Simple, clean, CHEAP.

QUICK SUMMARY:
Highland has a clean interface. Writing with Fountain, which interprets most things without help and interprets the rest easily, required a very short learning curve. It’s seriously easy.
+ conversion into PDF and Final Draft file
+ .fountain extension can be read by ANY text editor, which rules

LONGER VERSION:
Like many aspiring screenwriters, I spent serious money on Final Draft when I started out. I also use Celtx when working within a team, since indie filmmakers rarely want to spend much on software. Why, if there’s an alternative?

Now, as I wrote more and more, I found that I’m doing my best writing in plain text. I wrote in notes, in icloud pages, in google docs… then copying that into Final Draft was annoying and took some time to format.

Through the Scriptnotes Podcast, I heard of HIghland. Now that I have my first ever paid screenwriting gig, I knew I needed to upgrade from Final Draft 8, but the update clocked in at $80… quite a lot for someone on a budget. Plus, my co-author works with Movie Magic, causing serious concerns regarding compatability. I love the Scriptnotes app as well as Weekend Read, so I figured I should trust John August in developing a screenwriting app that I’ll be able to work with.

… and I was right! You can quickly jump from edit to preview, the conversion is amazingly fast so you see if something doesn’t look right, but at the heart it’s just plain text. You get a Fountain syntax cheat cheat, four buttons (edit, preview, word count/page number, export), have dark mode, and much more.

If you’re on a budget and enjoy plain text writing - THIS is the app for you!

Jay_Ez about Highland, v1.9.4