SOFTWARE SUCCESS STORY FORMAT'S THE THING FOR SCREENWRITERS.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

ENCINO - Marc Madnick likens himself to Walter Mitty, a day-dreaming businessman who imagines he is hunting woolly mammoths in prehistoric Siberia.

``I'd like to be Old Yeller, too,'' he said.

Old Yeller he is not. President and chief executive officer of Final Draft Inc. he is. And the former screenwriter's ability to dream has helped his company's profits take flight.

Madnick, 38, is co-founder of a software company that enables screenwriters to look professional. Once a struggling writer, Madnick now has a $5 million business that helps him travel to exotic destinations he'd only visited in his scripts.

Madnick's flagship product is Final Draft Version 6, a program to transform average prose into a formatted script so professional the entertainment industry won't even look at a submitted piece of writing unless it comes formatted the Final Draft way.

Madnick says he keeps his profits up by having a relatively high price point. Try $199.95 per unit of Final Draft. He also has little overhead, with only about two dozen employees.

``Retaining that small-business feel has been important to me. It's as if I'm still manufacturing and shipping the product from my garage,'' he said.

But his office on the eighth floor of a steel-and-glass building in Encino is far from a garage. Rather, the vibe inside is similar to a newsroom - a bunch of editors and writers working to push out a product that's only as good as it reads.

``People in the writing business know what will make their jobs easier,'' he said.

Schooled in the East and an ardent Philadelphia Eagles fan, Madnick comes across as a dressed-down business magnate. He has a slick tongue yet retains his humility - he wears a baseball cap and is growing a beard for an upcoming trip to Yellowstone.

Unless prodded, he rarely talks about Final Draft. Instead, he swivels from his Spartan desk and points to a display of photos.

``This is from my trip in Alaska,'' he said. ``Here I am in South America. And this shot was taken in Belize.''

In each photo Madnick wears stereotypical garb for the country he's visiting. Vacations to Hawaii or Mexico aren't his forte. He prefers climbing Machu Picchu, sucking on coca leaves and breathing compressed air.

The risks he takes outside work are a contradiction to the highly calculated steps he has taken to manifest his business. The idea for the company was hatched by Madnick and his software-engineer friend, Benjamin Cahan, in 1991. From the start, Madnick's personality and Cahan's expertise were symbiotic.

``We probably couldn't have done it on our own. We worked with each other to make it happen,'' Madnick said.

Cahan is no longer with the company. He was recently ``bought out,'' Madnick said. But the software Cahan initially wrote and Madnick marketed has sold more than 130,000 units worldwide.

``When we started out, I'd make cold calls and then call everyone that took one of our brochures. Would you like me to come down and show you how it works? Can I give you a free copy? This is how it was done,'' he said. ``I only wish I could be so aggressive today.''

In many respects, Madnick still is a bulldog. Frank Colin, vice president of product development, rolls his eyes after hearing a gruff comment by his boss.

Apparently a programmer was quitting.

``It doesn't matter, though. We'll have someone to fill that position tomorrow,'' Madnick said tersely.

As for expanding the business, Madnick said he is starting in France. He recently opened an office in Paris and has successfully launched a version of Final Draft in French.

The ability for screenwriters to register their plays online with the Writers Guild of America has also bolstered business abroad.

``The Internet does make it easier for people to register their screenplays and learn more about our product,'' Madnick said.

But word of mouth is far superior to the Internet.

Tom Hanks' ``That Thing You Do,'' Allen Ball's ``American Beauty'' and Steven Bochco's ``NYPD Blue'' were all written using Final Draft.

Madnick has a ``Usual Suspects'' poster hanging on his wall.

Christopher McQuarrie, the screenplay's scribe, signed the poster and wrote a note that reads: ``To the father of Final Draft. The real creators of The Usual Suspects.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Marc Madnick is president and co-founder of Final Draft Inc., which formats scripts for the film, TV and theater industries.

(2 -- color) Final Draft Version 6 is a program that can transform average prose into a professionally formatted script.

(3) Marc Madnick's flagship product is the screenwriter software Final Draft that he sells for $199.95.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer