ScriptSync for Premiere Pro and Resolve: What Works in 2026
Avid's ScriptSync links every take to its line in the script. Here's what Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve editors can use instead, and how each one works.
ScriptSync is one of those features I always wanted and never had. It lives in Avid Media Composer, and the tools I cut in didn’t have anything like it.
If you cut scripted work, you know why it matters. A commercial, a testimonial, a corporate piece with a written script: the talent reads each line again and again across a pile of takes, and the job is finding the best read of every line. Without something like ScriptSync, that means scrubbing.
Here’s what ScriptSync does, what Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve offer instead, and what I ended up building for myself.
What ScriptSync does
ScriptSync connects your footage to your script. Avid describes it as indexing “all text and audible dialog in your project automatically” and linking each clip to the lines it covers. In practice, you click a line in the script and see every take of that line. Play them back to back, pick the best one, move on.
Today it’s called ScriptSync AI. It’s included with Media Composer Ultimate and Enterprise subscriptions, and it’s a paid option on other licenses.
The catch is the first word of that sentence: Media Composer. If you cut in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, there’s no ScriptSync. Here’s what you have instead.
Premiere Pro: text-based editing, not script sync
Premiere transcribes your clips and lets you edit from the transcript. That’s Text-Based Editing, and since Premiere 26.5 there’s also Paper Edit, which builds a sequence from the transcript lines you select.
Both are useful. But both work from Premiere’s transcript of what was said, not from your script. Nothing tells you that take 7 covers lines 12 to 15, or shows you every read of line 12 side by side.
Editors have asked for it. A feature request for “a ScriptSync equivalent for Premiere Pro” was posted in July 2026. As of this writing, Adobe hasn’t replied to it.
DaVinci Resolve: AI IntelliScript
Resolve comes closest. Resolve 20 added AI IntelliScript, and Blackmagic says it will “match the transcribed audio in media clips to the script” and “construct a timeline of the best selected takes, with any alternative takes placed on additional tracks for editor review.” Resolve 21 added Final Draft and plain text scripts.
That’s a real head start on a rough cut. It works differently from ScriptSync, though. IntelliScript hands you an assembled timeline with alternates stacked above it. ScriptSync starts from a line and lets you audition every read of it. Which one you want depends on how you like to cut. Check Blackmagic’s feature list for which edition of Resolve includes it.
Third-party tools
A few newer tools align takes to a script and send the result to your editor:
- Cutback Selects: you upload the video and the script, and Selects “will batch process clips and align every line.” It exports to Premiere Pro, Resolve and Final Cut Pro.
- Eddie AI: its Scripted mode pairs your script with the takes and builds a string-out. It works with Premiere Pro, Resolve and Final Cut Pro.
Both are worth a look, especially if you cut in Final Cut.
What I built: Circle Take
Full disclosure: this one’s ours.
I wanted the ScriptSync way of working in the editors I actually use, so I built it into Circle Take, a Mac app for scripted, talking-head shoots. Point it at the shoot folder and the script, and it lines every take up against the script, line by line. With Circle Take Pro you get:
- Lines: every clean read of each script line, back to back, as a sequence you open in Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve. It’s the closest thing to ScriptSync’s “show me every take of this line.” Lines the talent reads in one breath stay together.
- Selects: every clean read from every take, in shoot order, with slates, crew talk, flubs and restarts cut out. Each piece is marked with its take number and the director’s notes.
- A first draft of each spot, built from the best read of each line, with its length checked against the spot length in the script.
- A take report: the circled takes, what each take kept and dropped and why, director notes, and any lines read off-script.
It reads scripts in .docx, .doc, .rtf, .odt, .pdf and Final Draft. It also syncs camera and recorder audio by sound, which is free. That part started as my PluralEyes replacement. Everything runs on your Mac, and your footage never leaves it.
Where it’s different from ScriptSync, so you know going in:
- It isn’t a live panel inside your editor. It builds the sequences, and you import them.
- It needs a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later.
- It exports to Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. There’s no Final Cut Pro export yet.
- It’s in beta.
The beta is open to anyone. Join it in TestFlight, or read more about Circle Take first.
Which one should you use?
| If you… | Use |
|---|---|
| Cut in Media Composer | ScriptSync. It’s still the original. |
| Cut in Resolve and want a fast first assembly from the script | AI IntelliScript |
| Cut in Premiere Pro or Resolve and want every read of every line, back to back | Circle Take |
| Cut in Final Cut Pro and want takes aligned to the script | Cutback Selects or Eddie AI |
FAQs
Does Premiere Pro have ScriptSync?
No. Premiere has Text-Based Editing and Paper Edit, which work from Premiere’s own transcript of your clips. Neither links your takes to your written script.
Does DaVinci Resolve have ScriptSync?
Not by that name. Since Resolve 20, AI IntelliScript matches clips to your script and builds a timeline of the best takes, with alternates on extra tracks.
Can I use Avid ScriptSync outside Media Composer?
No. ScriptSync works only in Avid Media Composer.
Is ScriptSync included with Media Composer?
It’s included with Media Composer Ultimate and Enterprise subscriptions. On other licenses it’s a paid option.
What’s the difference between ScriptSync and text-based editing?
Text-based editing gives you a transcript of what was said. ScriptSync connects what was said to what was written, so you can find every take of a specific line in the script.