A few questions

[hansthegreat]

1. How do I get a PDF of my script including the title page and including page numbers?

 

2. When I want to switch to a new parameter like scene or character using ^+cmd+any number then nothing happens

Seems like "^" is not recognized

 

3. When it comes to describing what is happening in my scenes I don't get the difference between Scenes, Scene Sheets and Plot Points. If I want to divide my scenes into acts then why would I do that in the plot section and not in the scenes (scripts) section?

 

Thanks!

[Steve]

Hi hansthegreat,

 

1. How do I get a PDF of my script including the title page and including page numbers?

 

To create PDFs of a document, choose File > Print and select "Save as PDF" from the PDF drop down menu. Storyist doesn't combine PDF documents, but Preview does (just drag a page from one PDF to the other).

 

2. When I want to switch to a new parameter like scene or character using ^+cmd+any number then nothing happens

Seems like "^" is not recognized

 

Hmmm. I'm not seeing that. Which version of OS X and Storyist are you using? And which keyboard?

 

3. When it comes to describing what is happening in my scenes I don't get the difference between Scenes, Scene Sheets and Plot Points. If I want to divide my scenes into acts then why would I do that in the plot section and not in the scenes (scripts) section?

 

Plot sheets are useful if:

• You want to do some outlining/planning before writing.
  
• There isn't a one-to-one mapping between the outline items and the scenes in your script. For example, you might have a plot point that takes several scenes to unfold.
  

Scene sheets are useful if:

• You want to keep notes about what happens in each scene. Scene sheets can record who is on stage and what plot point(s) the scene is supposed to dramatize.
  

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

And when I change a Plot Point's color also nothing happens. The same goes for pressing cmd+enter for wanting to create a new plot point

[hansthegreat]

Thanks for the answers! I am using 10.6.8 and the frenzy trial version. Typing on a MacBook Pro mit German Keyboard

[Steve]

Hi hansthegreat,

 

And when I change a Plot Point's color also nothing happens.

 

I'm guessing that you're in the outline view. You can set the outline view to show the color rather than the yellow pad background by clicking the Action (gear) button and choosing Set Background > Item Color.

 

The same goes for pressing cmd+enter for wanting to create a new plot point

 

I'm not seeing this either. It would be helpful to know what view (Project, Outline, Storyboard) is selected when you press Cmd-Return.

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Nice, that works now, thanks.

 

I am still wondering: How do I connect (or link) a scene sheet with a scene? I don't understand the difference yet between the two

[hansthegreat]

Ok, as I see you can drag the scene sheet on to the scene. But if I attach it, then the scene heading will be replaced by the title that I gave the scene

So e.g "INT. OFFICE" becomes "The layoff" within the script, I don't understand why that is

[marguerite]

Scenes hold text. Scene Sheets hold information about the scene (per your earlier question).

Best, and welcome to the forums,

Marguerite

[marguerite]

P.S. If you know you want an attached scene sheet with every scene, you can set that up in Storyist by clicking on the name of your script, then Control-clicking (right-clicking) on the name. You will see "Edit

[Steve]

Hi hansthegreat,

 

Thanks for the answers! I am using 10.6.8 and the frenzy trial version. Typing on a MacBook Pro mit German Keyboard

 

That should be fine. I don't have a German keyboard, but I doubt that is the problem.

 

I suspect that there is a conflict with a Service or other add-on that defines keyboard shortcuts. To fix this, open the System Preferences, select the Keyboard item, and choose the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. The list on the left contains all items that define shortcuts. Check each to make sure it doesn't use Cmd+Ctrl+ and disable for Storyist if it does.

 

-Steve

[Steve]

Ok, as I see you can drag the scene sheet on to the scene. But if I attach it, then the scene heading will be replaced by the title that I gave the scene

So e.g "INT. OFFICE" becomes "The layoff" within the script, I don't understand why that is

 

If you want to associate the sheet with the scene but don't want to sync the titles and summaries, click the "Don't Attach" button rather than the "Attach" button in the "Attach Sheet to Scene" dialog that appears.

 

The dialog includes the following help message:

 

"If you choose Attach, Storyist will copy the sheet title and synopsis to the scene and synchronize the sheet and scene so that further changes to one will be reflected in the other.

 

If you choose Don't Attach, Storyist will leave the sheet on the storyboard, but keep the title and summaries separate."

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Thanks!

