# Storiara vs Final Draft Tagging: Do You Need Both for Prep?

Source: https://storiara.com/compare/final-draft
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Nick Harty, Storiara

> Final Draft is where the script is written, locked and revised, and its Tags Mode and reports give you a basic breakdown. It has no stripboard, Day Out of Days, budget or call sheets; for scheduling it exports a .sex file to Movie Magic Scheduling. Storiara imports the .fdx directly, extracts elements with AI, and builds the stripboard, cast DOOD, budget and call sheets. Most productions keep Final Draft for the script and add a planning tool.

This page is less of a head-to-head than the others in the [compare hub](https://storiara.com/compare), because Final Draft and Storiara mostly sit one after the other. Final Draft is where the screenplay gets written and, later, locked. Storiara starts after that, when someone has to turn the locked script into a board, a budget and call sheets. What you need to decide is whether Final Draft's own production tools (tagging, reports and the Movie Magic export) are enough for your shoot, or whether you need a planning tool downstream.

## What Final Draft gives a production

Final Draft has more production features than many writers realize.

### Locked pages and revisions

Once a script goes to prep, Production > Lock Pages stops text from reflowing. Add half a page of dialogue to page 21 and the overflow goes to a new page 21A, so page 22 is still page 22 on everyone's copy. Pair that with Revision Mode and scene numbers, and you have the [locked script](https://storiara.com/glossary/locked-script) conventions every department relies on.

### Tags Mode

Production > Tags Mode lets you highlight text and assign it to a category. The categories are fully customizable. Highlight "ZIPPO", choose Props, click Tag All, and every instance of "Zippo" is tagged. Final Draft's own tutorial points out the catch, using a prop with two names in its sample script: if the same prop is called "lighter" on page 9, Tag All doesn't catch it, so you have to find that mention and retag it as ZIPPO by hand. On a 110-page feature with a lot of props, that alias hunting adds up.

### Reports

Tools > Reports produces a Scene Report (scene number, location, time of day, page, page length, optionally tags), a Location Report, Character and Cast Reports, a Statistics Report, and two Tags Reports: by scene, listing every tag in each scene, and by tag, listing the pages where each tagged item appears. The Tags Report by scene is effectively a text version of a [breakdown sheet](https://storiara.com/templates/script-breakdown-sheet).

## Where Final Draft stops

There is no stripboard in Final Draft, no shoot days, no Day Out of Days, no budget and no call sheet. The knowledge base is direct about the next step. To schedule, you:

1. Number the scenes (Production > Scene Numbers > Number / Renumber).
2. Export the script as Scheduling Export (.sex).
3. In Movie Magic Scheduling, create a schedule from the default template and import the .sex file.
4. Open the Boneyard, select all, and move the strips to the stripboard.

Final Draft notes that Movie Magic can open a plain .fdx but can't read the tags from it, which is why the .sex export exists. So the traditional path is Final Draft for tags, Movie Magic Scheduling for the board, and Movie Magic Budgeting or a spreadsheet for money. That's three products, two of them from different companies, and a file handoff each time the script changes.

## What Storiara does with the .fdx

Storiara imports .fdx directly, alongside PDF and Word. Scene headings are parsed without AI, so INT/EXT, set and DAY/NIGHT come from the slugline, and numbered headings are supported. Storiara generates a screenplay-formatted PDF for viewing and measures each scene's length in eighths from that layout, so a scene reads as "2 3/8" on the Scenes page.

Then the AI pass extracts characters, extras, locations, props, wardrobe, and music and effects. Each item is checked against a quote in the script. Storiara reads the screenplay text and does its own extraction, so tags you built in Final Draft's Tags Mode are not what the board is built from; treat them as a checklist when you review what Storiara found. If it missed the "lighter" on page 9, highlight it in the script panel and add it as a Prop.

From there the same project gives you:

- a drag-and-drop [stripboard](https://storiara.com/templates/stripboard) with day breaks and a maximum shooting-day length it won't let you exceed
- a cast Day Out of Days filled from the board
- a budget with a top sheet, accounts like 2800 Property and 2900 Wardrobe, and cast paid days taken from the DOOD, exportable to Excel
- per-day call sheets with weather, sent by email now or at a scheduled time, with a shareable link

When the writer delivers blue pages before scheduling starts, upload the new version as a script version in Storiara, activate it, and re-pull content. Once scenes or shots are on the stripboard, or hand-added items are linked to scenes, the switch is blocked, so later changes go in by hand on the Scenes page.

