more screenwriting and outline issues

[rjh18]

Hi all,

New to the forums. I have some questions about using the outline with the screenwriting template. I want to set up the following outline

 

ACT X

Description of Act X

PLOT POINT X

Description of Plot Point X

SCENE X

 

When i click on the scene I would like it go the scene in the text. Any idea on how would I do this. I think this is a great product, but the outlining ability is critical for me to do my work. Thanks.

 

Ralph

[Steve]

Hi all,

New to the forums. I have some questions about using the outline with the screenwriting template. I want to set up the following outline

 

ACT X

Description of Act X

PLOT POINT X

Description of Plot Point X

SCENE X

 

When i click on the scene I would like it go the scene in the text. Any idea on how would I do this. I think this is a great product, but the outlining ability is critical for me to do my work. Thanks.

 

Ralph

 

Hi Ralph,

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

One approach would be to use scene sheets and folders as shown in the attached screen shot. This will get you the hierarchical outline that you are looking for. It won't however, get you to the scene in your script when you click on the scene sheets.

 

You could manually create bookmarks for each scene and store them in the outline (shown under "Plot Point 2"). A little tedious, I know.

 

To create the setup in the screen shot:

 

1) Create a new category (using the Project popup in the toolbar) and label it "Outline". I also set the default contents to be "Scene Sheet" (Project > Edit "Outline" Preferences) so that the outlining shortcuts (Cmd+Return and Cmd+/) would do the right thing.

 

2) Split the view horizontally. (View > Split > Split Active View Horizontally)

 

3) Change the top view in the split to Outline mode. (View > as Outline). You can optionally link the views so that clicks in the outline cause the text view to display the contents of the clicked item.

 

4) Add Groups for acts and plot points as necessary.

 

5) Add Scene Sheets for scenes as necessary.

 

-Steve

StoryistScreenSnapz001.tiff

[rjh18]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the help. Still a few more questions.

 

1) Create a new category (using the Project popup in the toolbar) and label it "Outline". I also set the default contents to be "Scene Sheet" (Project > Edit "Outline" Preferences) so that the outlining shortcuts (Cmd+Return and Cmd+/) would do the right thing.

 

When I click on Project > Edit Outline preferences there is nothing to change. I just get a dialog box which say Kind Group.

 

3) Change the top view in the split to Outline mode. (View > as Outline). You can optionally link the views so that clicks in the outline cause the text view to display the contents of the clicked item.

How do you link views?

 

Also how do I create bookmarks in the Outline to link the scene in the outline to the scene in the linked view?

[Steve]

Hi Ralph,

 

When I click on Project > Edit Outline preferences there is nothing to change. I just get a dialog box which say Kind Group.

 

If the dialog box says "Kind: Group", a group (folder) is selected in the Project view. Select the top level Collection (all caps, no icon) in the Project view first. You should see a dialog that has a label that says "Kind: Collection" and a popup menu to specify the preferred contents.

 

How do you link views?

 

Click the Link button (between the plus button and the gear button) in the outline view.

 

Also how do I create bookmarks in the Outline to link the scene in the outline to the scene in the linked view?

 

Place the cursor at the location in the script where you want the bookmark to appear (in this case at the end of a scene heading) and either click the bookmark button in the toolbar or choose Edit > Insert > Bookmark. A bookmark will appear in the Bookmarks collection. It can go anywhere in the project view, though, so drag this to your outline.

 

-Steve

[rjh18]

Hi Ralph,

 

 

 

If the dialog box says "Kind: Group", a group (folder) is selected in the Project view. Select the top level Collection (all caps, no icon) in the Project view first. You should see a dialog that has a label that says "Kind: Collection" and a popup menu to specify the preferred contents.

 

 

 

Click the Link button (between the plus button and the gear button) in the outline view.

 

 

 

Place the cursor at the location in the script where you want the bookmark to appear (in this case at the end of a scene heading) and either click the bookmark button in the toolbar or choose Edit > Insert > Bookmark. A bookmark will appear in the Bookmarks collection. It can go anywhere in the project view, though, so drag this to your outline.

 

-Steve

 

Thanks. This works. I am confused as to how to create new outline elements and use them. I created a new style called Outline Element 2. How do I add this new element in my script. It doesn't show up in the outline. The documentation is very vague on this. Thanks for your assistance.

[Steve]

Thanks. This works. I am confused as to how to create new outline elements and use them. I created a new style called Outline Element 2. How do I add this new element in my script. It doesn't show up in the outline. The documentation is very vague on this. Thanks for your assistance.

 

The outline level in the Project and Outline views is based on the heading level of the text style. I'm guessing that you've set up "Outline Element 2" as a body text style, so it won't appear in the outline. Edit the style to have a heading (outline) level and it will appear in the outline view.

 

(Note: In the screenplay template, the body text "Scene Header" is also included in the outline).

 

You can customize the labels that appear in the "Add" menus by editing the outline level properties in the project item preferences.

 

http://storyist.com/support/users-guide/wo...evel-properties

 

For an example of this, check out the Act-Scene template in this post.

 

You might also find this post helpful: HOWTO: Create a template having more than one level.

 

-Steve

[rjh18]

The outline level in the Project and Outline views is based on the heading level of the text style. I'm guessing that you've set up "Outline Element 2" as a body text style, so it won't appear in the outline. Edit the style to have a heading (outline) level and it will appear in the outline view.

 

(Note: In the screenplay template, the body text "Scene Header" is also included in the outline).

 

You can customize the labels that appear in the "Add" menus by editing the outline level properties in the project item preferences.

 

http://storyist.com/support/users-guide/wo...evel-properties

 

For an example of this, check out the Act-Scene template in this post.

 

You might also find this post helpful: HOWTO: Create a template having more than one level.

 

-Steve

 

 

This is exactly what I was looking for. However I need one more thing. When I export to Final Draft is there a way to remove the outline elements except body text? Tks.

[Steve]

This is exactly what I was looking for. However I need one more thing. When I export to Final Draft is there a way to remove the outline elements except body text? Tks.

 

At the moment, you'd need to do that manually.

 

There are a couple of ways I could address this in future releases:

 

1) Via hidden text. ODF includes a mechanism for this, but implementation is not trivial.

 

2) Via an Automator action. You can currently use the Export Assistant to process text while exporting. If you are technically inclined, it wouldn't be too difficult to write an action to delete text with a given style or heading level. If not, I might be able to put something together after 2.2 is out.

 

-Steve