On a recent episode of Scriptnotes, Craig Mazin and I discussed Final Draft 9. Short version: while I was disappointed by the update, Craig went Full Umbrage, because well…Craig.

Craig hates Final Draft — the app, and some of the company’s business practices, but not the people themselves. He doesn’t know the people. In my experience, Craig doesn’t actually hate anyone (except maybe his college roommate). Craig has strong opinions but a friendly nature.

Today I got on the phone with two of the people who run Final Draft and learned that since the episode aired, their customer service reps have gotten abusive calls and emails from listeners apparently motivated by Craig’s tirade. According to Final Draft, some of what folks were saying was so alarming that people working there felt unsafe.

That’s never acceptable. Never.

As Craig tweeted today:

clmazin: Not liking software is one thing. Making threatening or harassing calls to human beings is entirely another. It’s not cool. clmazin: Please don’t treat fellow human beings (many of whom are just working an hourly gig) poorly because you don’t like the company or product.

The Final Draft folks have agreed to come on a future episode so we can talk about this incident, their app, and the state of screenwriting software. I’m excited to dig in and discuss.

But I didn’t want another day to go by without making it clear that Craig and I never mean to give cover to assholish behavior.