Best screenwriting app for Mac/iPad

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Any suggestions out there for the best app to write screenplays/plays in?

Thanks :pray:t2:

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I think Final Draft is still the best. I haven’t used it for some time though, it is proprietry and was quite clunky in some ways. It produced good results though. I used it on Macs withouth trouble. I am not very up to date I am afraid these days.

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Though I can’t speak from personal experience, afaik Final Draft is still seen as the industry standard. But a lot of people also seem to like Highland 2, which was developed by the screenwriter John August. It’s quite reasonably priced ($50 USD one time purchase), but it’s still Mac only.

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Scrivener does that.

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Thanks for the suggestions here. I’m specifically looking for a non-subscription app, initial purchase fine, that:

  • is not too complicated, but allows a newbie to easily get started.
  • preferably works on both Mac on iPad Pro - but it’s not a must

Thanks again

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I think Slugline is a good option for you, it’s non-subscription, very easy to use and works on Mac and iPad.

Scrivener is also a great option, it has a Screenwriting mode on both Mac and iOS.

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You could also just do it without an app at all. Like in the ‘olden days’. Just learn the conventions and do them manually, you get quite fast very quick suprisingly. There is, in fact, something to be said for doing that: you learn economy and the basic format which is, actually quite simple.
Again it is some time since I did anything of this kind, anything sellable you produce will have to be put into some industry standard form anyway eventually, bear that in mind.

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This is a good point. After I’d used Final Draft for a few projects, I understood that I could have just as easily set up my own word processing template with custom styles, and that would have gotten the job done just about as well, at least for my needs.

That said, and as you also suggest, if you’re faced with the choice of using your start-up time to either learn how to set up a custom word processing document or to learn how to use a pro tool like Final Draft or something similar, I’d recommend the latter, especially if you know you’re creating work for others who may require that you know and use that tool and may eventually require you to be able to collaborate in that tool.

I’ve never had to comply with anybody’s tool choice. I’ve always written stage play scripts and small video projects that allow me to choose whatever tool I want to use. Sometimes I use Scrivener, but mostly I’ve used Final Draft. I like some of the script-specific stuff that it does that would be difficult to do in a general word processor, like auto-filling character names, showing overlapping/simultaneous dialogue, etc.

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Free - and access to plugins. Really good!

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This looks really promising, thanks for sharing. Interesting that they’ve also added a Novel mode.

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The person behind the app doesn’t like Apple very much :smiley:

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Beat is now available for iPad as well, but unfortunately as a paid app (12,99 USD/EUR for lifetime) to support the development. The macOS version will still be free forever.

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Welcome to the forum. I bought the Beat iOS app and is going with Beat, thanks

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I saw this after it was posted, but I would have gone a different way…most of the apps mentioned are basically copies of Final Draft or Highland presented in a slightly different way. I mostly write screenplays on my iPad Pro, and my favorite app is TwelvePoint (www.twelvept.com). The app for the iPad is perfect for a portable device…it’s totally designed for a touchscreen and even has external keyboard support, which is really a nice touch. There’s also a version for the Mac.

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FadeIn is a good option. I wrote an article on best writing apps (8 Best Writing Apps for Mac in 2023 | appsntips) a while back. It’s not up to date but I remember FadeIn to be a good option

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