Mastering Celtx

Until recently, available screenwriting tools–built around traditional discrete roles and tethered to paper output–have struggled to keep up with the rapid changes in industry practices and needs. However, a new tool called Celtx (pronounced kel-tx) has embraced the industry’s evolution and created a preproduction workspace that erases the boundaries between different conceptualizing and narrative-building tasks, such as storyboarding, outlining, media asset management, and scriptwriting.

This book is for small-shop media professionals, independent film and video makers, media arts professors and students, ad-hoc media production teams, “pro-am” media creators, and aspiring screenwriters, storyboard artists, or comic book creators who want to maximize their creativity using Celtx. You will be introduced to the essential Celtx toolset (as well as to the Celtx Script app, Celtx Studio, and Celtx add-ons) and will learn how to apply Celtx to a variety of projects and workflows. A companion website includes downloadable practice files and images so you can work through the book’s many tutorials. This is the only book you need to master Celtx and take your screenwriting and storyboarding projects to the next level.

About Mastering Celtx

Celtx (pronounced kel-tx), an open source software tool, blends the many steps of media projects–things like outlining, scriptwriting, storyboarding, production budgeting, scheduling, and etceteras–into a single, multifaceted project, rather than a hierarchy of steps that operate independently and linearly. Doing so allows the project team to dictate workflow, instead of the other way around. This book describes how you can maximize the usage of Celtx for your own media projects. It covers Celtx version 2.9 (newly released in early 2011) and should serve as a resource even when Celtx moves into version 3. By the book’s conclusion, you should no longer have to think about the toolbox, but should instead be thinking of what you can dream and how you can communicate. (From Chapter 1, “The History and Philosophy of Celtx”)

This book is for small-shop media professionals, independent film and video makers, media arts professors and students, ad-hoc media production teams, “pro-am” media creators and aspiring screenwriters, storyboard artists, or comic book creators who want to maximize their creativity using Celtx.

You will be introduced to the essential Celtx toolset (as well as to the Celtx Script app, Celtx Studio, and Celtx add-ons), and will learn how to apply Celtx to a variety of projects and workflows. A companion website includes downloadable practice files and images so you can work through the book’s many tutorials. This is the only book you will need to master Celtx and take your screenwriting and storyboarding projects to the next level.

You’ll learn about:

• The basics of Celtx usage, including composing the script, annotating and cataloging, creating production revisions, breaking down the script, and generating script reports
• Celtx’s story board and sketch features
• Celtx’s calendaring and scheduling features, including the production of call sheets and other key production documents
• Celtx’s sample projects
• Celtx Script, a mobile app for use on iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads
• Celtx Studios, a platform for integrated project management, project sharing, and “cloud” storage for projects
• All the low-cost Celtx add-ons and additional art packs that can enhance and expand the program
• How to utilize the Celtx community, help forums, and other support mechanisms

Other Features

• Written by an award-winning professional screenwriter with credits in film, TV, and videogames who is a member of the Writers Guild of America and professor of screenwriting and whose career provides a unique perspective on the use of screenwriting and pre-production tools.
• Informative screenshots throughout the text visually reinforce the information.