KIT Scenarist Dormant
The beloved free research-heavy screenwriting suite — now frozen.
At a glance
- Maker
- Dmitry Novikov
- First release
- 2014
- Status
- Dormant — available, but barely updated
- Platforms
- Windows, Mac, Linux
- Pricing
- Free, open source (GPL)
- Native format
- KIT Scenarist (.kitsp)
What it is
KIT Scenarist was the free suite that did everything: full editor, research folders, character dossiers, statistics. Development stopped in 2023 and the site now points to its successor, Story Architect — but the app still runs, and its .kitsp projects remain open SQLite databases.
What people are saying
The good
Still remembered as the best free full suite the niche has had: research modules, character dossiers, statistics and genuine cross-platform support, all free. Users repeatedly said it beat Final Draft for the money, and many still run it years after development stopped.
The bad
Development is frozen and the repository archived: known bugs will never be fixed, and the long-term fate of its cloud sync is an open worry for writers whose projects live there. The community is small and shrinking, so help is scarce.
Paraphrased consensus from user reviews, forums and retrospective coverage across the web.
Where it came from
Dmitry Novikov’s decade-long labor of love (2014–2023), used by tens of thousands of writers; the GitHub repo is archived and the author’s team continues as Story Apps with Story Architect.
Worth knowing
Its own site announces its successor — one of the classiest hand-offs in dead-software history.
Getting scripts in and out
Imports: Final Draft (.fdx), Fountain (.fountain), Celtx (.celtx), Trelby (.trelby)
Exports: Word (.docx), PDF (.pdf), Final Draft (.fdx)