Posts tagged: celtx

Celtx Giving $10,000 To Independent Filmmakers

September 7, 2012, by Tom Chandler 2 comments

I use Celtx screenwriting/production software (free!) to write my corporate video scripts, but I love ‘em to death for their willingness to give back to the filmmaking community through their Celtx Seeds program:

Funding Independant Filmmakers

From September 21st to November 23rd, we’ll select one filmmaker each week to receive a $1,000 grant, plus Celtx promotion. It could be you.
Submit your Video

We want to see your single best storytelling video. Share it through your Celtx account with seeds@celtx.com. If you don’t have a Celtx account, signing up is free and easy.

$1,000 probably won’t take you all the way to the Academy Awards, but it might just jump-start a screenwriting or movie-making career, which isn’t a bad thing.

Celtx is giving $10,000 to independent filmmakers…

Keep writing (scripts, if that’s what turns you on), Tom Chandler.

Add Another App To The Linux Screenwriting Software Pile: Meet Trelby

January 6, 2012, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

Professional writers working on the Linux platform don’t always enjoy the same choices as other writers, though with the addition of open source screenwriting app Trelby, it’s clear we’re doing OK on the screenwriting front.

If you’re new here, I recently outlined two good screenwriting applications (Celtx and Fade In Professional), both of which are available on Mac & Windoze too.

You can now add Trelby to that list — an open source, Windows & Linux screenwriting application that looks nice, clean and promising.

Linux (and Windows) screenwriters have another screenwriting application to choose from

I’ve only toyed with it (and I only occasionally write scripts for clients), but here are a few first impressions:

It offers a clean, simple interface and multiple views of your script
It’s fast
It generates .pdf files
It generates script reports (which I don’t use)
It imports/exports Final Draft (.fdx) files

The last bullet is important; though nobody seems to love it, Final Draft is an industry standard. Even if you’re writing your own spec script in isolation, the ability to read/write Final Draft files will eventually prove important.

How Does It Compare?

Trelby doesn’t support the side-by-side AV/documentary/corporate video format, so if (like me) you write that format (or radio, theater, comic strip formats), then stick with Celtx.

Basically, Trelby looks and feels like an open source competitor to commercial Fade In Professional software, though without the Dropbox sync and a few other nice features (see short reviews of Celtx and Fade In Professional here).

Also, there is no Trelby mobile app (Celtx’s screenwriting app is currently available for iPhones and the iPad; Fade In’s mobile app is available for iPhones/iPads and Android phones/tablets).

It’s a nice simple, clean (and free) piece of screenwriting software that should appeal to students and those writing spec scripts.

It’s cleaner and simpler than Celtx (which is the Swiss Army Knife of screenwriting software and does much more), though if I wanted to write features/TV scripts — and didn’t want to drop a couple hundred bucks on Final Draft — I’d also look hard at Fade In Professional (currently only $50).

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Linux Is For Writers: Today We Look At Screenwriting Software

November 14, 2011, by Tom Chandler 2 comments

We Look At Two Powerful (and Affordable) Screenwriting/Scripting Software Packages For Linux-Based Writers (Mac & Windows Too)

Months ago I wrote about moving back into the video scriptwriting space, and since that post — using Linux-based software — I’ve written an even dozen corporate video scripts and (shockingly) a five-minute short film script.

I’d be lying if I said it was easy, but it has been a lot of fun.

The formatting conventions of scripts made writing them a drag, but after discovering the free, open-source Celtx screenwriting software (available on Mac, Windows & Linux), I said good-bye to all the hassles.

Writing scripts suddenly became all about… writing a script.

Celtx made formatting an AV script a simple job (so easy, even a caveman screenwriter [which is most of them] could do it).

Celtx -- the Swiss Army Knife of script writing software?

A favorite among students (students like free), Celtx also touts its built-in index card/plotting functions and production features, and this indie filmmaker seems to agree.

I love Celtx, but recently stumbled across Fade In screenwriting software (also available for Mac, Windows & Linux).

If I was writing movie scripts, I’d give it a close look.

Fade In doesn’t offer a side-by-side “Audio-Visual” format normally used for corporate video or Celtx’s index cards, but for standard format scripts, it’s slick and fast and pretty — and it imports Final Draft (.fdx) files.

Fade In is fast, affordable, imports Final Draft and Celtx files -- and is aimed directly at screenwwriters

It’s even attracting attention from the people I’d suggest are “real” screenwriters.

In other words, Linux-based script writers now enjoy choices; Celtx offers pre-production tools and templates ranging from Hollywood screenplays to theater and radio. It also offers an online version control system ($5/month) and some powerful new mobile tools (more on that soon).

