Free Screenwriting Software that Goes the Extra Mile

Working on a libretto, or play, screenplay or A/V script in a word processor is a royal pain. What's the problem? Formatting. Firstly, learning the correct formatting. Secondly, keeping up with formatting your script as you are working on it. The worst is having to type your characters names, or copying and pasting them, over and over and over and over . . . You get the idea.

I write the librettos for the opera's I compose. Until recently I've been using a regular word processor to work in, but with my latest project, The Giant's Heart (an adaption of the story by George MacDonald), I was fortunate enough to stumble across Celtx.

Celtx made the process of keeping track of my characters and formatting simple. You tab to select the correct format for the section you are working on (dialogue, action, etc.). When you're in dialogue mode, you just start typing a character's name and it drops down for you to select. It made it easy and exciting to work.

Celtx formats automatically for film, theater, audio, A/V and comics. I used the film mode because I intend to animate some of the scenes in this next opera. The theater mode would be the other obvious choice for librettists from this program, but it will convert from one format to another at the click of a button.

Celtx will also keep track of all your characters and props and has a host of other features . . . There have been commercial applications for screenwriters for quite some time, but they are expensive. I can only spend so much on software and most of that goes into even more expensive music software. Celtx was a great find.