Screenplay issues with the Script group

[CartoonMike]

I think this is either a bug in the template or some kind of obscure user error. I'm still new-ish to Storyist.

 

What I want to do:

 

Modify a document made from a Screenplay template so it can be used to script comic books.

 

What I did:

 

Made a new document from the Screenplay template.

 

Where things went egg-shaped:

Adding new items to the Script section in the Project Pane. Wanted to add a second script folder. It only adds Notes and generic folders.

 

Using other templates:

 

Both the Novel and Stage Play templates don't have this problem/limitation. One of the advantages of being a new user, is that I don't have scads of prior work in the app nor do I have ingrained ways of using the app. I think that I can make the comic script document work with the Stage play, where ACTS become comic pages and SCENES are comic Panels. This will allow me to move around both pages and panels around to fit revisions as they occur.

 

The Question is:

 

Does the Screenplay template only allow a single Script item? If so, then is that something I overlooked in the User's Guide?

 

Obligatory Off Topic Meandering:

 

Does changing the name of Scene Sheets (in my case changing it to "COMIC-PAGE SHEETS") muck things up? Because now in the document that I altered, when I right click and choose add scene I get an untitled scene in the Comic-Page Sheets section, but nothing in the My Script section (which is what I clicked on to get the contextual menu). When I command-click to create a new scene in the Storyboard view, A new scene is created, but the existing one goes away. In the document (made from the Screenplay template) where I haven't changed the Scene Sheets name, I can create new scenes within the My Script group and the new scenes are added to the existing scenes there.

 

BTW, it seems that in both the UG and the Screenplay screencast, there's nothing about adding scenes to the My Scripts group. Unless it's right in front of me and I'm missing it.

 

 

So I don't know if it's me or something screwy with the Screenplay template. Any help/suggestions welcomed. But for now, I'm staying away from the screenplay template and seeing if the stage play or novel templates are better to use.

 

Thanks.

 

Using Mac OS X 01.7, latest version of Storyist (2.4.5).

 

[marguerite]

Hi, Mike:

You can add more than one script to SCRIPTS. Click on SCRIPTS, click on Projects, click on Film Script, type a name and hit return. See the image, which also shows scene sheets attached to a scene.

 

On the scenes/scene sheets, I think there's a bit of confusion at play. See my post in the other thread.

Best,

Marguerite

 

 

[CartoonMike]

Hey Marguerite!

 

Thanks for the reply. The whole scenes/scenes sheets thing is pretty cleared up. My issue was that the document I was working on was really whacked out. No matter what I would do any new script I added (following your instructions) the new script would overwrite/replace the existing script. In a brand-new file, adding scripts via your instructions, works just as expected. Right now, the Sceenplay template has given me so much weird and erratic behavior, I'm leaving it alone. I've made new documents from the Screenplay template and have gotten totally different results in creating a new scene. This occurred after a restart of both the computer and Storyist.Sometimes new scenes are made, other times just new note sheets are made — in a new document that I haven't made any changes to.

 

I also realized that if my mouse is over the projects pane, command-return gives a different result (popping up a new scene in collage view) than the same command when the mouse is over the storyboard/cork board (new scene in the storyboard).

 

Stepping away from the micro and looking at the macro, my impression of Storyist is that it's a very persnickety app that wants things done in a particular order and in a certain way — but there's absolutely no warnings/hints whatnot about what you're doing is going to break things down the road. I feel as if I'm going to have to totally change the way I plot, outline and write stories just to conform to Storyist. I don't know if it's me or the app.

 

I really do appreciate your help and the information you impart. Right now it's the main reason I'm sticking around.

[marguerite]

Storyist is actually very flexible. It doesn't impose any specific way or order of doing things at all. But if you are accustomed to Scrivener, it does require a bit of mental retooling, because the two programs don't operate the same way (I have the same problem in reverse when I deal with Scrivener).

 

I think your wacky file is just a wacky file. You might want to send it to Steve Shepard, the developer, via the bugs storyist com address. He has un-borked more than one file of mine, and he would probably like to take a look at it in any case to see what went wrong.

 

He will not steal your work (I've sent him entire novels), but if you are nervous, you can change all the letters to zzz or something (just don't change the # symbol, which separates scenes and sections). It's best if you leave all the pieces in place, since there's no way to tell going in what is causing the problems.

Happy to help,

M

[marguerite]

P.S. Have you checked out the tutorial videos? You can watch them at http://storyist.com/support/howto/. Might help with the transition.

[CartoonMike]

I'm getting a better handle on the flexibility of Storyist, thanks to this thread: HOWTO: Create a template having more than one Level

 

I'm not using the Screenplay template any more, the Stageplay template is much better (and easier) to work with. Mostly because I can't get any heading levels in the screenplay.

 

After a few attempts I now have something that is very workable. There's Issues, Pages and Panels. So this is something that can be used for comic book story arcs/series of graphic novels/mini or maxi series. I'm getting close to getting a file that'll be an ideal template.

 

I think the wacky file became that way because I may have deleted things that shouldn't have been trashed. Unfortunately, the file has been deleted. A lot of the odd behavior has ceased when I now have all the storyist open docs on my main monitor and no longer have them spread across the second monitor. It's all part of that darned learning curve.

 

Since I haven't been able to replicate this issue with new docs created from the Screenplay template and because I'm no longer using the screenplay template, this thread has served its purpose.

 

Thanks for all the help Marguerite, I really do appreciate it!