Meanwhile, Fade In — which isn’t free, but only costs $49 (limited time offer, free trial available) — is aimed at movie and TV writers. It imports Final Draft files (.fdx) and offers you more control over script formatting, and syncs with your Dropbox account.

Both even offer full screen writing and change-tracking revision modes.

Powerful stuff, especially for those of us who wrestled with balky templates in our prior writing lives.

More importantly (to me), those of us who said good-bye to Microsoft and are now making a living on top of the fast, open source, won’t-nanny-you-to-death (we have clients for that) Linux OS — aren’t missing much.

Going Mobile

I have doubts about creating content on mobile devices, but clearly, writers are increasingly using phones and tablets to writer/edit/update their scripts.

And in the mobile world, both Celtx and Fade In are — frankly — kicking Final Draft’s butt (Final Draft doesn’t even offer a mobile app).

Celtx’s screenwriting app is currently available for iPhones and the iPad; Fade In’s mobile app is available for iPhones/iPads and Android phones/tablets.

In addition, Celtx just released its Celtx Shots app for the iPad — storyboarding and set blocking software that at least one independent filmmaker thinks descended from the heavens.

The Celtx Shots iPad app

The mobile world is shiny and new and unsettled, and clearly, upstart software vendors are using the mobile app space to challenge slow-moving “industry leaders”.

How valuable that is to you depends on how heavily you’ve embraced mobile.

Me? I just don’t see it happening on my Android phone, but I did just buy a Toshiba Android tablet, and while I’d hate to write on it, I can see how you could use it to update or edit a document.

The Fade In Android app

Sorta.

The Part Where I Summarize

It’s clear that Linux-based writers have no reason to shy away from script writing projects; Celtx and Fade In are powerful and affordable, and all that’s left is to pick one and get started (I own both).

Celtx is free (their “Writer’s Pack” is only $14.95, so buy it) and covers the gamut — from novels to radio scripts to movie scripts. It also offers its index cards and plotting functions, and boasts of its pre-production features (that I’ve never tested).

It’s the Swiss Army Knife of scripting software.

Fade In is smaller and sharper-edged (I’d suggest it represented the new wave of streamlined desktop software), though it’s clearly aimed at those writing movie or TV scripts. If I was one of the literally tens of thousands of screenwriters pounding up a spec feature script, I’d try it.

Keep writing (on fast, free, hassle-free Linux), Tom Chandler.

Are You Writing a Web Video Project — And Could Use $2K To Launch It?

June 7, 2011, by Tom Chandler 1 comment

I’ve been using open source screenwriting software Celtx to hammer out a few video projects, and while I’m not interested in writing a web video project, I figure a few of my readers might be — and could use an extra $2,000 to get their project off the ground (from the Celtx site):

Over the next 60 days, we’ll select 10 different web video projects to receive $2,000 seed funding. Plus, we’ll promote these projects to the million-strong community of content creators on celtx.com, and on the Celtx channels on YouTube and Vimeo.

It’s part of the Celtx Seeds program, and while you have to like the idea of an open source software company supporting its user base, you’ll want to read the licensing agreement to make sure you know what rights you’re ceding.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

The Video Scriptwriting Followup Post (or, The Two Key Details I’d Forgotten About Video Scriptwriting)

May 20, 2011, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

A couple posts back I fired up the scriptwriting software and climbed back into my video scriptwriting harness, and while the projects have passed, the lessons linger.

First, I’d forgotten the details. Or more accurately, the sheer number of them that clutter your average video.

In this instance, I didn’t just write a pair of video scripts, collect my money and then fade to black. There are a bazillion details, most of which the client probably never conceived of and can’t handle.

On a bigger corporate gig, I imagine the director and producer would handle most of these, but this project was built on a shoestring. And because the vision is yours, it’s similar to saving someone’s life; suddenly, you’re responsible for the script, and you’ll be responsible for the duration.

In this case, that meant a lot of emails and phone calls.

OK. My bad. Memory is a tricky thing and mine had apparently yellowed around the edges a little, and it cost me a couple free hours.

No biggie.

Still, the projects were refreshingly different and yes — they created a small nostalgic glow for my broadcast days. Which faded pretty quickly.

From the geeky writer perspective, the free, open source Celtx scriptwriting software was a big timesaver.

Thumbs up.

The effort was gratifying enough that I recently dove in and wrote a simple screencast script for a nonprofit.

It was simple and for a good cause which I understood, so it came to life easily.

Still, I’d forgotten the Cardinal, Inviolate Rule of Scriptwriting:

Nobody ever reads the things.

