The Method
The Talking Draft Method is the fastest way for screenwriters and playwrights to create scenes – a writer records themselves performing the dialog and action lines, wordlessly notating who-says-what, then the audio is transcribed, then the text is reformatted into a script.
We are the only way to do it all automatically without clunky voice commands or tedious reformatting.
Dialog without distractions
If you can describe what you imagine, your first draft is done!
Why do a Talking Draft?
- If you need a first draft fast (3x vs typing)
- If you struggle to finish a first draft
- To create distinct character voices in dialogue
- To achieve a controlled creative flow state
Who Uses The Method
Some of the most prolific writers use and have used the Talking Draft Method to quickly produce first drafts & dialogue-heavy scenes…
..but few can afford a full-time stenographer – or want to handle the frustrating task of reformatting long blocks of general transcription output .
Today’s speech-to-text technology gets us close, but playwrights and Hollywood screenwriters still needed special customization…
Get your first drafts done twice as fast!
Tap “0” before you transcribe an Action Line.
Keys 1-9 are for dictating your characters’ dialogue.
The Old Way Was Bad
- Reformatting a block of transcribed text, manually noting who was supposed to say what was tedious and error prone.
- Saying character names before dialog, or saying “action,” “tab,” or “period,” ruins the flow, kills the joy of storytelling directly to script.
Our solution marks with the tap of a button who-says-what as you dictate the scene. Actions lines too! Dictate a 30 page script in about an hour.
How The Method Works
Common Questions:
Your writing never trains AI. Ever. [Here’s our policy →]
Of all speech-to-script dictation, only TalkingDraft.com is specifically customized for screenwriters and playwrights. Only we free you from annoying voice commands to switch characters & switch to an action line. Only we offer a proper talking draft in one package. If your goal is to get a first draft done fast, or to improv dialogue so you have something to work with…we free you from any grammar and formatting ever slowing you down.
Using our app, create your beatsheet and outline, then, as you dictate a scene, press & release the number buttons on your keyboard (or screen) to label who-says-what bit of dialog. Tapping the number 0 marks an action line. Numbers 1-9 are the characters in your scene. Tap & release and then describe what you imagine.
Our custom speech-to-text A.I. writes to a professionally formatted script file that you can import into any rewriting app such as Final Draft or Fade In.
Free. Our script outliner is Free. And we give you free Standard Transcription on 3 stories. Share with a friend for upgrades. Or you could buy upgrades.
Yes. We automatically detect the language you’re speaking for your action lines/stage directions, and dialogue. As long as it’s one of these: English, Spanish, Hindi, Norwegian, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Ukrainian, Tamil, Swedish, Chinese, Taiwanese, Portuguese, Danish, Polish, Turkish, French, German, Indonesian, Korean, Italian.
A computer, and the internet. System Requirements: Desktop web browser with microphone enabled (Chrome 88+ | Edge 88+ | Safari 15.2+ | Firefox 89+)
• RAM: 4GB minimum, 8GB recommended
• CPU: Any modern processor from 2017 onward
• Storage: ~200MB browser cache for engine
Wherever you want. Our software outputs a specially formatted text file that you can import into your favorite screenwriting software which will automatically parse it as a script. There, you do your revisions. We work with Final Draft, FadeIn, WriterDuet, ScriptStudio, Highland, Trelby, ArcStudio, StudioBinder, Squibler, Storyist, ScriptStudio, Scenarist.
You keep the audio file, just like you keep the text file. If you want to listen along to it later inside the app, you can.
Screenwriters and playwrights in LA. Technically, this is the digital version of the Talking Draft Method invented by Director Howard Hawks in 1934. Think of it as a screenplay structure expert / audio recorder on steroids hulking you into ‘prolific’ status screenwriter whose agents are flabbergasted that you can go from a spitballed logline into a draft in one day.
We suggest you start with an outline. Our free outlining tool will help take you from your initial idea to a beat sheet to a step-outline for however many scenes make your story. Our interactive & responsive frameworks follow the guidepost structures taught by Aristotle, Blake Snyder, Chris Vogler, Drew Yanno, Frank Daniel, James V. Hart, Joseph Campbell, Peter Dunne, Robert Towne, Ed Horowitz, and Syd Field.
Then when you’re ready to start adding specific scenes, name the character buttons according to who is in the scene. Then click “Transcribe” (record).
