Plans and Software

So I’m just about to go on leave. I can’t wait – especially as I didn’t take leave last year, owing to the spine operation.

Not that we’re planning to travel the globe or anything, just try and chill out and get a few things done that we’ve not got around to. For my daughter, that’s taking Dad down the park, for my son that’s playing boxing with Dad, for my wife that’s making a few dresses and skirts and for me that’s doing a bit of writing and working out the rehearsal and construction schedules for the panto.

I was thinking yesterday about what I want to write over leave. The two full-length plays I have in progress seem a little daunting to achieve over a leave period as I can do a fair bit, but there is no way that I finish them in the time I have available.

So, my intent is to work on some 10-minute plays. I had so much fun writing Situation Vacant, not to mention that I knocked it out in one evening. I think that I will feel so good about myself if I can knock 2 or three of these out while I’m on leave. It should give me the motivation to do more when I return to work, given that I will be in the routine of writing. Plus I won’t feel guilty about being away from my family and devoting all of my attention to the PC.

But wandering one of my favourite forums, I saw a reference to Celtx. I had often seen references to Final Draft, and people stating that it was the industry standard for screenwriting. Indeed it was rumoured to be slowly becoming the industry standard for stageplays. But at £140 I wasn’t even tempted – not while I have my trusted copy of ScriptSmart.

But Celtx is open source, hence free! I’ve downloaded a copy and I’m starting to play with it. It has a huge amount of functionality (albeit with an American spell checker) and I have a feeling that it could well speed up my script writing process.

Not that I won’t miss ScriptSmart, but it does have its problems (not spell checking stage directions, no reliable undo function, inability to cut and paste…).

I’ll update you on what I think of this application!