I got client comments for the summary, but not the script. And more client comments for… the summary. And an email concerned with a point in the…. summary.

Plus outside notes on… (wait for it), the summary.

Even the biologist/narrator showed up, filled up on coffee, and promptly admitted he hadn’t actually read the script.

OK. I sorta remember this part too.

Like so many media projects these days, there were no real pros involved, so we had to collectively trip over the barriers a seasoned veteran would have dispatched with an email.

It wasn’t a hard or involved screencast and a little spontaneity probably helped more than it hurt, but we needed more takes than were strictly necessary, and I see a few rough edges.

And while it’s amusing to read about on somebody else’s blog, it’d be a lot less funny if the client surfaced an objection to the script after it had been made.

Technically, the copywriter’s in the clear, but “technically” doesn’t book your next job for you, and not every client maintains a clear understanding of irony.

In other words, even on a simple project, make you sure get a specific sign-off on the script (I got mine via email).

Signing things tends to focus clients.

I’m done with scriptwriting for now, and next week I start a short series of classes (Online Marketing for Artists). I’ll have to pretty up my presentation and bone up on the value (or lack thereof) of portfolio sites.

A couple of online gigs remain in midstream, but the logjam is easing a bit, and I can say with a certainty I’m awfully happy about that.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Writing Video Scripts For No Good Reason (And Some Very Cool Free Software To Help You Do It)

April 11, 2011, by Tom Chandler 11 comments

“Can you write a video script?”

“Sure,” I lied. “No problem.”

(In my early 20s and in the grip of my first ad agency job, it’s possible I was an utter moron.)

I banged out something brilliant and proudly handed the script to the director.

I waited for the amazed gasps to sound.

They didn’t.

I hadn’t formatted the script (a real novice tell), and the concept of integrating the words and images had largely eluded me (as did an “aha!” moment).

In terms of length, I’d written the marketing video equivalent of a brooding Russian novel.

It’s wasn’t my finest moment as a copywriter.

Fortunately, I got better at it (the director handed me a stack of scripts, explained the basics, and introduced me to a real script writer).

Still, I never wrote more than a couple video scripts a year, and today – more than seven years since I wrote my last script – a client is sniffing around the idea of a video series.

Clearly, I don’t have time to write it (hell, I haven’t even finished my marketing website).

Clearly it’s not part of my current business plan.

Clearly it’s not a “core competency.”

And clearly, I’m doing it anyway. (I committed to writing the first two scripts.)

I guess you don’t have to be smart to be in love.

Now For The Writing Part

Video scripts require specialized formatting, and I remember wrestling with that in prior script writing efforts.

In short, I was dreading the actual writing of the scripts.

Then I stumbled across Celtx — free scriptwriting software which runs on Windows, Mac & Linux.

Celtx is free, and pretty damn nice.

(They charge for their Studio version, which looks a lot like screenwriting software mated to version control software.)

Celtx offers script templates for screenplays (movies, TV, etc), novels, plays, comic books, audio scripts and audio-visual projects.

Happily, the audio-visual template offers the side-by-side formatting used by most commercial videos.

Celtx offers an A/V script editor

It’s much better than my fussy word processor template. In fact, it’s downright easy.

Without even a break-in period, I wrote two sample scenes for the client, formatted them in double-column format, and created a pdf.

Ahhh. I likey writing tools that let you focus on the writing.

The Rationalization

Sometimes you do things for reasons of fun or sanity instead of revenues or career (or maybe you watched too many Project Greenlight DVDs).

This appears to be one of those times.

I’ll get my website finished later.

Keep writing, Tom Chandler.

Scriptwriting Resources For Writers

First, a helpful hint: TV and movie screenplay formats are very different from the side-by-side A/V (or documentary) format used for corporate videos and screencasts. Don’t confuse the two.

If you want to know more about writing video scripts, consider buying Scriptwriting for High-Impact Videos..

Looking for a free video script resource? Try this web page: “Elements of the Video Script.”

Scriptwriting Software

Celtx (free) screenplay/storyboard/production software (runs on Windows, Mac & Linux)

Here’s a video which gives you a quick overview of the Celtx A/V script module.

Ever wanted to write scripts (or hell, want to throw down in the hyper-competitive screenplay worlds?)

Final Draft (the leading commercial software for screenwriters (most corporate folks will want the Final Draft AV version – $149

Scrivener Software (Not exactly script writing software, but has a script mode, and Mac users seem to love it (Windows and Linux versions are just now in beta)

Adobe Story (new web-based screenwriting/production product

Keep writing, Tom Chandler

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Posts tagged: celtx

Celtx Giving $10,000 To Independent Filmmakers