomer in a field where two giants, Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter, have dominated for over twenty years. To compensate for this, Montage not only supports import of common text files like Rich-Text Format (.rtf), but also Final Draft (.fdr) files. For output, Montage can export MS Word (.doc), PDF, and Final Draft format (.fdr). Sorely absent is HTML export.
My evaluation of the Final Draft support was disappointing. My testing revealed many page synchronization issues, especially when a character’s dialog overlaps onto two pages. The formating inconsistencies are minor when exporting to Final Draft files, and worse with import. The issues are magnified with longer scripts.
The biggest problem with Montage has nothing to do with the application itself. It’s the competition.
Montage costs about $150. It’s costly for a word processor, but somewhat fairly priced compared to other professional screenwriting applications. This is precisely the problem. Montage costs roughly the same as its industry standard competitors, yet does not have the feature set or industry support to warrant its price. Final Draft and Movie Magic ScreenWriter, considered by most to be the industry standards, both retail for about $175. Both may not have the native Mac goodness of Montage, but nonetheless are solid applications with tools that professional screenwriters need and Montage lacks.
For the price-conscious non-professional who can deal with the lack of key features like page lock and change tracking, Montage is even more unappealing. There are a plethora of free or inexpensive solutions that match or beat Montage’s feature set. For example, the open-source Celtx is a cross-platform solution that offers nearly everything Montage advertises for free.
Montage costs $149.95 USD (A downloadable version is also available for $139.95) and is available from Mariner Software.
It’s refreshing to read reviews that don’t always gush about how great the product is. I like knowing I can depend on you to bring great apps to my attention, and warning me away from weak apps I might be considering. Great job!
More on that last point:
Pages and Scrivener both have screenplay templates included. They work well enough in my experience. I’m not sure if Word has one by default, but free templates exist online.
There are also free online screenwriting tools like scripped.com and zhura.com
Scrivener is a far better deal than Montage, and does screenplay automatic formatting.
I have tried to articulate the same conclusion several times at MacUpdate and Versiontracker to no avail. Someone from their team monitors comments and responds in kind. However, when you try to point out that they’ve priced themselves out of the hobbyists range and run too close to the juggernauts without being prepared for that fight, they only get defensive. I think this app could do well in an everyone-is-welcome price range. But it seems to be off the table. It’s sad, the app is beautiful and feature rich… but I sure can’t justify a switch.
That’s because we’re not monitoring forums, we’re monitoring YOU. Muhahahahaha!
Seriously though, we chose to target Montage 1.0 at the spec script writer. But even though the vast majority of scripts never make it to production, we always get these comments. So look for improved support for production features in 2.0.
Monitoring forums and blogs is just a way for us to keep up with what our customers want and respond to criticism. We don’t mean to sound defensive.
Anyway, if any of you would like to help us bring innovation to this stagnant market segment we would love to have you participate in our beta program. If you are interested, come see us at http://marinersoftware.com/sitepage.php?page=120
thanks,
Todd Ransom
Montage Development
Seriously, do you think we just pulled our price point out of thin air? Do you think we didn’t put weeks of due diligence into evaluating the competition, analyzing the industry, and structuring the price to attract our target customer?
And by the way, the $175 retail price reference to both Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter, is a bit low. Check their web sites, check the Apple Store…
Final Draft – $229
http://www.finaldraft.com/purchase/
Screenwriter – $225
http://www.screenplay.com/p-29-movie-magic-screenwriter-6.aspx
Montage – $140
http://www.marinersoftware.com/sitepage.php?page=104
We even have a competitive upgrade path that thousands of FD and Screenwriter customers have already taken advantage for $99!
Yes, there will always be freeware and products that “claim” they support screenwriting with a “feature.” Our theory is the screenwriter who is interested in enjoying a true “Mac OS X experience” will be able to figure out the differences, especially when compared side-by-side.
Logan Ryan
Mariner Software
OK, pardon me and allow me to be a little more objective.
Montage has some features that are really slick, for example, auto-detecting scenes, characters, locations, and so forth. I can go to the character list and see all characters, which scenes they’re in, put in notes for each character. Very nice.
