I get the feeling we’re being forced to do everything online these days. A rumour tells me that we’ll even use full Microsoft Office online soon (as opposed to Live Writer). Why keep any software on your computer when you can just use what’s available online?

The advantage is when you’re on the road and you want to add some great/recent thoughts to your screenplay. Instead of booting up your laptop, you can just go to the hotel front desk, hand over your room key for an obligation to pay for time spent online and away you go. It’s quicker and you didn’t need to buy any software.

It’s always accessible (see disadvantages below) and it doesn’t matter if your own computer isn’t working or your software has developed a fault.

You can share your screenplay with other writers; you may be collaborating on your next million dollar project. You can both add to it online without having to send emails to each other with the latest version after your changes.

The downside is that you have to be online. Your laptop may work on the beach, but can you get a wireless connection poolside? What if you’re in one of those countries that still believe that 56k modems or 1meg speed is sufficient? What if you cannot get a connection – you can’t write? Whatever speed your mega computer runs at, the online software will never have as many special features as the full software version – or will it one day?

The two recent online screenplay software species released recently are ‘Plotbot’ and ‘Five Sprockets’. I’ve tried both sets of online services and yes, to my surprise, they both work well.

Five Sprockets aims to give you a full movie making experience through story development, pre, post and actual production until final distribution.

Plotbot is slightly easier to use online giving you all the options you need for scenes, dialogue, action, sluglines, transitions and editing your work, but it feels like this website is aimed at the sub twenty year olds who want to have yet another Facebook type option to meet and talk over with their friends while writing their masterpiece. It does claim to be a ‘social screenwriting tool.’

Both allow you to get your work out and into Final Draft (Movie Magic as well for Sprockets) and both allow you to work with collaborators. Plotbot doesn’t import your work from Final Draft, but no doubt that will follow by the time this ink is dry. Both can export to your favourite word processor.

The tips and help is better on plotbot, presently, but the Five Sprockets community will no doubt build to provide all answers at some stage.

You’ll only know which software is best for you once you’ve tried them for a few hours. You may like some quirks and hate others. You might like the advantages but the disadvantages might outweigh them for your own use.

I’ll settle on one of them for future use, but occasionally look over them both as time matures. It’s good to have the opportunity to use screen writing software online, but I’m not convinced I want to be online all the time I want to write.

Here’s where you can find the online software for screenplay writers:

http://www.plotbot.com/

http://www.fivesprockets.com/

Both sets of online software allow you to get to a finished script, in the format required. However, I think I’d rather just use my computer with the latest version of final draft as its ease of use is so much greater. It feels quicker and has so many extra features. You can use Celtx if you can’t afford software for your computer.

It would be interesting to hear of your thoughts after trying the online software. It will also be good to hear from both companies to tell us who they believe their target markets are.