To rebuttal your point, I don't think it's called "the industry standard" because everyone shares their material as that type of file. It's the industry standard because a lot of (but certainly not all) "professional" screenwriters USE the software to write. Of course they don't share their finished product as a FDX file — it's never smart to send something in a specialized file format, regardless of industry. You simply convert it to PDF (which Final Draft does pretty easily) so it's easier for people to access it. It's the difference between sharing a PNG rather than a PSD for Photoshop. Yes designers OVERWHELMINGLY use Photoshop for graphic creation, but they wouldn't share it in the format — you would chose something that's easily accessed by all.
TLDR: The "industry standard" in this case applies more to what people use to write the script, rather than what format people use to share it. After all, you can't write a script in PDF format. But you can share it afterwards that way, which pretty much everyone does.
Your final point definetly remains though — presentation is important, and you should have a working knowledge of how things should look. That said, why go through the trouble of formatting yourself if a program can do a good chuck of the work for you? From experience, the writers who think they can just create a script template through Word because they "know the format" almost always look off.
Did you complete the PP program online or in person (and Screenwriting or TV writing)??
But I figure the odds of 2 friends getting into a program that admits 7 people are outrageous. I'd be very happy with a waitlist - or any word at all!
