February 97
by Albert Kim

If Orson Welles were alive today, he'd have an agent at CAA, a three-picture deal with Miramax, and a copy of this sleekly efficient screenwriting program loaded up on his PowerBook. Long the choice of industry professionals (Oliver Stone used it to write Nixon ) and now widely available, Final Draft is a screenplay creator that automatically formats scenes and dialogue into standard Hollywood script dimensions. It's lean yet surprisingly powerful, switching to the correct font and margins for each script element, renumbering scenes (after the inevitable  juggling you'll do), and memorizing characters' names (type the first few letters and Final Draft fills in the rest). So for all of you who are just sure you've got a Citizen Kane inside you (and who isn't?), sit down in front of this program. It'll do everything but type Rosebud for you.