😬 bet they pay alright too

Yes, Final Draft is, in actual fact, absolute pish. (I still use it because I hate myself)

then I'm at a loss as to why anyone would object to writers using it tbh. Has that happened before, in your experience?

see I'm the guy who doesn't even really know what that means so all I can do is nod while being quietly impressed

I would have thought Fade In would be fine. It's the formatting standard that matters to them. Final Draft is actually extremely shit buggy software and nobody should be beholden to it as such. Can Fade In save in fdx format that can be opened by Final Draft?

Love that. It is 100% some poor fucker's job to copy that shit out into FD but maybe that's actually fine!

Yeah that's self-defeating levels of gatekeeping tbh. You could be missing out! (I've never worked for a production company that's offered to pay for a FD license for a writer, but then I own it so I wouldn't know!)

Oh also nobody gives a shit about any of this in theatre and there is absolutely no need to own or use Final Draft if you're writing plays, in fact some people even find doing so looks a little try hard and weird so simply do not bother 👍🏻

As in [semi-ironic use of an archaic expression of agreement within urban youth culture] and not as in [generic Microsoft word processing software]

Word

Learning how to use Final Draft will not make you a better writer. It will in some ways help you function within a context where your writing is professionalised. These are not the same thing.

But it should be self-evident than none of these things will improve your writing. And it's also the case that doing writing as Job is not the only meaningful way to do writing!

That's not necessarily bad or wrong advice. It should be considered alongside other advice like you should learn about rates of pay, what to expect from a general meeting, how to submit a self-assessment tax return. These things are Job Things and you need them if you want to do Job.

Forget the AI bit for now because fuck that, but on FD: sure. There is a ubiquitous software that formats your work within an industry standard that - in screen - people often expect and require. If you want to work in that field you should learn how to use it, or something similar.

Trying to think, in a less polarised way, about what the version of this advice that is not totally shit would be, and I think it's something like: if you want to write scripts *as a job* there are some things you should learn how to do that have *nothing to do* with being a good writer

Still shit, shit chat whichever!

[Withnail at the bar voice] what FUCKER said that??

He should stay exactly where he is, his skin growing ever more glowing through a constant diet of local olive oil, perfect tomatoes, sunlight and popular adulation. Why trade that for the rain-drenched fuckery of the Engligh Premier League? Immortality and legend status over an inflated paycheck.

When all is said and done, here is a guy who simply loves a beautiful dude