CeltX and Final Draft 7 go Head to Head

Some time ago I was asked to consult on a script for a feature film and the ruff draft was sent to me in (any guesses?) Final Draft. Now I had used Final Draft some time ago (though never completed a script in it) and found that while nice, the convenient feature didn't seem to justify the price tag. At that time I also tried out Movie Magic Screenwriter which I found to have a slightly more intuitive interface albeit with a few less slick features. Traumatized by indecision and operating on a tight budget (what indy film maker isn't) I opted for a third route and made a MS Word template. It was more work through out the writing process, but in the end the script went through thirteen drafts and was shot and screened on nation television. After that experience however, I was ready to check out what progress the screenplay industry had made in while I was incognito (making a movie). My search turned up a the screen writer's equivalent of 101 Dalmatians, each bearing the moniker “Best Screen Writing Software on the Planet”. While I was dutifully downloading several of the more likely looking suspects. I came across a little GEM called CeltX. Well actually, I found it referenced in several posts and thought the name sounded cheesy (I'm not sure why because I tend to like Celtic things). But after posts of laud reached critical mass I added it to the list downloadees and chucked one of the scareware products. Once I gave CeltX a try however, I found it fairly easy to use and relatively feature full. It was in an early beta at the time and I put it aside for a few months until a less buggy version came out and started using it to forge some new trails through my cranial brier patch.

Enter: producers with money and a script in Final Draft format. It wasn't particularly surprising to approached with a Final Draft script. It's somewhat of a standard in the industry and at less than $200 all the gentry and most peasants can afford it. I'd like to show you some of the features of each product as I used them.

Installation in for products was a cinch and I won't comment other than to mention that in edition to both programs being available for OS X and Windows, there is a Linux version of CeltX.

On to the important stuff:

Features

I won't discuss all the features that both programs have, only special ones, or ones that made a difference to me.

Interface

On opening FD, I'll say my first impression is Windows 98. Sort of a Windows 3.1 gray sea with updated icons sailing in neat rows. Most of these icons will be immediately obvious to anyone who has

One useful thing is the window splitter, which allows you to look at two parts of the script at once. You can also fill the split side with a scene list navigator or “index cards”. Navigator and script shown.

CeltX shapes up a little cleaner with a simpler one line row of formatting icons and a row of tabs to move between database style detail information and the screenplay; hanging below the the larger control icons.

Overall I find Final Draft to be a bit stogy and uninspired, but functional in the interface department. CeltX seems a little fresher and... younger. To young? Let's move onto features and see.

Writing

As I begin writing a portion of screen play CeltX thoughtfully brings up a list of previously used scene headings. FD does the same, but breaks it down into three parts.

Revisions

Back to that tool bar Final Draft we stopped at in the Interface section. FD supports revisions, in the tool bar image you'll see a row of several icons containing what appear to be large asterisks with green “+” next to them, etc. This is the revision tool bar and quite a useful one at that. Though as far as I can tell it supports only one level of revision, so for instance, this would not be an appropriate feature to use in place of multiple drafts. It can show what has changed since you accepted the last set of changes. It also allows you to jump back and forth between blocks of revised text. You can see revised text in red in a couple of the FD images above.

At this time CeltX doesn't support revisions. See list of end Other Features of Note below.

Collaboration

Bookmarks

FD allows you to book mark your script and provides a (anyone?) toolbar to move between them. The feature is useful and CeltX does not support a similar feature at this time.

Notes

In the tutorial on CeltX's website it shows an in-line note button being used very similar to the image of FD below. However, I am unable to find the button, so either it was taken out or it is yet to come. Only time will tell.

To take the notes a bit further though CeltX does provide, what appears to be, a large number of “items”. Each item has a database style entry form and the information can be printed out in the reports.

Other Features of Note

Final Draft has an impressive amount of word processing options. At almost every turn there are options pertaining to formatting or fonts, etc.

Double dialog – Very nice for phone calls

Reads your script aloud – kinda gimmicky, but perhaps useful when you've already annoyed all your friends

Also of interest is are these feature requests on the CeltX wiki:

Audio Play

Dual column dialogue

Index cards

Text to speech

Version control

Usability

As I worked with both programs Final Draft began to shine with supermarket convenience. “Yes, we have it and its on isle 54”. But I grew to enjoy, CeltX's simplicity and lets get it done attitude. Especially, the free collaboration, which I've used to get critiques on my work. For a couple hundred dollars, for each collaborator, I can put up with a few bumps along the way.

Support

I have never needed support on either product so I can't vouch for customer service of either company. Both offer knowledge bases, forums, faqs, and manuals. Both offer a phone number as well, but Final Draft charges $2.50 a minute after the first 20 minutes or 90 days. FD's help system is standard and easily recognizable. CeltX does not have a tradition help system, but relies on a Wiki... Welcome wave of the future. At this time I still prefer to have traditional help system, but I've needed it so little that this hasn't hindered my writing at all. NOTE: I've since met a bug in CeltX and posted to the user forums. The staff replied within the day both times. Though they did not have an answer to my problem I found a way to avoid it. The user forum seems quite active.

Conclusion

This was not meant to be an exhaustive list of features or a tutorial on how best to use them, but I hope it's given you an overview of the most interesting ones and perhaps put you on the track to choosing the best program for your needs.

All in all, I'm writing this from the perspective of an indy film maker. I write, I produce, I direct and have been known to run camera. My feeling is that: yeah Final Draft has some cool features and is perhaps necessary if you're trying to break your scripts into Hollywood, but if your cash strapped, writing for yourself or already have a producer, CeltX does the job just fine.

Here's the condensed version. “1” worst, “5”is best. Price is not included and is obviously a large factor.

All opinions expressed in this review are those of the author only. It was not meant to be an exhaustive feature list or tutorial. CeltX 0.9.9.1 and Final Draft 7.1.3 Build 32 were used for comparison. Dustin Ledden July 31, 2007