However, Montage leaves a little to be desired in the interface, compared to Scrivener. For example, in Scrivener, when I’m typing dialogue, I hit enter, then hit enter again and it brings me back to action mode. Montage doesn’t do that. Hitting enter twice after typing dialogue brings up a menu, asking me to hit a command key sequence to proceed. This is a bit unwieldy from a usability standpoint.
My point is this (and backing up what Dave said): Montage has priced itself out of the hobbyist’s budget, while at the same time not giving people much reason to choose Montage over other competitors such as Scrivener ($40). Scrivener is really very good, and does pretty much anything a hobbyist writer would want. Montage offers some nice features, like I mentioned above, but not for $140!
By the way, I think it’s in poor taste that the developers show up to try to pitch their product and counter the unbiased review with explanations. Just take the review for what it is, and consider it constructive criticism.
I am trying not to be defensive here, but what the heck is a hobbyist screenplay writer?!? I don’t know of anyone who writes screenplays without the intention of getting them made into movies. There are hobbyist poets and short story writers and essayists, but novels and screenplays don’t get made by hobbyists very often. People who write these types of long projects usually want to see something happen with them.
As I said before, Montage 1.0 is targeted at the professional spec script writer. With 2.0 we are planning to expand this to support production scripts as well. If you think Scrivener is a better value then by all means buy it but I think you will find Keith is much less committed to the screenplay market than we are.
Todd Ransom
Montage Development
Whoa, whoa, whoa, CaptSalty…
Pitch our product? What are you talking about? That was hardly a pitch but more like a clarification of a point.
And I’m sorry if you think it’s in poor taste but I believe we are respectfully and professionally stating our case that we do not agree with some of the points of this review. Last time I looked the First Amendment allows us to do this.
Logan Ryan
Mariner Software
Well, at least you identify yourself as the developer, so readers will know your comments are biased. Hats off to you.
OK, this is going to be my last comment here. Here is what I am offering: if you think Montage shows promise but doesn’t quite do everything you want, come join our beta team and help us understand what you need from a screenplay writing product. We are committed to fostering innovation in this marketplace and hope you see the value to you in helping us understand what you need.
Todd Ransom
Montage Development
I’d like to comment on the first comment here. Yes, this review is an amazing one, but the comments are horrible! If you don’t like what the devs are doing, then great! Go tell your best friend, but reviews are supposed to help you, same with the comments. If you have constructive critisicm, then post it, but if you just want to say “oh, the devs are being defensive ughhh!” I think it is great when devs post comments here! Anyways, I’m not an admin or moderator here, but this is just my opinion.
I really don’t think that Montage is that expensive for what it is.
I apologize if I got out of hand.
My comments were meant to help my fellow consumers. I was simply pointing out that there are other options that are much more affordable for those people who might balk at Montage’s price tag. My point the whole time was simply that with other apps out there (Scrivener, $40; Celtx, free), Montage should offer QUITE a bit more in functionality, experience, and usability to justify the $140 price tag. Sure, they’re targeting the professional writers, which makes sense, because most students and hobbyists wouldn’t spend $140 I don’t think. But the question is, will professionals who can afford to spend hundreds of dollars go for Montage, or something else that has stood the test of time or is considered the industry standard (for example, Final Draft).
I hope Montage develops more, especially considering the competition that’s out there. Competition is always a good thing as it forces developers to improve their products, giving end users a better experience.
Thanks.
I agree, $140 is a lot, but some students pay $150 for Microsoft Office, even when iWork is half the price! In the review he says “Budding screenwriters hoping to write the next action-packed blockbuster have a few hurdles to overcome.” This makes it seem like this really is targeted at people who will try to write a real movie, so even in the review, he pointed out your point
Don’t mean to sound like a luddite but comment threads like this one make me yearn for the good ol’ days when we’d read reviews in a magazine and letters about those reviews in the next months’s issue. Everything seemed so much more civilized back then. The intarwebs have made catfights like this all too common. I’m eventually going to stop reading comments altogether.
