Arc Studio Pro

So, I got a wild hair that pushed me to try out different script editors for my audio drama scriptwriting. Thus far, I’ve used CeltX, Trelby, Drama Queen, Fade In and Llama Drama Studio. I decided to look at what else is out there and found a couple more that I haven’t tried, so I’m giving them a shot. I’ll write an episode of my podcast, Boston Harbor Horror Presents, in each of them and see how they shape up. I am, BY NO MEANS, a professional reviewer, nor am I doing this on behalf of any company. Also, when it comes to a lot of the bells and whistles that come with these programs, I haven’t used them. For a peek behind the curtain, I utilize Moleskine and similar-style notebooks for all my initial ideas, notetaking, and fleshing out the overall narrative for each season. I also utilize Microsoft OneNote for digital record and note keeping so I can share with collaborators (if and when there are any). So, for my purposes, the scriptwriting software is specifically for formatting options and ease of use. I’ve downloaded Arc Studio Pro, KIT Scenarist, Scrivener and opened a Writer Duet account. Today I will be talking about Arc Studio Pro.

From their website:
”Arc Studio Pro automatically formats your screenplay to industry standards, even if you don’t know what they are. It’s super-easy to use for beginners and fully-customizable for pros.

Fully automatic, industry standard page layout and text formatting

Import and export Final Draft, PDF, and Fountain

Use intuitive shortcuts to format your text perfectly and effortlessly

The most advanced autocompletion on the market: Character names and sluglines automatically completed for you, for faster typing and consistent naming.

Elements are chosen for you based on what's most likely, and can be configured.”

I will go step-by-step through my process in using this software. The website was easy to navigate and the download and install was quick and seamless. Creating a new project is fairly straightforward: you can import a script that’s fdx, fountain, pdf and Word, or create from scratch. Since I had already written over half the episode I was going to work on tonight, I decided to import it. I exported the original script as fountain from Llama Drama (which ran a format similar to UK stageplay with everything left-aligned) and imported it into Arc. When I loaded it up, Arc re-formatted it to the typical center-aligned film script we’re used to seeing. It also captured all of the actions I had in place, read scenes and divided them into easily accessible cards, and read and organized all the characters for me as well.

Writing in the main screen was simple. I used the Tab key to quickly switch between Scenes, Actions, Characters, Parentheticals, and Dialogue; and the default color scheme is black with white text which is a preference for me (I use Dark Mode on everything that has it). Everything is autosaved within the app and it runs backups to your computer at regular intervals (which you can adjust). The downside I noticed was that the cursor speed seems a bit laggy. Almost imperceptible, but I sometimes caught myself over-backspacing what I, or that the text was showing up slightly after I was done typing them.

All in all, I wouldn’t mind continuing to use it, and I may explore its features more fully on my next project.

Price: Free for basic functions and 2 scripts, $59.00 USD per year for the full version.

Website: https://www.arcstudiopro.com/