(For example, as of right now you can’t assign character numbers yourself Shot Lister assigns character numbers based on the amount of scenes they’re in and the amount of dialogue they have which is annoying when, say, your protagonist doesn’t really talk much. There’s so many uses for this app, I can’t possibly cover them all here, but I will say it is absolutely essential and so worth the money. There is a bit of a learning curve, and it’s not perfect but the things that annoy me about it aren’t huge set backs. You can upload your storyboards or reference photos, you can put your shots into a calendar and rotate them around to create your shooting schedule. At this point your DOP and 1st AD show up and talk you back a bit while your Producer scowls at you.Īnyway, I love Shot Lister, and it is constantly evolving to be even more functional. If you’re anything like me, you’ll then spend the next several hours (or days) obsessively inputting all the shots you can think to include.
You (or your 1st AD) can break the script down on paper, or you can download it from Dropbox directly into Shot Lister which will break it down for you. My next step is to upload it to Dropbox which I prefer over Google Docs simply because it is so well integrated into many of the apps I use. I’ll also make notes for specific dialogue I’d like to include, and gives me space to write up elaborate character bios, or make suggestions for log lines, actor wish lists, production design ideas, you name it. This is especially helpful for complex stories, and for making notes for things not directly involved with the story - color scheme concepts, camera movements, that sort of stuff. When I’m comfortable with the flow of the story, I’ll Index Card to add more detail to my thoughts. This branching of ideas allows me to get to know my story and my characters more than if I’d just jumped into writing a draft. This is the stage where I ask myself things like, “What is the one thing my character wants more than anything else?”, or “What is my character most afraid of?”. There are several apps that can help organise your thoughts (in fact, as I’m writing this I’ve discovered Idea Sketch, and will give that a spin next time an opportunity arises), so find what works for you. There’s no shortage of apps to use to get your ideas sorted, but I like using SimpleMind to see how all those various ideas fit together. When I have enough ideas to justify a script, the next step is to get them organised. Now whenever a halfway decent thought strikes me I type it my iPad’s Note program. Over the years I’ve evolved from jotting gibberish on the back of napkins and paper towels, to scribbling into my trusty Moleskin, to typing 100s of thousands of keystrokes into Word and Google docs. But all in all, it’s definitely a fine substitute for FD.Īctually lets take a step backwards: your script really starts with your notes. The pros include it’s ability to synch with several other apps, and you can work on your scripts at home as well as on your tablet, but there are a few downsides as well, the most annoying of which is the formatting isn’t always 100% accurate especially when it comes to page breaks. I’ve tried a handful - Celtx, Scripts Pro, and Fade In - and found Celtx to be the best, although not ideal, program.
Like most screenwriters I use Final Draft but they’ve yet to launch an app so I’ve had to look elsewhere so I can write on the go. Whether you write it yourself or pay top dollar for it, your film starts with the script.
Since then I’ve been seeking new apps to help streamline the pre-production process, and would like to recommend a few to you here. It only took a few weeks of this before I broke down and got myself an iPad which immediately gave me the ability to be productive in my spare time between work and home. Until about a month ago, I’d spent much of the past year riding on public transportation around London - 15-17 hours a week on average, in fact.