Fast Track

Fast track/24/dp1st/mike1st Snapshot Final Draft Inc. Year Founded: 1992 Core Business: Software to aid scriptwriting for film, television and stage plays Revenue in 1997: $1.5 million Revenue in 1998: $2.6 million Employees in 1997: 12 Employees in 1998: 18 Top Executives: Marc Madnick, president and chief executive; Ben Cahan, chairman Driving Force: The allure of making it big in Hollywood by writing a winning screenplay By CHRISTOPHER WOODARD Staff Writer Like so many other people in Southern California, Marc Madnick had a dream of writing the great American screenplay and tapping into Hollywood fame and fortune. But along the way, the University of Maryland business graduate came to the same realization that struck savvy entrepreneurs more than a century ago, during the California Gold Rush: The easier money isn’t in the mining, it’s in selling the tools to do the job. So in 1991, Madnick teamed up with Ben Cahan, a college buddy and computer science graduate, to market a software program that Cahan developed to ease his own scriptwriting efforts. Cahan’s creation, called “Final Draft,” took much of the drudgery out of writing a screenplay by combining word processing with features that automatically format the script to meet industry specifications. Madnick, a native New Yorker who comes from a long line of salespeople, began demonstrating the software for bookstore owners or anyone else who would listen. Before long, sales began to take off. “Forty years ago, everyone wanted to be Hemingway and write the great American novel,” said Madnick, president and chief executive of the company. “Now everyone wants to be (Steven) Spielberg and write the great American movie. Our product just keeps growing.” To date, Final Draft Inc. has sold more than 100,000 copies of the software, with the latest version retailing for $299. Revenue for the privately held company has grown from $1.5 million in 1997 to $2.6 million last year, landing the firm on Deloitte & Touche LLP’s list of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Los Angeles. Madnick says a host of major Hollywood players use the software, including Tom Hanks, Oliver Stone, Robert Altman and Steven Bochco. Unlike standard word-processing programs, Final Draft automatically inserts margins, character names, stage directions and other elements into scripts with just the touch of a few keys. The software is easy to use because it mimics Microsoft menus and tool bars while offering a number of special features like Scene Navigator, which creates index cards and allows the writer to easily rearrange scenes. “You could come up with the greatest script in the world, and if it doesn’t meet Hollywood’s accepted standards, the chances are it will never get past the first reader,” Madnick said. Final Draft has grown even though it faces intense competition from other popular screenwriting programs like Movie Magic Screenwriter, ScriptThing and Scriptware. (Madnick maintains that Final Draft is the market leader but no independent rankings are available.) Jesse Douma, a partner at The Writer’s Computer Store in West Los Angeles, said Final Draft is one of his best sellers among scriptwriting programs. Madnick hopes to increase market share by continually improving the product. To that end, the company just released Final Draft 5.0, its newest version. Although Madnick believes there’s a would-be screenwriter in every family, he is trying to expand by developing a new product that aids the writing of scripts for business projects, like corporate presentations and television commercials. The new program, called Final Draft AV, is in production and due out at the end of this year. Unlike other word-processing programs, it will format text into two columns, one for the audio portion of the presentation and the other for the visual component. “Anyone who has ever tried to use a regular word-processing program for putting together an audio-visual presentation knows how frustrating it can be,” said Madnick. “The market for this is huge.” In addition to the new program, the company recently teamed up with writer and teacher Syd Field to produce a video series on screenwriting. The tapes have been out since April and retail for $79. Madnick says 2,000 copies have been sold so far. Field said America’s media-driven culture is prompting more and more people to try their hand at scriptwriting. “In the last 40 years, we’ve become a visual society,” he said. “We see music videos on MTV, we watch the news on television. Our children are growing up on television. It’s the allure of being rich and famous that appeals to everyone.” Indeed, Madnick believes screenwriting is an equal-opportunity venture. “Hollywood doesn’t care who you are. If you write a decent screenplay, someone just might buy it,” he said. Though he admits the chances of a novice coming up with a winning script are slim, Madnick believes writing might be a better investment of time than simply watching television. “Who knows, you may be the one to come up with the next big hit,” he said.