Geez, maybe I should stop posting comments as well
Great review, BTW. I don’t write scripts, just novels, unpublished (still). Todd’s also created a good app (StoryMill) for that purpose. I’ve toyed with it and Scrivener (among other ‘writing’ apps) and will decide what to use when I start my next book. I’ll read the reviews (sans comments) at that time.
Cheers,
The problem with this review – and one that most non-professional writers don’t understand, is that neither Scrivner nor Celtx produce screenplays that are formatted well enough to submit.
I recommend buying a “Pro” app if I was spending hundreds of hours on a screenplay. In fact, I own all three, Montage, Final Draft and Movie Magic. Wouldn’t it suck to submit a screenplay that you’ve spent hundreds of hours writing, that wouldn’t even get read just because the formatting wasn’t the industry standard?
I guess a “free” or cheap app is actually really expensive
Montage is innovating and putting a pretty face on the previously stagnant and ugly screenplay software market. Outlines and structure based writing have been around in other programs for awhile but never in the major screenwriting programs. Movie Magic just added outlining and FD has announced they are adding it to their next version. The net result of this competition is that the writer wins.
Logan,
Don’t let anyone run-you-off here. I want to hear what everyone has to say, and make my own decisions.
Even though Montage doesn’t have all that FD and SW has to offer, they have make sales in order to continue to improve their product, as long as, I get free (or at least reasonably priced)upgrades–I’m happy to be a part of their evolution. Glad to see Montage giving FD and Screenwriter some competition. I’m buying Montage today and look forward to new features in future versions.
That’s all we can ask for, Santa Monica!
Thanks for the support.
Logan
I’ve used FD professionally for over 10 years and I am a happy switcher to Montage.
Yes, there’s a way to go on the feature front, but for the creative writer it’s better than FD. The Full Screen mode and scene and outline modes are ideal in that regard. I far prefer to get drafts done in Montage over FD.
As a producer I’ll export to FD and use that in production situations, at least until I get a look at 2.0 and what that brings.
Scrivener is great but is more of a general writer’s tool. Montage’s focus is firmly on the screenwriting business.
Finally, I certainly don’t miss the authorisation process FD had me go through, I have lost authorisations when Hard disks went south on me before. FD were difficult to deal with and in the end unsympathetic on one particular occasion, essentially forcing me to upgrade to a new version. This was their suggestion to restore my authorisations. I’ve owned FD from version 4. After a customer has been a regular purchaser and upgrader, to treat them as if they were possibly telling lies was just a relationship breaker.
I need to purchase a screenwriting program for my job and I’m really interested in using Montage (along with Mariner’s other programs). However, it sounds like version 2.0 is going to be the one that really steps it up to being a fully compatible/competing program.
Does anyone know what Mariner’s typical upgrade prices/policies are?
Hi Mike-
I can help here. Our upgrade policy is consistent to most every other developer in the industry where it is normally between 25-35% of the retail price.
Best,
Logan Ryan
Mariner Software
Thanks for the update, Logan.
Since the reason I need software is to edit and collaborate with a group of PC-loving writers already established in the industry, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to use what they use (Final Draft…) Is there any chance holding off to version 2.0 will allow the import/export of change tracking? And is version 2.0 expected to ship later in ‘08 or in ‘09?
-Mike
Hi Mike-
Sorry for the delay there. Just so you know we do have a ton of writing “teams” that use Montage because it both reads and writes Final Draft scripts and while we don’t a track changes feature yet, it is something we are looking at adding. I can’t assure you it will be in 2.0 but it is definitely on our radar. As far as a release date, we are hoping for late 2008/early 2009.
Hope that helps.
Logan
Hello All, Wow quite a precise conversation on this product
I am an actor that has some treatments from film school that I would like to see finished into actual scripts. I have had a very blessed year and have 4 theatrical releases this year. I now am looking for a screenwriting program that will be easy to use and very easy to construct these ideas into movies.
What would you guys say would be the right program for me as I see you have mentioned a few here.
P.S. I use a Mac computer not window based PC
Thanx alot. You can also, if you so wish, respond to me directly at
josh.emerson777@gmail.com