by G.N. Jacobs
Apparently, I’m the manager/ring announcer of the writing app Thunderdome—“Two enter, one leaves”—because I just deleted Screenplay by Black Mana off my iPhone in favor of Greyfirst’s Celtx. I need the most efficient way to write screenplays, comic book scripts and even the occasional stage play on all my technology. So far, nothing does everything, but we’re getting closer with Celtx.
I tried out this free program on both my phone and iPad and it’s a perfectly acceptable screenwriter in whatever environment the user chooses. What comes on the screen looks like a screenplay, prints like a screenplay and almost cuts and paste into Final Draft like a screenplay (two of three is a good start). I tried all of my tricks that I use on all of my writing apps: rocking the screen, using my Bluetooth keyboard with the iPad and the rest; I got the same results as I do on all my other apps.
<div id="attachment_5418" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://192.254.190.185/~erikpsc/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Celtx-3.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5418" class="size-full wp-image-5418" alt="Celtx for the iPhone" src="http://192.254.190.185/~erikpsc/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Celtx-3.jpg" width="600" height="400" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Celtx-3.jpg 600w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Celtx-3-150x100.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Celtx-3-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></a>Celtx for the iPhone</div>
Now if I were to go whole hog, I would download the desktop manager version for my Mac and use it like a cloud document manager to keep things in sync on all of my devices. But, having a Celtx account eventually means having to pay a monthly subscription fee. I don’t do that sort of thing willy-nilly, because subscription fees add up.
I pay for Netflix and Hulu Plus to get the shows I feel like I need to see since I really only pay my cable bill to make sure I have Internet in the sacred confines of my condo. I probably will start paying Spotify when my writing checks clear as an easy way to download the music I want as a prelude to getting a real iPod. But, pay Celtx (Microsoft Office 365, for that matter) to maintain my documents all tickety-boo when I already do this through the various links to my Dropbox account that are free? Sibling, I have this bridge for sale, single owner, like new and with free maintenance…
Luckily, the Celtx app has ways of talking to the computer without using their cloud server. Namely, emailing the file to your self as a TXT file. From there it’s a matter of cut and paste into the files on the computer. Cutting and pasting into Final Draft 8 can be a slight adventure, as the text has to be fixed afterwards.
My real reason for keeping Celtx in favor of the Black Mana (see review) program has to do with doing things on my iPhone in the most efficient manner possible. I have DocsToGo for prose. Final Draft has so far strangely ceded the iPhone market. I groused about Screenplay for the iPhone not having the Shot element (probably an upsell technique for the iPad app). So using Celtx on the iPhone should get my script and comics work done whenever I don’t have my other tech. I will also use it on my iPad, mostly because Celtx supports comic book writing where I had to tweak the Final Draft app to my liking.
The apps don’t support the iOS Open In feature where the user can open an attachment in the chosen software (available on most of my other apps) and get working. But, since I’m trying to be cheap, I intentionally accept the compromises inherent to Celtx. And we have, yet, another writing app that wins some and loses some.

Product Review: Celtx

by G.N. Jacobs
Documents To Go by Data Viz has been around awhile (I had it on my Palm Pilot, way back when) and has been a generally solid writing app that does a lot of things well. But, it doesn’t do everything, explaining why, like with many apps, there just ain’t no replacing the actual computer on which the user will then fix the text using their latest copy of Microsoft Office. If this review were to appear in <a href="http://www.booksie.com">www.booksie.com</a> or some other novel- oriented site what I have to say would seem more positive, because I really don’t write scripts, plays or comic books using this app, but I do rock the books and shorts.
The app (premium edition $14.99 in iTunes App Store) is a third- party mobile tie-in with Microsoft Office and can read and edit the big three MS Office files (Word, Excel and Powerpoint, both flavors, 2011 for Mac and the previous non-XML versions). And considering that at least eight years of development has gone into the program, the user has more than enough options for moving, saving and working with the text. I use it with my Dropbox account, but I can email a file, use the cord with iTunes or use a WiFi sync page that loads onto your computer’s home screen.
The makers stripped Office down quite a bit to make it fit for downloading and updating via an app store. They give you maybe seven fonts of which three are Arial, New Courier and Times New Roman. Of course, these are the most used fonts that I’ve encountered so it all works out. Unlike, Microsoft Word, where it is fairly easy to write with italics, bold or underline just by clicking the button in the toolbar, Documents to Go seems to work best if you type your text and then go back over it using the smartphone’s native text highlighting feature to make the changes. There are a few punctuation symbols (quote marks mostly) that have to be fixed on the computer so that the manuscript has a consistent look, an easy accommodation. And there isn’t a symbol browser for anything like a copyright symbol.
My “work around” for most of these issues has been to make of template of the document I need on my computer, using it to type the text in the app, and then I use Cut to get rid of the boilerplate. For my novels and short stories, I get what I need even if I only do a chapter at a time, because page breaks have to be done on the computer. No negotiating there. Pretty much any really cool, but highly complex Microsoft Office task like trying to manage the two columns of an AV script (commercials and news writing), just won’t happen, Ducky.
The main reason why I don’t do scripts with this app is that it blows chunks trying to manage any kind of tab stop other than simple indentation. In my novel and short story writing I indicate songs and poetry with small offset margins using italicized and justified text and, you guessed it, I have to fix all of that on the computer.
<a href="http://192.254.190.185/~erikpsc/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Why-I-dont-use-this-app-for-screenwriting.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5414" alt="Why I don't use this app for screenwriting" src="http://192.254.190.185/~erikpsc/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Why-I-dont-use-this-app-for-screenwriting.jpg" width="600" height="322" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Why-I-dont-use-this-app-for-screenwriting.jpg 600w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Why-I-dont-use-this-app-for-screenwriting-150x80.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Why-I-dont-use-this-app-for-screenwriting-300x161.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></a>The template that I created for screenwriting is an approximation of proper format that leaves the Character and Dialogue elements over on the left margin (see Picture B) to be fixed when I cut and paste from Word to Final Draft on the computer.
As an app, it’s stable. It doesn’t crash, freeze up, lose data or steal credit card info. If you can manage the small screen on a smartphone, or tie in a Bluetooth keyboard with an iPad, most writers will do fine doing general writing. In short, you won’t do your magnum opus Tom Sawyer V. The Vermicious Knids 5 on Documents To Go, but you might pull off the body of the query letter.

