The Mac program "Pages" comes with a screenwriting outline.

I have Final Draft and Movie Magic. Celtx is by far my favorite of the three.

I love Celtx, it's a piece of cake to use, has some great tools and it works in the cloud which means you can pick up writing anywhere, on any device.

But lately I've noticed a few bugs that are driving me mad. There's some major formatting problems when you save to PDF (some dialogue lines look like I've hit 'Enter' after the first word) and the page count option flat out doesn't work.

I see there's lots of new features being added (novel editor, really? Isn't that just... Word?) but I'd prefer if they just fixed the main program first.

They need to iron out the formatting kinks before I can wholeheartedly recommend it, but for a first time writer, it's extremely useful.

Oh, I should mention I've never used Final Draft, so I've got nothing to compare Celtx against.

But I hear a lot of horror stories about FD. Sounds bad.

Do you trust the margins that Final Draft sets up when you open a new doc? I was looking the other day and found that the measurements for dialogue and character name were different than what were suggested in 'the hollywood standard' book. does it matter if these are off by a half inch or so? is there a set template i should be using or can i just leave it up to final draft?

I used CELTX for a short film I made with some friends. I wrote the screenplay.

It takes getting used to, like other programs, and it has some bugs.

But for FREE, I would say it is pretty darned good.

Those reading blog who are filmmakers as well as writers, might be interested in the following:

I also utilized the storyboard and shot list functions as you can see in these photos:

Working out the storyboard.

Evolution of a Shooting Schedule.

I am using it right now on a feature.

For you iPad users, Celtx is the ONLY real screenwriting app available. There are a few others but they are buggier than sin.

I inherited my wife's "old" iPad this weekend as she rushed out to buy the next generation last week. (weird damned Apple cultists... worse yet, I'm married to one!)

I'll NEVER get used to typing on a glass screen so I use a bluetooth keyboard and that bridges that problem.

Still... I'm a dyed in the wool Final Draft/PC/Windows guy so... not sure yet where I'll end up.

I love Celtx.

I also pay the additional $5/month for cloud storage and collaboration. Every edit I make is versioned in the cloud, accessible anywhere.

Best part is I can download the software anywhere (including ipod, iphone, ipad) and access my scripts without the hassle of emailing drafts around, wondering which is the most recent.

Celtx kicks the llama's ass.

I've tried Celtx and found it not as intuitive as MM Screenwriter. But then I've had that program for 10 years. Finally broke down and bought Final Draft to be commpatible with whoever, should the need arise.

Celtx is certainly a great option for beginning writers who are not sure about writing for film/tv. Better than figuring it out in Word or some of the other web-based apps. But I like having my software on my computer and not having to rely on an internet connection. I backup with various methods, and I know some don't like worrying about which file is recent, but I'm in control of that.

I try to write mostly on my Netbook, which has a slow internet so I'm offline and not distracted by anything other than my own procrastination. I do my research on my Laptop, but like to have dedicated writing time.

I also use another technology some may be familiar with--pen & paper. Always reliable, no bugs.

I tried Celtx a while back, but I preferred FD because it was an industry standard. Now I use Movie Magic, it's by far the best - especially on the MAC for me. There's a difference in page count -- Movie Magic margins are a little narrower than FD, for instance, but it forces me to be even cleverer with verb usage.

I prefer FD v.8. I know v7 was terrible on Macs, but I've found no problems with 8. I like Celtx for a free option, but as noted it doesn't translate to pdf well, and importing text from other programs is a nightmare.

Someone also mentioned Pages, which, once you get used to the f keys instead of tab is like driving a manual instead of an automatic... once you get used to it, it works like a gem. Another great free version.

I use Celtx and Final Draft but I only teach scriptwriting and storyboarding with Celtx because the school I teach for won't buy Final Draft when there is a free scriptwriting software out there. It's better for my students though because it means that they don't have to pay for that software package as well as the pricey Adobe suite.

In my opinion, Celtx works just fine for most purposes except that it isn't the industry standard and some competitions, productions pros, and agencies may not accept that format.

Yup, Celtx here. Used it for nearly 5 years and never had a problem - really - I know other people seem to sometimes, I just never have.

I can't compare it to anything else because I've never used anything else.

My son, at age 11, figured out how to use it and wrote something for school.

The cloud storage (someone else mentioned) is only available at a price but $5/month is hardly exorbitant. And it gives you collaboration, plus stores every version you ever saved so you can always go back to find the scene you deleted last year.

