MASTERING CELTX Available for Pre-Order
My new book Mastering Celtx is being published by Cengage Learning, and can now be pre-ordered at any of your favorite booksellers (brick-and-mortar, and online).
alt.screenwriters has always been about exploring new developments in screenwriting.
Celtx describes itself as an all-in-one media pre-production tool. For years, novice and professional screenwriters have had to spend a good chunk of change for either Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter in order to compose and distribute professional looking screenplays. Celtx is open-source and free.
New Developments
Stay tuned in this space … some interesting news coming as we head into Summer 2011…
Interactive Films
In the mid- and late-’90s, a variety of companies experimented with interactive filmmaking — from in-the-theater type experiences with audience remote controls, to CD-ROMs and DVDs. None of these experiments yielded mainstream success, and interactive films largely retreated from the media landscape in the past decade.
Interestingly, the iPad may trigger a new wave of experimentation with interactive filmmaking, and the device might offer just the right kind of form factor for this kind of storytelling. Check out the “making-of” video for “Touching Stories”, a collection of 4 short interactive films made by Tool of North America, a production company specializing in creating branded video content.
Celtx Taking Off With Aspiring Screenwriters
Just an observation that Celtx is really beginning to take off with aspiring screenwriters, based on my conversations with participants at the 2010 Screenwriting Conference at Santa Fe, where I mentored a 3-day lab and presented a seminar. For years, I’ve solely discussed Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter with novice screenwriters, but by next year, Celtx is likely to be approaching parity in those discussions.
Podcast About Game Writing and Storytelling
The guys at game-central.org have been cranking out hour-long weekly podcasts for a couple of years, and decided to interview me for this week’s podcast. They came armed with a bunch of questions, and I did my best to come up with some answers. It was nice revisiting the work we did on the Wing Commander game series many years ago, which was my entry into “alt” screenwriting. Take a listen and enjoy!
Screenwriting Conference at Santa Fe: 6/1-6/6
I’m excited to be back on the faculty of the upcoming Screenwriting Conference at Santa Fe running from June 1-June 6 in lovely Santa Fe, NM. Heavy hitter screenwriters Kirk Ellis, Josh Olson and others join me on the faculty, and Oscar-winning producer Tony Marks and one of my graduate school professors and thesis advisors (Howard Suber) will be part of the Hollywood Connection portion of the conference. Immerse yourself in screenwriting the first week in June: sign up for the conference!
A night at Barnes & Noble – Santa Monica
Following our book panel and signing at Barnes & Noble on Wed., May 19 (for Write Your Way Into Animation and Games), from left to right: Jeannie, who was good enough to buy a book; contributing author Carolyn Miller; yours truly (contributing author Terry Borst); our moderator Susan Spohr; and contributing author Jean Ann Wright. Thanks to all who attended(and thanks to B&N staff)!
