Prewrite; Finally, Screenwriting Software That Puts Story First.

As someone who’s becoming somewhat seen as an opinion leader within the break-in screenwriting world, I get approached by people all the time asking me to judge their competition entries, read their books, and try out their software. I almost always say no because their business operation is often predatory and against the interests of my peers or highly misleading and spreading information I consider dangerous to career development. I’m a working writer-producer so I know what actually makes a difference and perhaps that’s why Prewrite caused me to stop in my tracks and give it a second glance.

I can’t tell you how often I get asked to review books on “how to sell a screenplay” by people who’ve never sold a screenplay. It has turned me into a cynical husk of a human-being who often responds to those emails with a bark of “thanks but no thanks” before adding another name to my avoid list. Sometimes however, there’s something that catches my eye, looks promising, and results in me throwing a bone back. When I was asked to check out Prewrite, a browser based screenwriting tool designed to help screenwriters develop their story, my ears pricked up. However, I have my own well developed pre-writing system called Turn & Burn, something that’s proven critical in helping me break in, so I told the developers as such and their response was unexpected — they implemented my structure it into their software, humbling me in the process and giving me every reason to check Prewrite out, something I’m glad I did.