Many professional writers use Final Draft because the production company demand it, although ironically many don't know how to use the production features (updated script copies and so on) that Final Draft uses. The differences between Celtx and Final draft are minimal, but if you are an independent film maker then it's a no-brainer to chose Celtx. If you get a contract to write for TV or a film company, then splurge out on Final Draft and write it off to tax.


Just to echo the above post, Celtx is the only one that appears to be in current development. Final Draft hasn't seen any significant improvements for some time.

For those interested in a comparison between Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter, both of which are used by professional writers, here is an article that puts both side-by-side: http://prashantg.com/.

I use MMS, but one gripe I have is that it has not been updated in years, so issues are not being addressed. FD is several years old as well.

---

It's not worth using anything except for Final Draft 8, in my opinion. I've been writing for years and have used Celtx, Movie Magic and Final Draft 7. Not to mention MSWord screenplay templates, which work fine if you're only writing shorts.
Best, Linda

Paul,

Thank you for the great endorsement.  I will have to give it a try.  I briefly considered some commercial software once, but i never got serious enough to justify spending over $100 on it.  But for free, without needing to store everything online, and based on your comments, it sounds like it is definitely worth checking out.

About your awards: Congratulations!  If you keep working at it, perhaps someday you can earn a Golden Pinhead.  :)  :D  (Seriously, though, congratulations.)

---

iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

I only ever use Celtx. I was working with MS Word templates for a while, but man it was a frustrating experience. I don't ever use the on-line side of Celtx and can always save my files to my hard drive. The button to use is the very big "SAVE" one on the interface.... Not sure how the OP has missed that, unless the intention is to spread negative information about Celtx! I think if you are going to write a review on an application, especially one as good as Celtx and one that is also free, it's worth checking the facts first!

Unless the OP is talking about the iPad version? I don't have access to that.

I have written many scripts with Celtx and it does exactly what I want it to do, look after the formatting while remaining invisible to my creative process. Not something I found with other software solutions. Two of my plays that won awards were written with this software (see http://paulekert.com/awards.html for details) Although I like to think it was the writing wot won it for me, not the software ;)

It's also able to convert a script into a shot list, which is nice when you want to quickly run up an rough draft of what the film needs to make it happen.

Celtx is free, does everything I want it to and it's not let me down so far (touch wood). What more could I want? The online side of it I have never touched and probably never will, being an insular lone wolf type of writer/film maker.

Paul

For most of my projects (2-15 minutes, less than 50 lines of dialog) I find a simple text editor does the trick just fine. And a handy dandy (and ever present) notebook for all my ideas both visual and dialog.

I'm a Sophocles user. Unfortunately the development stopped many years ago, and it just by the grace of the Gods that I haven't a. updated my computer, and b. it hasn't stopped working since it required online activation. Celtx is ok, and I've used a template in MS Word when I was going through a couple of courses on screenwriting.

As for storyboarding, I've tried Frameforge and Toon Boom, but find it easier to use pencil and paper to roughly sketch my boards. Sometimes I scan them into the PC, but that is only when I couple the drawings with location shot taken with my camera. Antics 3D was okay for storyboards, and Iclone can do much the same.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
See all my content in one place

Facebook Page: CWK3D Game and Film Content
Cancer Survivor - Retired Teacher - Geriatric Icloner still learning
Hardware: ZX80; Operating System- ZX80 Basic; CPU - ZX80 @ 3.25 MHz; Memory - 1KB; Hard Drive - N/A; Storage - Cassette; Monitor: Any old CRT TV

You'll laugh but my sboards are done in Publisher. The main reason is that theres a virtual desktop and I can splatter all my ideas and rough takes/stills on its' virtual desktop without invading the actual "Paper/Board" being able to flicker through hundreds of pages and insert the ideas as and when I engineer a way to include them. Also it saves the state of the desktop for when I reopen it all and there it is, an idea splash of everything. Even if it does look like clutter. :D :P

I'm completely intrigued with Trelby. Ill take a look now. Thanks for that.

hypothetically speaking, if reallusion made a screenwriting program - from reading this thread - there would be 2 modes - one for a person to work in a group ( over the net with a server like they did for widget cast would be cool to exchange projects ) - and one in solo mode ?

I'm interested in this because I've been trying to come up with ways to collaborate with other people ...some that own iclone and some that don't - so far my closest game plan to this was not screenwriting software but the google docs "Presentation" which is very much like microsoft powerpoint

I liked it because you could embed youtube videos, links, zip files, pictures or text and invite others to update / share / exchange ideas and each project would have custom permissions, so thats nice for organizing multiple teams / projects.

I'm still new to the whole screenwriting thing, but I understand the concept and wanted to make something that my non techie friends could use too - like for example , embed youtube videos into the presentation for ideas / directions to film. And maybe another would be an editor downloading clips as we go along. etc

I thought it would be fun to run with this topic and discreetly pick everyone's brain on how to properly use screenwriting software and what makes a good team or solo environment screenwriting workflow! lol :cool:


what tools, features are critical "make it or break it" tools for you guys in screenwriting / storyboarding software ?

• My Spotify  My Twitter  My Twitch
  
• My NFT    My Marketplace My Blog
  
• Music Sync Licensing

☯🐉

"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

Yes, but FrameForge is between $300 and $500, or so...;)

---