Screenwriters Online
Insider Report
Fall 1995
PAGE 57, 58

Screenwriting Tools of the Trade
DRAMATICA PRO

Dramatica Pro lists for $399.
Check around, you can find it for less.
(Ask us, we may offer this on our site)

Built by Screenplay Systems 1-800-84-STORY

We're sold! I know reviewers aren't supposed to be so unabashed about software they test, but frankly Dramatica Pro is the best thing to happen to story telling since Eve gave the apple to Adam!

Calling it Brilliant! would only diminish it's true value to writers of any kind.

Dramatica pokes you, prods you and forces you to be a better writer. Here is a cyber writing partner of extraordinary proportions. For those of you who saw Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, It's not unlike Chazz Palminteri's portrayal of Jennifer Tilly's bodyguard. Here we're lead to believe that the real playwright is a talented writer when in fact, the true artistry and brilliance resided in a ghost writing gangster who, incredibly, turned out to be a genius with the soul of an artist, the heart of a warrior and the high stakes commitment of a killer. In the case of Dramatica Pro, however, the talent, the inspiration, the writing comes from you and stays with you. That never changes. However, the pathway, the construction, the challenging comes from Dramatica Pro. Using Dramatica forces you to consider your story on many different levels, in ways you may never have considered. It helps you draw out the story you really intend to tell. Sometimes Dramatica is a stern teacher, other times a loving, fabulous collaborator.

Have I gone overboard on this? Well when you find software that is as intuitive as this is, its difficult not to develop a Pygmalion complex.

When you're lost in your story somewhere in the third act, in the middle of the night and you don't know what to do next -Dramatica does. It takes you right back to the basics and asks the questions you need to ponder. It makes clear the cavern you need to cross. You build the bridge out of your talent, ideas and craftsmanship, it is simply the faithful guide.

You can also think of Dramatica as a blueprint. With it, you create a multidimensional framework out of the story you have given it. Then, you can view your story from a variety of angles. This allows you to see the weaknesses and strengths of your character, plot and theme. For a writer, it's an MRI; useful for analyzing your story or existing screenplay. (It does the same for novels, stage plays, fiction.- anything that has a story.) It's one wonderful ally.

Dramatica Pro is based on a revolutionary theory that a 'story is analogous to a single mind solving a specific problem.' The developers, Melanie Anne Phillips and Chris Huntley, believe that 'all coherent stories contain an infinitely flexible yet finite set of elements- like a story alphabet.' Following this line of logic, Dramatica Pro defines the elements required to tell a well constructed story, how these elements are related, and how they interact. These are based on established story theories and formats. Dramatica Pro then generates Reports which diagnose the story from a variety of overviews and perspectives relating to character, plot and theme. These reports aid you in designing and telling a complete story. All of it is based on your thematic preferences, your emphasis and story telling style regardless of format.

(All Reports are exportable to Macintosh or IBM - Windows word processing programs for further editing, pondering, rewriting, polishing et al.)

Dramatica promotes story telling integrity by separating Storyforming from Story-telling. This is very important. As we all know, this is where we can get screwed up. Storyforming (their terminology) is the act of creating the dynamic relationships that make a story work. Storytelling is the art of telling your story in whatever medium you choose (novels, stage plays, screenplays, short stories, etc.)

Here's the distillation. Dramatica Pro creates a story skeleton by asking you a series of multiple choice questions on your screen which are specific to genre, plot, theme and character. There are over thirty thousand potential Storyforms that in the end are narrowed down to one. Which one is determined by how you answered your questions. The Story Engine gathers all of the choices you've made and creates a model based on character dynamics, plot dimensions and thematic disciplines. The whole thing is reflected back for your consideration. You view the big picture and can see these relational dynamics at work and how they affect your story.

Sounds great, right? What's the downside? The downside is time. The learning curve is steep. Many of you might say, "Jeez, I could have written the damn thing by now." ( Do I know my readers or what!) I would advise resist this attitude. I have no doubt that when you are up to speed with this, its like a Ferrari at 110 mph. It purrs. Need I admonish, everything really worth mastering has its challenges. With Dramatica, the payoff is gold.

Dramatica, good doctor that it is, gives ample sugar with its medicine by making it fun to use. Dramatica Pro has a full color, icon-based graphical interface that appeals to the video game player in all of us. Its easy to use and practical, you just have to get into the mind-set. In order to do that, Dramatica Pro offers the user over 20 classic stories it has analyzed including Barefoot in the park, The Great Gatsby, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Charlotte's Web, Reservoir Dogs and Four Weddings and a Funeral. This will give you confidence in its ability to analyze and make predictions. Think of it as Dramtica's audition piece.

Here is Screenplay Systems' inventory of Dramatica Pro's diagnostic software tools:

· THE DRAMATICA QUERY SYSTEM:

Guides the writer through a series of interactive pathways in which they design their Storyform and illustrate its Story Points.

· THE STORY ENGINE:

Contains every dramatic element and dynamic relationship necessary to create a complete and cohesive story for any writing format. It instantly reflects the impact of individual creative choices on a story's "big picture" while keeping character, plot and theme in sync and "predicting" missing Storyform elements based on writer's priorities. An author can make one change in the Storyform engine and instantly see the dramatic impact that change has on the rest of the story.

· CHARACTER BUILDING:

A set of tools which help you develop "four-dimensional" characters whose Motivations, Methodologies, means of Evaluation and Purposes describe their story roles and relationships with each other.

· BRAINSTORMING:

These are tools which allow you to create various Storyforms ( or "storyblueprints") based on a limited number of answered questions.

· STORY ANALYSIS & COMPARISONS (VOL. I AND II):

As we said earlier, here are twenty classic novels, plays, television programs, and movies which have been "broken down" and analyzed using Dramatica Pro. This should prove Dramatica Pro's ability to "predict" the dramatic elements which occur in a good story. Here's the nifty part. With the click of a button, you can see which of these classic stories share the same dramatic and structural elements as your stories.

· AN EXPLORATORIAL HELP FEATURE THAT PROVIDES THE ENTIRE THEORY OF STORY ON-LINE:

Package also comes with a 90 minute audio cassette tape covering theory basics, an On-Line Bulletin Board System (BBS) software for Dramatica users to ask theory questions, download software updates and new story analyses, and rap with other users. Plus a Dramatica Storyforming Journal with insightful articles and writing tips and a Dramatica Table of Story Elements which is very useful for beginning users.

In the end, I think software like Dramatica Pro helps your talent soar. You become a story in action. It takes the weird worrying out of the process, thereby saving your energy for creativity. And, it clearly raises your IQ a few degrees (maybe you won't have to get that MA or Ph.D. after all)

"Script Doctor on a disk", that's what I say. The great thing about Dramatica Pro is you get all the credit. No sticky Writers Guild arbitration for story credit, and it doesn't want any of your fee (unlike some other friends you may have tested your story ideas with.)

Dramatica Pro, the CyberCure for writers block. This is the best software of its kind that you're going to see in this millenium.