Excerpted from New York Screenwriter Monthly, May 1996

"Word for Windows 95 Add-on is 'Wiz' at Format
SCRIPT WIZARD for Microsoft Word for Windows & Windows 95
by Script Wizard Software"

By Ed Walloga

I had put it off for months. I'd ignored the hoopla, the Start Me Up commercials, and even my own curiosity in hopes of letting other less-patient users suffer through the bugs and horror stories. But by January it seemed safe, so I finally took the plunge. I switched over to Windows 95.

Imagine my disappointment when I found that my screenplay formatting program wasn't compatible. After all that restraint, the only program I couldn't get to work was the one program that really mattered! Thank goodness Script Wizard, developed by California-based Script Wizard Software, has come to the rescue, with a reissue of its top notch add-on program for Microsoft Word, this time rewritten to be compatible with both Word 6.0 (primarily used with Windows 3.1) and the Windows 95 upgrade.

One of the most impressive programs I've seen to date, Script Wizard is an add-on that gives dedicated script programs a run for their money. Easily loaded through Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, Script Wizard turns Microsoft Word into a screenwriter's dream, offering 12 professional script formats to choose from, including screenplays, teleplays, sitcoms, episodic drama, soap scripts, stage plays and A/V industrials. It also provides push button compiling of location breakdowns, "sides" (selected scenes pulled for a specific actor), cast lists and production revisions.

Even if some of these bells and whistles won't be used by everyone, their presence alone says something about the complexity of Script Wizard's programming. And perhaps more importantly, it provides the aspiring screenwriter with a professional program that they will not have to abandon as their career advances.

Users who are wary of adding anything to an existing program needn't worry; Script Wizard does nothing to alter Microsoft Word. In fact, you won't even know it's there until you choose to start a New File. Then you'll find a Script Wizard template added to your list of choices. Just click on it and Script Wizard walks you through the rest, beginning with an impressive list of script types to choose from, each illustrated with a sample page in case you're uncertain.

Once you've made your choice, Script Wizard sets you up with the proper format, throws its custom tool bars on the screen, kicks you off with a FADE IN: and waits for you to drop in your first slug-line, automatically capitalizing it when you do (i.e. INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT). As with most formatting programs, Script Wizard is designed to know that action usually follows a slug-line, and so it skips a line and formats accordingly. After that, it assumes that a character heading is next, followed by dialog, and so on. Should you decide to do something different, you can access any format you need with a mouse click on the special Script Wizard tool bar, or even more conveniently, with a few simple key strokes (called shortcut keys), such as Ctrl+Shift+D for dialog.

Script Wizard also uses shortcut keys to make typing character names simpler. If you were adapting Faust, for example, rather than type out MEPHISTOPHELES every time the devil speaks, you'd simply set-up Ctrl+M as the shortcut key and let Script Wizard do the rest.

Much of this is standard for script writing programs, but Script Wizard offers less common options as well. One example is the dual column dialog function, which comes in handy if two characters have to deliver different passages of dialogue simultaneously.

Script Wizard also stands apart in its superior pagination and scene numbering functions. You never need to worry about these items until your screenplay is done, and then a fully customizable page break and numbering program is a mouse click away. It allows you to choose whether or not to include "Continued's" at the top and bottom of the page, how to break dialog and which page number to start with. Scene numbering is treated with similar versatility. And if you need to insert, omit or revise a scene once your pagination is "locked," you can rest easy with the program's revision functions, which will create "A" pages as necessary to avoid throwing off your page and scene numbers. This is particularly useful for the independent filmmaker who may need to keep their cast and crew "on the same page" through several hectic production rewrites.

Equally helpful, and even more impressive, is the reports program, which will catalog and excerpt your script in a number of interesting ways. It will deliver breakdowns totaling the number of speeches and scenes for each character, print out "sides" for a specific character, and provide a location breakdown useful for budgeting and scouting.

The offer of a separate Production Pak promises additional reports that are "production company specific." It's curious, however, that one of these is a title page, an item that seems necessary for even the greenest of screenwriters. If a title page option is available in the standard package reviewed here, I couldn't find it, which means that you'll most likely have to format your own title page directly through Word. While no big problem, this oversight is surprising given Script Wizard's one-stop-shopping thoroughness.

Beyond that, however, Script Wizard provides exactly what every screenwriter should be looking for... a script writing program that not only serves their needs today, but provides them room to grow as they join the ranks of the professional writer. No one should have to get used to a brand new stand-alone program later in their career simply because they couldn't afford it sooner, particularly since they can get the best of both worlds today at an affordable price. And, luckily, that now includes Windows 95 users as well.