Celtx -- Anyone aware of this program?

Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 13, 2012 at 10:23 AM

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
>The software I found most versatile in this respect was StoryView. It
>hasn’t been developed for quite some time, apart from some marginal improvements,
>but it’s still supported and available now at a much lower price, marketed as Outline
>4D http://www.screenplay.com/p-77-outline-4d.aspx As far as screenplay
>software goes, I think it’s the closest thing to a generic outliner, with the very
>useful ability to switch from a vertical to a horizontal layout. It’s quite
>interesting how the mind conceives these two views quite
>differently.

Thanks for reminding my of Outline 4D. It’s been sitting in my to-do list for over a year, and now I remembered why. They only give you 5 days to try! I guess I was waiting for the right time to arrive, and it has just arrived…

> P.S. Celtx has continued developing and now offers web access and sync, as well as a Linux version. If I was into screenwriting, these features alone would make me go for it.

Sure. I was only commenting on the novel-writing capability. The Windows software has 7 project templates: film, audio-visual, theatre, audio play, storyboard, comic book, and novel.

However my impression from looking at script-writing software (however briefly) is that they are primarily preoccupied with producing texts (or multi-media pre-production drafts) that confirm to industry standards, with the implied promise of hitting it big on Broadway or in Hollywood. So I feel there is a bit of a gimmicky edge to some of this software, something almost exploitative about it, where the plotting and writing-related features may not be actually the top priority, it’s more about selling a dream, a connection to the industry.

I would venture to say (big generalisation, I know) that many of the creative writer types may not be that good with software and computers (judging from all the blog comments about how difficult they find to learn Scrivener for instance), so their expectations and needs might be completely different from people with medium- to sophisticated computer skills. Okay, before you all pile in to contradict me, I know that there are also the Douglas Adams’s out there who use BrainStorm etc. :)