The Frugal Networker

WriterDuet
WriterDuet.com
Collaborative Screenwriting Site
Free

[This post is a product spotlight and not a review]

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Guy Goldstein has created one of the best screenwriting tools that I’ve ever seen and used. I’ve used several: Celtx, Final Draft, Microsoft Word with Screenwriting Template, and Sophocles, to name a few. One of the cool things about WriterDuet is that you can collaborate in real-time with someone else on a script. You can immediately see updates, chat, share ideas, and more. This means that your writing team no longer has to all be in the same room or on the phone trying to fumble around with some white board or screen sharing program.

WriterDuet has an easy to use, intuitive interface that gets you going fast. You really need almost no experience with screenplay formatting to use it–it helps but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

And Guy listens to his users. I wrote him that I’d love to have the ability to create an outline and have a place for notes. He created it within a few days and emailed me back for feedback. The new tools were perfect and exactly what I was looking for.

It’s a true collaborative tool that I’d recommend to anyone who writes scripts alone or in a group. To me, WriterDuet is like the WordPress of screenwriting: easy, unencumbered, and free. Well, it’s like WordPress with one notable exception: Guy responds to his emails. So, there’s that.

To see WriterDuet in action, check out the video below and meet Guy Goldstein face-to-face (virtually speaking).

As you can see from the image (right), the interface is clean and ready to help you on your way to screenwriting success. There’s a built-in spell checker, all the screenwriting features you need such as parentheticals, actions, dialogues, character, and more. If you don’t want to type, you can click the microphone icon and speak your script to get a feel for how your dialogue sounds as it’s written to the screen.

You can download your scripts to PDF format or into a variety of other popular commercial screenwriting tool formats. There’s also an option for uploading your scripts so that you can collaborate on them.

So, what more could you want from a cool screenwriting tool? Well, how about an offline version? You know, a standard, installable software version of this great tool. That’s exactly what Guy is working on now. He’s started a Kickstarter campaign to help fund it.

If you decide that you like WriterDuet and that you’d like an offline version, please go to his Kickstarter page and help fund it. Or if you’d just like to help out a young man realize his dreams in exchange for a few dollars, I’m sure that he’d be OK with that.

Personally, I love WriterDuet. I love its professional design. I love its simplicity. I love its price. And I love the fact that Guy is trying to make this incredible tool even better by creating the offline version. I think that WriterDuet is the perfect screenwriting tool and its enhanced features (collaboration, notes, chat, voice chat, voice dictation, downloads) make it even better.

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