Comments on: New Screenwriting Software

By: Juha Mustanoja

Juha Mustanoja — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:07:40 +0000

I was really into Celtx first, but I’m afraid the pagination glitch is a whopper: it is impossible to accurately estimate how many pages one has written. This realy puts me off. The discrepancy can be as big as five percent - I think I’ve written a 100-page script, and after typesetting I find I’ve only written, say, 92 pages.

I discussed this a lot on the Celtx forums, but it seems that WYSIWYG isn’t a priority at the moment. Well, I want WYSIWYG, period. I want to control what the pages of my screenplay look like, because that makes a BIG difference when selling your script.

Celtx is an enormous, wonderful project, but I’m afraid I’m stuck with Movie Magic until this problem is resolved - not too far in the future, I hope.

By: Dzof

Dzof — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:23:39 +0000

I too have Celtx installed on my laptop, but it’s hard to make a wholehearted transition to it since none of the other writers I work with (and more importantly, the Producers) use it.

If Celtx could import and export files in Final Draft format, then this would be a complete winner.

By: David Cook

David Cook — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:57:49 +0000

I find it a pleasure to work with… It’s easy on the eye and gives Final Draft a good run for it’s money!

Previous replies have already mentioned that you need to be connected to the internet to typeset your script. This is the only issue with an otherwise fantastic product.

I find it useful to be able to save my work as a PDF and be able to review the latest additions of my script as it appears on the page.

What I can’t believe is that it’s free… A cash strapped screenwriter will find themselves in writing heaven with Celtx!

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:36:30 +0000

It works well enough except I don’t like the fact that you have to register your script at their website for the software to add “more’s” and “cont’ds”.

By: David Cooper

David Cooper — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:40:54 +0000

I own Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter. I also have Celtx on my drive and I use Zhura.com

What does screenwriting software do anyhow? It isn’t tough stuff and I don’t like the price that the other packages charge.

Celtx works great. It does everything you need.

If you want to write a script, save your $$$ and grab this software.

By: John Gaskin

John Gaskin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:50:45 +0000

Man, the shooting schedule reports are really simple and easy to follow. I’ve been doing workshops on Film Accounting, Film Budgeting and Film Payroll, but I couldn’t figure out a way to teach Film Scheduling. I just wanted to show Line Producers a quick way to get out a One-Liner without getting into head-splitting scheduling software that makes you wait every time you click (tough on presentations), that has a tendency to freeze-up at inopportune moments (even with 2Megs of RAM), etc. I’m definitely into Celtx - can’t wait to practice more on it. Hopefully, I’ll be able to introduce Newfie Tech into Detroit and Toronto! (I’m a Bluenoser myself and always proud of East Coasters - go Celtx!).

By: multibrain

multibrain — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:14:38 +0000

nice blog, my only shortcoming is I wish I were a better screenwriter. How do you like this CELTX? I could use it to hone in on these skills, since I’m working on two pilots right now. Nice to meet you Jill. Scott

By: Claire

Claire — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:31:09 +0000

A bit late to the party but another huge fan of Celtx here! I’m married to Screenwriter to write for no particular reason other than stubbornness, but I’ve found the pre-production and collaboration tools in Celtx (once I’ve uploaded my script as a txt file) invaluable, and as someone said about, great value for money!

By: admin

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:15:44 +0000

Thanks all for the great reviews. I’m gonna download it now!

By: grapeshot

grapeshot — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:23:13 +0000

I thought it was fantastic to use — especially for the price. It’s very easy to learn so you can immediately begin working on your project without having to spend a great deal of time figuring out where all the buttons are and what do they do.

There is a good review of all the things the software can do here:
http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/digitalbasin/entry/20090302
This reviewer argues that it is not just a tool for writing, but also for pre-production planning. It does seem to be able to break scenes down into lists that would be useful for a production team as they plan their shooting schedule. However, that’s not my primary interest. Mind you, that review is from someone who’s affiliated with Celtx, so keep that in mind when you read his comments. But I have never heard anything negative about Celtx, and I’ve been using it since ver. .9 (Beta).

John August also did a review of that Beta version:
http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/celtx-screenwriting-application-shows-promise

I’ve been using it for collaboration on a script with someone four states away, and for scripting slide show (power point) presentations. (Heh. That’s so I can sound “spontaneous” and yet be coherent. I use the Audio Visual format for this.) I’ve even used it to transcribe a couple of audio interviews. (The auto formatting feature let me concentrate on what was being said without worrying about proper print formatting, so as dumb as this example might seem of what the software can do, at the time it was PERFECT for the task! And it was EASY to turn into a nice HTML page and throw it up on the web. See here:
http://www.chicagoscapers.org/RockneInterviewPart01Transcript.html)

I’ve even noted someone using it to write a novel:
http://www.libertyhallwriters.org/2009/06/more-on-using-celtx-to-plan-a-novel/
While I wouldn’t go that far with the software, I can understand the lure of using it to plan your story’s plot points. It’s story boarding feature is pretty nifty, and it does a good job of letting you keep track of places and things.