Last month, we had John August on our podcast to talk about his new upgrade of the Highland screenwriting app from Quote-Unquote Apps.
Now, the app has officially dropped, so we wanted to highlight it for you here. So today, I’m going to go over some of the cool things about the update, and we’ll even embed a video from John August taking you through how to use them.
Sound good? Let’s dive in.
What’s New With Highland Pro
The first thing you notice when opening the new Highland is that it’s very clean! There are no gizmos or weirdness crowding the screen. It’s just the words you’re writing.
that sounds so simple, and that’s because it is that simple.
What I have always appreciated about this software is that it’s only filled with things I use, and nothing else. So I can concentrate on the story at hand.
If you want an endorsement from a better writer than me, look no further than Phil Lord, writer/producer of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse who said of the program, “Highland is just a cleaner, purer way to be creative.”
Let’s take a look at some of the features that are new, which I find to be extremely useful.
What Are the Main Changes to Highland Pro?
You can use Highland Pro to write films, TV shows, novels, outlines, and pretty much any kind of brainstorming you’d do for any of those categories.
I use it mostly for outlines and screenplays.
When they add tools, they add things I know other professional writers use. I was most excited about these things because I knew I’d use them, too.
- /Lookup: Quick answers at your fingertips, from definitions to rhymes to world facts, without leaving your draft.
- As a guy who just wrote a mystery with a lot of rhyming, this helped me so much. The facts helped me map out certain parts of the story and the other tools helped me sound more lyrical than I really am.
- Navigator: A streamlined way to organize sections, scenes, and notes.
- I’m always looking for a streamlined way to view my pages and my notes. This really helps see them only when needed.
- Shelf: A place to store snippets of text, notes, and to-do lists. Scared to cut a line completely? Store it on the shelf.
- In other programs, I have to have like ten windows open of dialogue I gut in their own docs — here I can organize my scratch pages and ideas all within the same living doc, so I can access them when I write.
- Title Page Builder: Automatic formatting for film and television scripts, with support for images at titles.
- I didn’t need help with this, but making it easier is always good.
- Custom Pages: Including prefaces, images, cast lists, and locations.
- I have been playing with adding maps and images into pertinent scenes. this makes it work without needing a degree in Photoshop or engineering.
You Need a Mac
The one downside I hear about from friends is that you need a Mac to run this software.
Highland was built for Mac and is compatible with the iPad and iPhone. It’s 100% native on each platform. And it has automatic iCloud syncing, so you can work wherever inspiration strikes.
This is fine for me, a lifelong Mac user. But I understand how others may be frustrated with that.
The Cost of Highland Pro
The cost of Highland Pro is $59.99 yearly, or $9.99 monthly.
While I am not usually a fan of apps you have to pay a few for, I think you’d need to pay for three years of this for it to hit the cost of some of the other programs….which you may have to pay $100 just to upgrade.
When we had John August on our podcast, he mentioned that’s because Pro will always be developing new things and using feedback from users to make itself better. That’s a promise I think you can be assured August will keep, given how many updates the original Highland and Highland 2 had.
Highland Pro is available now on the App Store, with a free 30-day trial.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
