Metadata gets creative with Adobe’s
collaborative software
Store Plus Build 1091
Website: www.adobe.com
Price: $9.99/month
Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later
At
the heart of Adobe Story is a powerful, cloud-based screenwriting tool also
available in the free version.
(+) Free
version offers full-featured screenwriting for those on a budget. Tight
integration between script and schedule. Offline mode for working without an
Internet connection.
(-) Web- or
AlR-only interface. Can be sluggish to respond at times. Plus version requires
subscription, no standalone version available.
Hollywood is a veritable poster child for
Apple products, where Macs have long been favored over Windows PCs, from
scriptwriting to post-production. Adobe has offered solutions for the latter
nearly forever, but it only recently dipped its toes into the former with Adobe
Story. Available in free and subscription-based editions, Story attempts to go
beyond simply writing a screenplay or scheduling a production, uniting both in
a collaborative workflow that will help producers see their vision through from
inception to completion.
Story lives in the cloud. There’s no
Mac-native desktop app, but because it’s written using Adobe Integrated Runtime
(AIR), you have a choice of using a modern web browser (Safari, Firefox, or
Chrome) or an AIR-enabled build for Mac and Windows. Subscription-based Adobe
Story Plus can work offline when you use the AIR app. Coming from an old-school
film production background with Final Draft and Movie Magic, the web-based
workflow was initially a turn-off, although a younger, always-on generation
accustomed to Google Docs will surely feel more comfortable with the concept
right away.
For those of us still living in the past,
Story is happy to import files from just about anywhere, including Microsoft
Word and the aforementioned Final Draft and Movie Magic. In fact, Story can
create a variety of documents, including character bios, synopses, even
pitches. The Ul is familiar to users of Adobe Creative Suite, with projects on
the left-hand side that can include any number of document types.
Story
is happy to import files from just about anywhere, including Microsoft Word and
the aforementioned Final Draft and Movie Magic
For film or TV scripts, you can get started
with a template, which you can alter to your satisfaction and save for later
use. Opening a script in Editor view shows an outline of scene changes at left,
with the script itself rightfully dominating most of the screen.
Competing applications first need to export
script data in order to use it in schedules or other production tools, but
Story integrates everything in one place using metadata. After creating a
schedule, just select the script you want to link to, and within seconds, scenes
appear in a table, ready to be rearranged. Story shines in its ability to
generate production reports, which can be as simple as a cast list or locations
needed, to more extensive options including a full character breakdown, a beta
feature that worked great.
The true power of Story becomes apparent
under the pressure of an ever-changing production. Last-minute script changes
can be synced back to any linked schedules, all by just saving the screenplay
and then clicking Sync from the opened schedule. Adobe also allows a team to
collaborate on individual documents or entire projects, with granular controls
over which user can access what by tagging them as a co-author, reviewer, or
reader.
New
Adobe Story and the Future of Script Writing
Although powerful, Adobe Story isn’t quite
perfect. We were unable to get any further than logging in using Safari 6,
although Story worked fine in the Chrome browser and desktop AIR app. Because
it’s web-based, Story tends to be less responsive than a native Mac app, occasionally
missing button clicks, for example.
The bottom line. Adobe has gone a long way
toward making film and TV production more seamless, but ultimately we’d still
prefer Story to be a native Mac application. But it’s a worthy rival to
standalone tools, especially for those who need to get things done quickly.
