Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 Mac/PC quirks

[Canasian]

I use a Mac desktop at home and a Windows based laptop when I'm out and about and MMSS installed on both.

On the Mac version, there is no Script Analysis - invaluable for keeping number of lines character speaks. Tech support acknowledges this but there are no plans to change.

Also find the same screenplay has different number of pages even with exactly the same fonts, element styles etc. so I don't really know what a true page count should be. Tech support couldn't provide solution either.

If one worked exclusively on Mac or PC, you'd never hear about this nor would it be a problem... or am I just being too picky?

[LatteAddict]

Originally Posted by Canasian

or am I just being too picky?

I'd say you are definitely not too picky! Page count and page breaks are vital foundations of writing a script. And one of the biggest purposes of owning a dual-platform software is to be able to do just that: Go between the two versions without changes to the document (or to the result it produces when printing or exporting).
I have reported a few quirks to the Write Brothers since the release of 6.0, and while I think the Mac version is much better than the PC version, there are some hickups there as well.

Here's a question I would love for you to check out for me: Would you say that the difference between the script when opened in Mac and when opened on a PC is in a.number of lines that fit on a page, or b.differences in word wrapping, making some paragraphs grow or shrink by a line thus affecting the total page count (even though the same number of lines fit on a page)?
See what I mean?

About the script analysis: Yeah, that's sad. After all, that's just statistics and collecting numbers, and I really can't see how it could be hard to code a little module for that, to make the two versions exactly the same. If there's anything computers can do, it's counting stuff. And it's a really useful tool for many reasons.

/L.A.

[dpaterso]

Just asking... if you have, say, the same MS Word doc on your desktop and your laptop, is there any difference in document page count when you check this? Or is it only MMSS scripts that are different? Most programs take their page sizes from the default printer driver. Maybe there's a slight variation between the Mac printer driver and the Windows printer driver which is affecting MMSS's formatting/calculations.

-Derek

[Canasian]

Well, according to the Page Layout, the number of lines, the top and bottom margins are the same in PC and Mac. The first few pages were identical in each but for some reason, it just decided to start changing things on about page 4. I was able to reduce the difference down to less than a page by playing with the Windows/Mac compatibility button but it sure is unnerving when I switch back and forth and wondering whether or not I actually copied the right file. This was for a 106 or 107 page script, depending on the platform. Without the Windows/Mac compatibility, the difference was 3 or 4 pages.

In a 20 page treatment that I wrote, I used a different font than Courier and the difference was like twenty percent.

Not that I want to write a script without formatting software but it's nothing at all like Word, which is seamless for both Mac and PC

[dpaterso]

I can appreciate as how this is a problem.

But, while you're still working on a script, it's not really holding you back, technically speaking. It's just an annoyance that you're aware of. You can still port scripts between computers and work with them, yes?

And, when the time comes to print and post a completed script to a prodco or agent, or generate a PDF for email submission, you'll use whichever computer is best for the job (gives you the most desirable # of pages), yes?

Another question/test, if you're willing: when you generate a PDF on one machine and port it to the other, does it look identical? And vice versa.

-Derek