Oh and you can get it for Windows, Mac and Linux (as well as the reduced "app" version).

@Manwhit: I wouldn't sweat the preset margins on FD. Believe me, it's not going to influence how a reader perceives your story. And if it really bugs you, then simply reset the default margins to specs.

Love Celtx, but I've never used anything else. I don't know what functionality the pay program have that Celtx doesn't, but I haven't missed anything.

I also use the cloud service so I can write at work during "free time."

I am a film student and Celtx has definitely been great for me. It's not a perfect software but it does the job.

I use Final Draft and CeltX. Final Draft is my screenwriting program of choice - it's just a smoother experience than CeltX.

But when I'm preparing a film to shoot, I use CeltX as it has more powerful preproduction utilities.

I wrote about my experiences on my own blog. (Assuming the damn host doesn't 500 it.) (Hope you don't mind the plug Scott.)

I've been using Celtx for a couple of years. I love it. It's extremely easy to use and manage.

My only beef is the addition of "continued" at the top and bottom of certain pages in the PDF file. I haven't figured out what dictates this yet. Does anyone know?

I started using Celtx because it was free. People told me I would need FD to share with people, but everyone's happy with pdf. Once Celtx incorporated revision marks (and improved them), I was locked in. My writing partner and I share a $50/year account, which is invaluable for when we're both working on different parts of the draft at the same time.

I eventually bought FD so I could proof scripts on the side, but I much prefer Celtx.

I love Celtx - it's reinvigorated my writing because I can have it on all my computers/handsets and I can access my work anywhere.

I think the developers should be praised highly for offering such good software across multiple platforms for free.

I use Celtx nowadays, but used to be a fan of Final Draft.

The editor in Final Draft is better than Celtx, but that is the only thing that makes Final Draft better.

I changed program when Final Draft's installation and licens verification became too complicated. I have a notebook with no cd drive and no Internet connection (by choice) and it was just too complicated to install it legaly.

I love Celtx because I can have all my files in one place. I have made my own template with a basic mindmap, links to webpages and such. So I can use Celtx from day one in a project, not just when I start writing.

Unfortunatly it is bit complicated to share with others, since I don't wish to share all my notes and files, but just the script.

Most of all I like the attitude. One basic program for free, open source for every one, and addons to pay for. Modern and fresh.

There is nothing in Final Draft that I am willing to pay for anylonger.

I love Celtx. Admittedly, I've used nothing else, but...

- I love the iPad/iPhone sync feature; it makes writing on the move so much easier

- The formatting is easy and intuitive. Importing into it is fairly easy.

- I was going to buy Final Draft after I raised some cash, but reading the comments here, it seems a waste of money.

I use Final Draft 8 and have had no issues.

Does anyone remember Sophocles? I never had a chance to use it before it mysteriously disappeared, but heard it was pretty good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophocles_%28software%29

Hi Everyone!!

I know this is an article about Celtx but I work at Scripped.com and they just released a celtx version that lets you sync your Celtx scripts with Scripped.com, so you can write Online and offline. You can download it from sourceforge here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scripped/files/ or by searching there for Scripped.

Check it out, it's free! It's same as celtx but also works with Scripped which is really convenient!!

~Jenny

Outreach Director
jenny@scripped.com

Hi Everyone!!

I know this is an article about Celtx but I work at Scripped.com and they just released a celtx version that lets you sync your Celtx scripts with Scripped.com, so you can write Online and offline. You can download it from sourceforge here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scripped/files/ or by searching there for Scripped.

Check it out, it's free! It's same as celtx but also works with Scripped which is really convenient!!

~Jenny

Outreach Director
jenny@scripped.com

I love Celtx! It was the reason that I started my first screenplay. I use it for my movie scripts as well as my comic stories.

I joined Scripped recently but I haven't used it enough to evaluate it. What I like about Celtx is that it is a pre-production software package also. Really neat features for aspiring filmmakers. I may use FD or Movie Magic in the future but I'm very happy with Celtx... especially if they keep improving it the way they do.

I used Celtx for a short while but my laptop died soon after installation. I bought a new one which froze the minute I installed Celtx. It could be a coincidence, but once I managed to save that new one, I chose not to take the risk and forked out for Movie Magic ... all has since been working breezily.

FD is my choice due to the online thing. Prior to AXIUM going to the wall their integrated production suite was brilliant for MACS. Its a pitty Ent Partners hadn't reintroduced it.