Dune screenplay written in ancient MS-DOS program
Screenwriter Eric Roth wrote the screenplay for Dune in an old MS-DOS program that isn’t available anymore called Movie Master 3.09.
Roth—known for his work on Forrest Gump, Munich, and most recently Dune—revealed in an interview in 2014 that he does all of his screenwriting using the MS-DOS program Movie Master 3.09.
“I work on an old computer program that’s not in existence anymore. It’s half superstition and half fear of change.” Roth says in the interview.
He wrote the screenplay for Dune in 2018. In 2020, while on a Barstool Sports podcast, he explained that he is still using Movie Master for all his work, including Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.
Roth opens an MS-DOS window after booting up his Windows XP computer to run Movie Master.
He also uses what looks like an original beige IBM Model M keyboard — a true connoisseur.
“So now I’m in DOS. Nobody can get on the internet and get this,” said Roth.
“I have to give them a hard copy. They have to scan it and then put it in their computers, and then I have to work through their computers because you can’t even email mine or anything.”
“You can’t get to it except where it is. It has 40 pages, and it runs out of memory.”
Roth says that the 40 page limit of the software helps him to organise and structure his work into acts, “I realise if I hadn’t said it in 40 pages, I’m starting to get in trouble.”
Roth says that he is a bit of Luddite when it comes to writing.
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