Celtx to Schedule a Feature?

Hi there,

We are wrapping up our second feature length screenplay (just under a year of full-time work)!!

I'm now starting to research how to organize preproduction. This means learning an entirely new skills set & a scheduling app. Which brings me to Celtx. I'm reading through the documentation, and I'm pretty impressed with the tool set, particularly how integrated the modules are. But, is Celtx robust enough to handle pre-produciton breakdown & scheduling duties for a feature? Is there an Achilles heel I should know about? Is Celtx just for smaller projects & student work?

I just don't want to invest a bunch of time learning an application that you kids already knows can't meet my needs. So, waddaya say? Can Celtx handle it? I've searched the site, but this specific question didn't pop up.

Thanks,

Rok :hmm:
 
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I've played around with it a bit (I use it for writing), and it does have robust scheduling and breakdown features. The production schedule calendar is pretty awesome, as are all the breakdowns. The best part is that you can customize it to work however you want (just check out the preferences). I haven't done an entire feature that way, but I've tried it out for shorts and I don't see any issues with doing an entire feature the same way. The only thing I'm not 100% sure of is the ability to print out standard-format breakdown sheets (you can print breakdowns, but I'm not sure if the format is right).
 
Its not a full-on scheduling app for sure, but it works and the price is right. You'll need to make sure your script is tagged properly (actors, locations, props, etc) and then run reports on all the locations and actors. This will give you a good starting point. If you cut and paste into a new google calendar you can share it with the cast and crew.....
 
The old fashioned way works fine for me. All those scheduling and budgeting programs are so confusing
and hard to learn that, IMO, you're not really saving much time, although take that with a grain of salt, I've
never scheduled a feature-length film.

I use Final Draft tagger to do my lining (it's nice because it calculated page lengths of scenes for you and I
find it much easier to type notes than write with colored pencil). Then I have a Microsoft Word document I
made for the breakdown sheets. I input the breakdown info from Tagger and print them out

Next I head over to Excel and put together the production strips. Making the file the first time is a bit tedious
(actually let me know if you want the template) but then it's just data entry. Taking the info from the printed
out breakdown sheets and entering it into the strips. I color code my strips like this:

Exterior Day = Orange
Exterior Night = Blue
Interior Day = White
Interior Night = Green
With black strips in between days "End of Day X - 12/12/12 - X Y/8 pages"

You can obviously use any colors you like, but doing this will help you organize your shoot most efficiently.

Finally, print out your strips and start playing musical chairs until you've maximized your cast/crew/locations.
Voila!

(edit: ok I guess I didn't exactly answer your question. In regards to Celtx, I haven't found it useful for
scheduling, is that a new feature of the program?)
 
Dreadylocks,

On the contrary, you did answer my question, and quite brilliantly. You reminded me that movies like Ben Hur, the Ten Commandments, and Star Wars were all scheduled with pencil & paper. Surely, my modest project can be done in the same way. You should see the cork boards all over my apartment. When we are writing, my partner and I have hundreds of cards up (scenes, questions, notes, reference, funny lines). It's all manual.

That said, I asked a producer-friend about Celtx, and he reached into his bookshelf and handed me his copies of Movie Magic Scheduler and Budgeting. I asked how much he wanted, he smiled and said "I'll eventually think of something" :weird: Cue the cold shiver down my back. Seriously, he was kidding. He only works in creative now, so he gave me the software, lucky me.

Thanks,

Rok :hmm:
 
I scheduled my feature using a spread sheet with a column for each character and location, each row was a scene, so sorting by x in a column would group the scenes together or each actor and location, then I printed those out and put them in a 3 ring binder and used them to manually put them in our shoot order based on location availability and then actor availability.
 
Wow, this breakdown is boring, yet an excellent reality-check. I keep asking myself "How am I gonna do that?" - Time to make decisions.

BTW, I'm using Tagger2 to do the breakdown.
 
hehe... so many people find that the reality of filmmaking is very non-glamorous... the preproduction paperwork is the stuff that sorts out the long haul filmmakers and the "I wanna be a star" filmmakers.
 
Wow, this breakdown is boring, yet an excellent reality-check. I keep asking myself "How am I gonna do that?" - Time to make decisions.

BTW, I'm using Tagger2 to do the breakdown.

hehe... so many people find that the reality of filmmaking is very non-glamorous... the preproduction paperwork is the stuff that sorts out the long haul filmmakers and the "I wanna be a star" filmmakers.

I guess I'll be a long hauler then since I find the paperwork and preproduction planning the fun part. :D
 
It's awesome to find some people who've prepped a feature film before. I'll be bugging you all as I proceed. Most folks here have mainly (or only) shots shorts, and as you know, it just ain't the same thing.

Right now, I'm reviewing my completed breakdown (in Tagger2) cleaning up some of the terms I used, and elements I may have missed. Then, it's on to EP Schedule.
 
One thing I did do that is similar to a feature is to pre multiple shorts at the same time... that was an experience, many different headspaces to keep it all straight :)
 
I dont think you should use anything but final draft, if you look up sites like simply scripts and then put a celtx screen play next to it it doesn't match up correctly

you have to go final draft if your serious.
 
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