## A worked example: one scene, two workflows

Scene 42A, EXT. PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT, 1 3/8 pages. Maya and Joe, a 1987 Porsche, a gun, a squib.

In Final Draft you enter Tags Mode, highlight MAYA and JOE (Cast Members), PORSCHE (Vehicles), GUN (Props, or Weapons if you created that category), and the squib line (Special Effects). You run the Tags Report by scene to check it. Then you export .sex, import into Movie Magic Scheduling, and build the board there.

In Storiara you upload the .fdx. The scene arrives with its heading, NIGHT and 1 3/8 pages already set. The characters, the Porsche as a vehicle, the gun as a prop and the squib in Music & Effects are extracted for you to review. You drag it onto Day 9 next to the other garage scenes (Storiara numbers scenes in script order, so it won't be labeled 42A unless you rename it), and Day 9's call sheet and the cast DOOD update from the board.

## Cost

Final Draft 13 lists at USD $249.99 as a perpetual license (it showed $199.99 when we checked), and one license activates on two computers. The Suite subscription is $99.99 a year or $16.99 a month and adds Final Draft Cloud.

Storiara's Producer plan is $39.99 a month. New accounts get a 30-day free trial, after which a paid plan is needed.

For a writer-producer who already owns Final Draft, the incremental cost of scheduling is either Movie Magic Scheduling (sold separately by Entertainment Partners) or a planning tool like Storiara. Final Draft by itself won't produce a schedule at any price.

## Which setup to use

Keep Final Draft if you write, lock and revise scripts. Nothing in Storiara replaces a screenwriting program, and Storiara has no .fdx export.

Use Final Draft's tags and reports alone if the shoot is small enough that a Tags Report and a hand-drawn board are enough, for example a three-day short with two locations.

Add Storiara when you want the .fdx turned into a stripboard, DOOD, budget and call sheets without tagging every item yourself or exporting to Movie Magic.

Go the Final Draft plus Movie Magic Scheduling route if your production, studio or union AD expects an MMS file. The [Final Draft integration page](https://storiara.com/integrations/final-draft) explains Storiara's import step by step, and [how to break down a script in Final Draft](https://storiara.com/blog/how-to-break-down-a-script-in-final-draft) covers the Tags Mode method in more depth. For the wider field of scheduling tools, see the [film scheduling software roundup](https://storiara.com/blog/top-10-film-scheduling-software).

## Frequently asked questions

### Can Final Draft make a shooting schedule?

No. Final Draft has tagging and reports but no stripboard or schedule. Its knowledge base tells you to number the scenes, export a Scheduling Export (.sex) file, and import that into Movie Magic Scheduling, where the scenes land in the Boneyard and you move them to the stripboard.

### Does Storiara import Final Draft files?

Yes. Storiara accepts .fdx along with PDF and Word. It reads the screenplay from the file and runs its own scene parsing and AI extraction, so check the characters, props and wardrobe it finds against any tags you made in Final Draft.

### How do I tag a prop in Final Draft?

Go to Production > Tags Mode, highlight the word, choose a category such as Props from the tagging window, and click Tag for this scene or Tag All for every instance. Final Draft won't treat 'lighter' and 'Zippo' as the same prop unless you retag one as the other.

### How much does Final Draft cost?

Final Draft 13 lists at USD $249.99 for a perpetual license and was shown at $199.99 when we checked. The Final Draft Suite subscription, which includes Final Draft 13 and Final Draft Cloud, is $99.99 a year or $16.99 a month after a 5-day trial.

## Sources

- [Final Draft 13 product and pricing page](https://www.finaldraft.com/products/final-draft-13)
- [Final Draft KB: What is tagging?](https://kb.finaldraft.com/hc/en-us/articles/27791794216340-What-is-tagging)
- [Final Draft KB: How do I tag an item in a script?](https://kb.finaldraft.com/hc/en-us/articles/27796033807124-How-do-I-tag-an-item-in-a-script)
- [Final Draft KB: Reports on scenes, locations, characters and script statistics](https://kb.finaldraft.com/hc/en-us/articles/27782286973716-How-do-I-create-reports-on-my-scenes-locations-characters-and-other-script-statistics)
- [Final Draft KB: Getting a tagged script into Movie Magic Scheduling](https://kb.finaldraft.com/hc/en-us/articles/15574927910036-How-do-I-get-my-tagged-FD-script-into-Movie-Magic-Scheduling)
- [Final Draft KB: Locking pages](https://kb.finaldraft.com/hc/en-us/articles/27817054455828-How-do-I-lock-or-unlock-script-pages-and-use-the-locking-tools)