Mariner Montage 1.2/1.2.1

Reviewed by Mike Hubbartt, © 2007

Mariner Software released Montage - their Mac-only screenwriting software – last year. Final Draft and Movie Magic are the two industry standard screenplay programs, so it will be interesting to see how Montage fares in head-to-head competition with the professional writers. Mariner released the version 1.2 update in late February, then followed with release 1.2.1 a week later to fix issues that cause the application to crash in full screen mode.

Getting Started

I reviewed Montage 1.0 for MacAddict last year, so I was familiar enough with it to want to review version 1.2 for macCompanion. The only item in the package is a CD., which contains the application and documentation. Mariner offers a printed copy of the manual for $15, which is reasonable and I appreciate they let me decide whether or not I need it – manuals in PDF format are a better choice for most people, especially since this product is so easy to use.

I installed version 1.2 of the software from the CD and after it launched it brought up a dialogue box asking if I wanted to check for updates and I said yes, and the 1.2.1 update downloaded and installed. Nice and clean – just want you want in a good application, and something we often see with good Mac software.

After starting version 1.2.1, I opened a script created with Montage 1.0 and encountered no problems viewing and editing the script. Next, I wanted to test the improved support for importing scripts created by other programs Final Draft and Movie Magic are the two main industry standard screenwriting applications, so Mariner should support writers wanting to migrate from these other products to Montage. I opened a script created and saved in Final Draft format and it looked fine, so I imported a script saved as text (improved in version 1.2) with format and the layout was not as neat as the Final Draft format file. I did try to import a Movie Magic script, but Montage does not support that format – something I hope they change in the future.

A new feature I tested was adding Scene Numbers. Just select Add Scene Numbers from the Montage Production menu, use the default Courier 12 pt font or chose something different, and select OK to add the scene numbers to your script. Nice, but to be honest this should have been in the 1.0 release. Another good case that Mariner listens and acts on customer requests. I do not have a .mac account, so I was unable to test that support.

One new feature I especially like was the ability to select the template when importing content. It may seem like a simple feature, but it is useful, especially for writers moving to Montage from another screenwriting application. For a list of other enhancements, see the table below:

Conclusion

Although it lacks features of more mature screenwriting applications, I liked using Montage. The integration with the Address Book is nice, but I still don’t like that they didn’t integrate Montage Tasks with iCal. I don’t keep tasks and appointments in two separate calendars – too much trouble – and believe this should be one of the enhancements for the next major update of this product. The full screen mode support is excellent, and I’m glad they were fast to respond to bugs affecting this mode in version 1.2. Nice work by Mariner.

Recommendation

This product is new, but the intuitive interface and low cost and good product support by Mariner make this product a good buy and recommended, especially for someone new to screenplay writing.