Animals in the production! We have added significant updates to the Final Draft screenplay importer as well as to how Dramatify handles stunt persons, body doubles and stand-ins linked to a character. Also in this update is new functionality for animals as well as character relationships.
The updated screenplay importer
The updated screenplay importer has gotten smarter and will do more when you import your screenplay or series:
- Checking data quality: the uploader now checks your data quality, so you have the option of going back and creating a better file
- Automatic character type suggestions: Through percentages, Dramatify sorts characters into different character types, so you don’t have to do it manually. You can always change them if you prefer.
It’s also easier to merge characters when the screenwriter has misspelt a character’s name, and several characters instead have been created. - Automatic set import and connections: As before, sets are imported automatically. Dramatify has however gotten better at guessing INT / EXT, cleaning up faulty set names (containing int/ext and time of day) as well as connecting to existing sets. It’s also simpler to link and merge different spelling versions to one set.
- Custom scene numbers: Although we suggest you number your screenplay, you can also number your screenplay during import. Dramatify now accepts almost any numbering system; 1, 101, 1001 as well as 1B, 101C, 1001D etc.
- Tags, scene items and the mini-breakdown: Dramatify now also imports tags from the Final Draft file, specifically any scene item and background/atmosphere cast. Each scene can expand to allow you to check and correct set, time of day, characters and background/atmosphere cast as well as scene items.
- Import script notes: If you have added any script notes, you can choose to import them to Dramatify’s script notes, edit them or delete them.
- Revision and revision colours: One significant update is the option of adding revision colours straight from the importer. You can trigger a revision, and Dramatify will keep track of revision number and colour, or manually select the revision colour. We follow the WGA 17 standard revision colour scheme.
- Import credit information: Another significant update is that you can import and edit any screenplay credit information.
Flush data
A new feature to make your life easier is Flush data. If you click on Production > Settings, you will find the section “Delete content from production”.
Here you can select to delete characters, sets, location and scene items in as well as all scripts, or one or more selected scripts. Perfect if you have made an early breakdown and extensive re-writing requires you to start anew.
Stunts, body-doubles, stand-ins and significant relations
Due to user requests, we have reworked the functionality of various roles attached to a character. As before, you can connect stunts, body-doubles and stand-ins to a character. What is new are:
- they can inherit the character name and number
- you can add a suffix to them
- they also can be broken down and scheduled independently of the original character
Also, you can add free-text relationships between characters to help team members quickly understand relationships and character groupings:
- Anna is the daughter of Fred
- Fred is the father of Anna
Animals as a department and scene items
More user requests have added Animals as a separate department and thus a category you can add scene items to. That also means that you can filter on Animals in the scene item list, in the scene items Day out of Day schedule as well as in the breakdown report.
More updates and tweaks are on the way. Stay tuned!