Product Review: Documents To Go

by G.N. Jacobs
Final Draft 8 as the latest version in a long line (twenty years at least) of software designed to automate the process of getting our words into proper screenplay format would seem nearly so ubiquitous that pack your bags, fellas, it’s all over but the shouting would be the phrase of the day. Believe it or not, but there are still competitors lurking out there (Movie Magic, Celtx, etc.), so perhaps this review is required. Actually, I mostly want to talk about the iPad app version and how it integrates with the desktop software.
Final Cut became the screenwriting analog of how MS Office left WordPerfect broken by the side of the road wondering who was that masked writing program that just slashed my jugular by making nice with the Assistant Director, Script Supervisor and Production Manager. Legend has it that it was these departments that developed modern screenplay format in the first place, before the writers could unionize and complain, but I digress. When the production people started using Final Draft to do their jobs, then various writers went along because if the script file had to be in FDR or later FDX on set, then you might as well go to the source. The competitors made their programs Final Draft compatible to stay in the game.
<div id="attachment_5409" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://192.254.190.185/~erikpsc/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1.jpg"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5409" class="size-full wp-image-5409" alt="Screen from the Final Draft 8 App for the iPad" src="http://192.254.190.185/~erikpsc/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1.jpg" width="600" height="450" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1.jpg 600w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1-150x112.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1-75x55.jpg 75w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FInal-Draft-1-185x140.jpg 185w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></a>Screen from the Final Draft 8 App for the iPad</div>
There isn’t much to say about the desktop Final Draft that hasn’t already been said, it works because the creators have had a long time to make it work for everybody, writers and ADs. The desktop version can manipulate a script in any way required and export that information to software used by the various departments on set. They thoughtfully included a lot of templates for currently popular shows, comic books, plays and comic books. You can even write a novel from the desktop version. For $300, the desktop program will do almost everything, except AV scripts.
Final Draft 8 came about when certain app makers started finding ways to write screenplays on our mobile tech. It started with Black Mana’s two versions of Screenplay that Final Draft initially supported, but others jumped in. Final Draft decided it would be easier and more profitable to update everyone who wanted to work on a mobile device to a new version as a way to solve coding problems. My upgrade was $40. After they had the experience from working with Black Mana, they then built their own iPad- only application. At $10/app, they haven’t looked back, because Final Draft is still the source.
The app is awesome for lots of reasons starting with the fact that the coders thoughtfully give the four templates we need most—Screenplay, Play, Hour TV and Sitcom with all the elements included (no omitting Shot, like Black Mana’s Screenplay). True, I’m sure the sharp-eyed reader has read my bio and asked “aren’t you also a comic book writer?” My comic book template is just a simple tweak of the Screenplay template; I’ll live.
The primary limitation of any mobile writing app is that the pop-up touch screen keyboard uses up so much of the visible writing space. But, my iPad has been paired up with an external Bluetooth keyboard allowing me to Rock ’n Roll as I type. The font- specific quote marks don’t translate from the app to the computer, but then they don’t do that on most of my other apps either. I fix them later on the computer. And I’ve learned not to start certain types of scripts on the computer based on some of those templates in the desktop version, because I ended up hitting more keys than I should to make the script look right.
I have yet to break what seems to be the unbeatable combo of Final Draft with an awesome app that pretty much behaves as advertised. Part of me would like to see if they come out with an iPhone version and complete the mugging done on Black Mana’s Screenplay, but since the current app can be used offline and synched with Final Draft upon reaching a WiFi node there isn’t much that it won’t do in terms of writing movies.

Product Review: Celtx

Product Review: Documents To Go

Product Review: Final Draft 8

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