Now let's look at how Celtx assists us in organizing scripts, storyboards, and text files for easy retrieval when needed, and also production scheduling (another expensive software package; however, we don't have to buy it, thanks to the generosity of Celtx and open source).
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- Project Library: The Project Library has lots of virtual shelving and we'll look at all the things that we can store on those shelves, from scripts and storyboards to even actors and actresses and all sorts of props.
- Scheduling, call sheets, and shooting reports: Celtx gives us a "Just in Time" scheduling feature, letting producers manage the production of projects in real time. For example, open a schedule based on your script, drag and drop scenes into the calendar, and Celtx builds a shooting schedule. We can then customize as needed into shooting reports, which include lists of the actors, props, and costumes required for that scene. Call sheets are also generated, so that actors and crew know when and where to show up for the day's filming.
- Inter-project document management: Got a list of props for one project you'd like to use in another? No problem, drag and drop documents from one Project Library to another. A very powerful and timesaving feature.
- Toolbox: While Celtx comes with tons of tools built in, the Toolbox feature allows for the creation of customized tools (or perhaps more likely for most of us, downloading additional tools). This section shows how that is accomplished.
By the end of this chapter, we will be able to schedule production activities and generate reports based on our scripts using the scheduling features in Celtx. We'll also have the ability to move documents between projects, and understand how to create or add custom tools.
As we saw in Chapter 1, Obtaining and Installing Celtx that Celtx comes with seven predefined project templates, which are as follows:
We also saw, in that same chapter, how new project templates are created and added. We click on whichever type of project we're working on, for example, Film to start a feature movie screenplay.
When we open any project—new or saved—we find the Project Library on the left side (see the following screenshot, which shows the included sample project that comes with Celtx, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz):
Looking in the Project Library window (to the left side of the preceding screenshot), we begin to get an idea of all the things that can be stored with our scripts (and the high-dollar commercial script writing programs do not offer this kind of power). In fact, it's possible to have literally thousands of items stored in each and every Celtx project you have.
Just in this brief sample project's Project Library, we see the Master Catalog with twelve items (actors, sounds, props, location, scene details, and so on—we learned about the Master Catalog in Chapter 2, All those Wonderful Writing Features), a Character Catalog with four characters (Dorothy, Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow), a portion of the original novel by Frank Baum, the Screenplay (or at least the part included in this sample), a Storyboard (we saw that in Chapter 3, Visualizing Productions Ahead of Time), Production Schedule, Stageplay (another script), a folder of photographs, and a folder of bookmarks (web links).
By the way, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz refers to the 1914 silent movie. Several versions of this story, based on the series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, have been made over the years, the most well-known being The Wizard of Oz (1938) with Judy Garland as Dorothy (who so famously said "...we're not in Kansas any more").
Okay, back to the Project Library. The Project Library window (or sidebar), again, is in the upper left corner of the Celtx screen. Just below the window's title, we have the three control buttons, as shown in the following screenshot:
