SIMON SKILL SYSTEMS Side By Side (Macintosh)

Rating:
Summary: From the creator of SideBySide
Review: Dear Fellow Writer -

If you write TV commercials, documentaries, informational videos, corporate speeches, or any other material that needs two or more columns side by side, this program is for you.

The program provides the neat trick of keeping a block of visuals alongside the accompanying block of gab, no matter what changes you make elsewhere in the script.

In his review of SideBySide in the Writers Guild Journal, James Tugend said it best -- "The formats for writing commercials, business films, videos, documentaries, multimedia and live television are quite varied, but they virtually all have two, three or four columns. ... Doing this on a word processor is not as easy as it sounds. Most commercial production houses have been using computers for just about everything except writing scripts, which is usually done on a typewriter. 'SideBySide' from Simon Skill Systems is designed to fill that gap."

As I left behind my Selectric and advanced from an Olivetti word processor, to EasyWriter on the first IBM PC, to WordPerfect, to Word, I kept struggling with the challenge of writing the multi-column, side-by-side scripts that are the industry standard. Finally a few years ago, word processing caught up with the need.

It still wasn't easy. Over a period of time -- with much studying of the Word manuals, countless phone calls to Microsoft, and much trial-and-error -- I finally developed the techniques that make multi-column scripting as simple as writing a two-paragraph memo. Producers were impressed with the look of the scripts, and dazzled by how readily they could make changes without corrupting the format of the entire document.

The word began to spread, and soon other writers were asking to use my hassle-free solution. So put it in a box. Now, everyone who needs to write or work with multi-column scripts can escape the formatting frustrations and be productive faster.

With SideBySide, you simply select the format of your choice, open the corresponding file from the disk ... and start writing!

Ready to edit your script? No problem -- Add a scene in the middle ... move a scene from one page to another ... swap one storyboard sketch with another. Everything stays perfectly aligned.

As they say in those television commercials we've all seen - "But wait, that's not all." With a click, the program will calculate the reading time of the narration or speech text.

With another click, SideBySide will pick up the entire audio column and format it into a narration script or speech text - ready for the speaker to take to the podium or for the narrator to take into the recording booth.

I've written hundreds of documentaries, corporate shows, speeches, and corporate meetings. I've written for CBS, PBS, Universal Studios, Apple Computer, IBM. I've done documentaries with Walter Cronkite, galleries for the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Pavilion for the Paris Air Show. Believe me, I know what the challenges are, and I know what you need in a side-by-side script formatting program.

SideBySide does what you need.

I hope you'll take advantage of this opportunity. If you're hesitating -- remember that SideBySide carries a full money-back guarantee.

Script writing has never been easier!

Bill Simon

Rating:
Summary: From the creator of SideBySide
Review: Dear Fellow Writer -

If you write TV commercials, documentaries, informational videos, corporate speeches, or any other material that needs two or more columns side by side, this program is for you.

The program provides the neat trick of keeping a block of visuals alongside the accompanying block of gab, no matter what changes you make elsewhere in the script.

In his review of SideBySide in the Writers Guild Journal, James Tugend said it best -- "The formats for writing commercials, business films, videos, documentaries, multimedia and live television are quite varied, but they virtually all have two, three or four columns. ... Doing this on a word processor is not as easy as it sounds. Most commercial production houses have been using computers for just about everything except writing scripts, which is usually done on a typewriter. 'SideBySide' from Simon Skill Systems is designed to fill that gap."

As I left behind my Selectric and advanced from an Olivetti word processor, to EasyWriter on the first IBM PC, to WordPerfect, to Word, I kept struggling with the challenge of writing the multi-column, side-by-side scripts that are the industry standard. Finally a few years ago, word processing caught up with the need.

It still wasn't easy. Over a period of time -- with much studying of the Word manuals, countless phone calls to Microsoft, and much trial-and-error -- I finally developed the techniques that make multi-column scripting as simple as writing a two-paragraph memo. Producers were impressed with the look of the scripts, and dazzled by how readily they could make changes without corrupting the format of the entire document.

The word began to spread, and soon other writers were asking to use my hassle-free solution. So put it in a box. Now, everyone who needs to write or work with multi-column scripts can escape the formatting frustrations and be productive faster.

With SideBySide, you simply select the format of your choice, open the corresponding file from the disk ... and start writing!

Ready to edit your script? No problem -- Add a scene in the middle ... move a scene from one page to another ... swap one storyboard sketch with another. Everything stays perfectly aligned.

As they say in those television commercials we've all seen - "But wait, that's not all." With a click, the program will calculate the reading time of the narration or speech text.

With another click, SideBySide will pick up the entire audio column and format it into a narration script or speech text - ready for the speaker to take to the podium or for the narrator to take into the recording booth.

I've written hundreds of documentaries, corporate shows, speeches, and corporate meetings. I've written for CBS, PBS, Universal Studios, Apple Computer, IBM. I've done documentaries with Walter Cronkite, galleries for the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Pavilion for the Paris Air Show. Believe me, I know what the challenges are, and I know what you need in a side-by-side script formatting program.

SideBySide does what you need.

I hope you'll take advantage of this opportunity. If you're hesitating -- remember that SideBySide carries a full money-back guarantee.

Script writing has never been easier!

Bill Simon