Sophocles Screenwriting Software
October 5th, 2005
by Carl Hose
A New Kind of Screenwriting Software.
Sophocles is a new screenplay software program that emphasizes the writing process. While other script writing software puts the focus on margins and page breaks, Sophocles was conceptualized from the start as a story creation tool for screenwriters. By allowing you to easily navigate and manipulate your story elements, Sophocles helps you craft a tighter, smoother flowing screenplay—from Sophocles.
Sophocles opens to a work space featuring two panes, one on the left, one on the right. The right side is where you type your script. The left side shows an overview of your screenplay (scenes by default, but you can customize which elements of the script you want to view here), plus two additional windows where you can write synopses and notes for each scene individually. Clicking any element in the overview will take you to that point in the script.
In addition to standard word processing stuff, Sophocles is packed with extras. There's a split view so you can check out two different scenes in your script at once, plus three types of lists (characters, dyads, and scenes) and four types of reports (outline, statistics, characters, and locations) that allow you to keep track your screenplay from start to finish. Your story notes and synopses are incorporated into the script reports as you write, creating a seamless connection between the story development process and the finished script. Sophocles is a screenwriting program designed with the writer in mind, bottom line.
Sophocles has spellcheck and a true thesaurus. That means you get a thesaurus that, rather than simply spitting out a list of synonyms, allows you to view words in clusters and explore words along a path of word asociations, which gives you greater control over word choice.
Sophocles has both spec mode (for writing submission scripts) and production modes, which allows scene numbering, omitted scenes, and revision markings for scripts in production. Additionally, Sophocles has an extensive bookmark feature that allows you to bookmark selected elements of your screenplay and save them in named collections that can then be printed with a shaded background for easy reference.
Other features include duel column dialogue, a timing feature that estimates the length of individual scenes as well as the whole screenplay, and a title page editor. All script formats and elements can be modified to suit your needs. Sophocles works well when you copy text into it from another program, giving you several options for formatting the text, plus you can import rich text, text, or html. You can also output your scripts to Adobe pdf format.
The program is fully customizable. You can choose unique colors for each element in your script, you can customize which elements you view in the explorer window (the left pane), and you can dictate which font you want to view onscreen for your script, synopses, notes, and the story overview.
The cost of Sophocles is just $120.00 S ophocles has the best combination of story development tools, scriptwriting features, and production features of any other scriptwriting software on the market. I highly recommend it.
Visit Sophocles online and download a demo. If you like it, buy the registered version and support future versions of this spectacular software. Don't forget to read my interview with Tim Sheehan, the creator of Sophocles.
NOTE: The new version, which I have been testing for over three months now, is an entirely different take on what has been offered by Sophocles so far. It is much better than previous versions, offering many more features. Sophocles is simply the best screenwriting tool on the market, and the new version will make it the ultimate in story development, screenwriting software. I suggest you look into purchasing the new version once it becomes available.
Sophocles is a new screenplay software program that emphasizes the writing process. While other script writing software puts the focus on margins and page breaks, Sophocles was conceptualized from the start as a story creation tool for screenwriters. By allowing you to easily navigate and manipulate your story elements, Sophocles helps you craft a tighter, smoother flowing screenplay—from Sophocles.
Sophocles opens to a work space featuring two panes, one on the left, one on the right. The right side is where you type your script. The left side shows an overview of your screenplay (scenes by default, but you can customize which elements of the script you want to view here), plus two additional windows where you can write synopses and notes for each scene individually. Clicking any element in the overview will take you to that point in the script.
In addition to standard word processing stuff, Sophocles is packed with extras. There's a split view so you can check out two different scenes in your script at once, plus three types of lists (characters, dyads, and scenes) and four types of reports (outline, statistics, characters, and locations) that allow you to keep track your screenplay from start to finish. Your story notes and synopses are incorporated into the script reports as you write, creating a seamless connection between the story development process and the finished script. Sophocles is a screenwriting program designed with the writer in mind, bottom line.
Sophocles has spellcheck and a true thesaurus. That means you get a thesaurus that, rather than simply spitting out a list of synonyms, allows you to view words in clusters and explore words along a path of word asociations, which gives you greater control over word choice.
Sophocles has both spec mode (for writing submission scripts) and production modes, which allows scene numbering, omitted scenes, and revision markings for scripts in production. Additionally, Sophocles has an extensive bookmark feature that allows you to bookmark selected elements of your screenplay and save them in named collections that can then be printed with a shaded background for easy reference.
Other features include duel column dialogue, a timing feature that estimates the length of individual scenes as well as the whole screenplay, and a title page editor. All script formats and elements can be modified to suit your needs. Sophocles works well when you copy text into it from another program, giving you several options for formatting the text, plus you can import rich text, text, or html. You can also output your scripts to Adobe pdf format.
The program is fully customizable. You can choose unique colors for each element in your script, you can customize which elements you view in the explorer window (the left pane), and you can dictate which font you want to view onscreen for your script, synopses, notes, and the story overview.
The cost of Sophocles is just $120.00 S ophocles has the best combination of story development tools, scriptwriting features, and production features of any other scriptwriting software on the market. I highly recommend it.
Visit Sophocles online and download a demo. If you like it, buy the registered version and support future versions of this spectacular software. Don't forget to read my interview with Tim Sheehan, the creator of Sophocles.
NOTE: The new version, which I have been testing for over three months now, is an entirely different take on what has been offered by Sophocles so far. It is much better than previous versions, offering many more features. Sophocles is simply the best screenwriting tool on the market, and the new version will make it the ultimate in story development, screenwriting software. I suggest you look into purchasing the new version once it becomes available.
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