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Genre: Screenwriting software

Format: Download

Developer: Open Source

Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X

Preview Computer: 1.5GHz 17" PowerBook with 512MB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (AGP 4X) graphics processor with 64MB of DDR SDRAM

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Retail Price: Free

Version Previewed: 0.9.8 beta

Download: www.celtx.com (19.6MB)

Writing screenplays is the simplest job in the world, as anyone who's seen a Will Ferrell movie can attest. What's difficult about screenplays is the formatting, which is part of the reason why screenwriting software costs so much: they make sure your script adheres to the rigid standards of Hollywood formatting. Of course, you could save yourself a couple hundred bucks and just set up a Word template with the appropriate tab stops, so the makers of screenwriting software differentiate themselves with bells and whistles. Some try to make the flow of writing as smooth as possible. Others offer advice to help you get past writer's block. Still, they all cost a lot of money.

But now the Open Source movement has come up with their own contender: Celtx, a piece of screenwriting software based off of the Mozilla application framework, available as a free download.

In addition to its biggest selling point (i.e, being free), Celtx also boasts quite a few impressive features: the biggest being that in addition to helping you write your blockbuster, it also wants to produce. Celtx wants to be integrated into the entire process of moviemaking, and to that end it allows you to keep track of all the elements of the film, wardrobe, props, characterization, etc, and generate those as reports for the various departments. You do this by making links within the script. Here's a simple example.

Suppose you have a character who wears a loud Hawaiian shirt in your film. Open the sidebar and highlight whatever text you choose (the character's name on his first entrance, for example). You select the department (Wardrobe, in this case), then make a new item named "Hawaiian shirt." Now, when you generate your costuming report, the Hawaiian shirt will be included as a character need.

But here's where Celtx gets really nifty. If you've got an example of what you want the shirt to look like, you can attach additional media (like, say, a picture) to the note. But you can also attach other types of media, like music and video as well. And if don't have a picture handy, Celtx includes a link to the Google Image Search in the sidebar (which, since Celtx is built on the Mozilla browser engine, opens in the application itself).

Speaking of the internet, Celtx also features an integrated uploading service. After creating a free account, you can upload your scripts to the Celtx server. You can control the access to the script: "Private" for files that only you can access, "Shared" scripts can be downloaded by users you designate, and "Public" files can be seen by anyone.

But Celtx is also not without its downside. First off, it is a beta, so until it reaches a "stable" 1.0 release, you've got to expect some bugs. Also, there is some interface weirdness; Celtx features built-in PDF generation, but you have to be logged in to the Celtx server to use it (Mac users, of course, can simply use the Print as PDF function without this).

Second, I used an earlier version of Celtx this summer to write a play and found the way that Celtx saved files to be a nightmare. Rather than write to a single file, Celtx writes several files (and attached media) to a folder. In addition to making it hard to keep track of what version of the script I was working on (creating multiple folders instead of multiple documents), Celtx would sometimes simply refuse to recognize some of my copy folders. I also ran into this problem when transferring folders from one machine to another. In my recent noodling with the latest release I haven't run into this problem, but, nevertheless, maintain my habit of generating a new PDF at the end of every major revision (which is, granted, probably a good habit to get into, but still)...

Celtx will come seem like a godsend to those who have always wanted to do their own cinematic writing but found the price tag of professional applications to be daunting. It's flexible, powerful, and best of all, free. Here's hoping that they work out whatever bugs (may) remain in the program and deliver a solid program based on the impressive feature set we're already seeing.

Bill's been using Macs since the late 80s. When he's not making smartass remarks to amuse Kirk Hiner, he enjoys fighting for the user.