If I export my scene sheets, how do I do it that it is just one doc?

And how do I enable automatic page numbering?

[hansthegreat]

And if I type in the notepad, everytime I press return to start a new paragraph I get a pop up menu, so I don't manage to get an empty line to seperate paragraphs

[Steve]

Hi hansthegreat,

 

And if I type in the notepad, everytime I press return to start a new paragraph I get a pop up menu, so I don't manage to get an empty line to seperate paragraphs

 

If you don't want to use the return shortcuts, you can turn them off.

 

If you never want to use them:

1) Open Preferences (Storyist > Preferences) and select the General tab in the Text Editing preferences.

2) Uncheck the "Pressing Return in an empty paragraph activates style chooser."

 

If you only want to turn them on or off in selected files:

1) Select a file in the Project view.

2) Choose Project > Edit "" preferences.

3) In the dialog that appears, select the "Use the following values" radio button and check the shortcuts you want to use in that file.

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Thanks for all the answers! I have been enjoying very much using Storyist to Outline my screenplay and now as Script Frenzy has started and I have a few questions more:

-When I export the script as a doc, the formatting changes - it gets squeezed. How come?

-How do I do page numbering?

-For some scenes the scene headings disappear from the the script menu at the left once in a while, I can't figure out why that is

-How do I insert MORE and CONTINUED?

-Feature request: I want to group my scenes into acts within the scenes menu

 

Thanks!

[hansthegreat]

For some reason, a scene appears double in the list on the left, but when I delete one of the two it deletes the actual scene (which is not double in the script)

[hansthegreat]

Another feature request (or maybe it is there and I don't see it) In the scenes list I want to give a title to the scene that is not the scene heading so I can recognize it easily

[hansthegreat]

I don't know how that happened, but all of the sudden the dialogue and action description are not in screenplayformat anymore, they fill the whole page and the page counter disappeared:

 

Ah, this one i just solved.

[Steve]

Hi Hans,

 

It looks like you've switched to Normal view mode. In this mode, the text will fill the width of the view. To get back to page mode, choose View > Page Layout.

 

-Steve

[Steve]

Hi Hans,

 

Another feature request (or maybe it is there and I don't see it) In the scenes list I want to give a title to the scene that is not the scene heading so I can recognize it easily

 

You can create a heading-level style to mark text you want in the project outline. Check out the template in the Screenplay template with Act elements post for an example of how to do this.

 

-Steve

[hansthegreat]

Thanks! And I am not sure if you understood the question: the scene names corresponds now to the Header description. But if I have 5 scenes called: INT. OFFICE then I don't recognize the scenes easily, I would rather give them names like "The layoff"

In that context I still don't recognize the value added by the scene sheets as I can add summaries of the scene content also in the storyboard view of a scene

[Steve]

Hi Hans,

 

I apologize. I misunderstood your question.

 

There isn't a mechanism for providing an alternate scene title in the Project view.

 

-Steve

[marguerite]

Hans,

The screen sheets in text mode can hold more information than the index cards in the Storyboard. They can also hold specific information. So if you want to ensure that each scene has a conflict, you can use the Conflict field in the sheet to record it: it will sit there, blank, until you fill it in. If you want to track your props, you can add a field for Props and list them. If you'd like to match your outline against a story structure (the Hero's Journey, say), you can set up plot points for each stage and link them to the appropriate scene sheets (but not to scenes) to make sure you covered them all. And so on.

 

You can certainly write a screenplay without worrying about scene sheets. I have entire novels that have only half a dozen chapter sheets filled in, because as soon as I solved the specific problem that I was working out through the sheets, I went back to writing and didn't worry about the rest. But they do offer more space and more flexibility than you can get from the index cards, so plotters, especially, like them. (I am not a plotter: I come up with a big idea and write till I back myself into a corner, then use plot or section sheets to work my way out.)

 

Also, because scene sheets are independent of scenes, you can create them before you have scenes. It's a different way of working, which may not suit you but does work for others.

Hope that helps explain the difference,

M

[hansthegreat]

Hi Hans,

 

 

 

You can create a heading-level style to mark text you want in the project outline. Check out the template in the Screenplay template with Act elements post for an example of how to do this.

 

-Steve

 

Can I apply the template to an existing project?

[hansthegreat]

How do I get Storyist to format my screenplay to the standard 54 lines a page? It falls a bit short now with around 50 lines so I don't get a correct page count.