Questionable. I work in the film trade, and while people may consider a logline or a one-sheet, when some reads a script they sit down and read it start to finish, like a book. It's going to play in linear form on the screen, so it has to be read that way as well.
What authors usually do is is knock out a freeform treatment where the story is described in prose, which is then broken down into scenes. It is helpful to have the overview in mind during the writing process, but existing tools such as Final Draft provide a plethora of writing aids for that, from virtual index cards to graphical character timelines.
Bear in mind that when you work with finished scripts like the Alien example, you've got a survivor bias problem, because almost any story that makes it through the screen has been through multiple drafts and hundreds or thousands of mini-edits. So while it seems very natural to lay that out in a neat hierarchy, that doesn't really reflect the writing environment, which is a lot more messy.
As for keeping track of story context, this is job one for the writer - you can beef up the dialog or whatever later, but writers, directors and other keys need to be able to keep the entire story in their head at once and know what the inputs and and outputs of any given scene are, not least because 99.9% of films are shot out of chronological sequence and so being able to keep a handle on that story context is essential for guiding the actors. Obviously you don't try to remember every last little thing at once, that's why we use storyboards and breakdown sheets, but you do need to be able to articulate the whole story off the cuff at the drop of a hat.
I do think this would very useful for film students doing analysis, but I can't really see myself writing a script in it, although I'll try doing some treatments with it.
BTW I also feel that if you offer people the opportunity to try it, you should let them try it, not switch to asking for a signup. That really annoyed me.
The screenplay examples do only go up to the "scene card" level, but we plan to have more columns so you could add the script there as well. That way you could go start-to-finish, or have overviews as well.
> I do think this would very useful for film students doing analysis.
Interesting, thanks.
A question: would this be useful for pitching a film? Say if there were concept art sections, character descriptions, and additional notes, as well as the script itself (from logline down to linear form) ??
> BTW I also feel that if you offer people the opportunity to try it, you should let them try it
Again, sorry about this. It's what we've got, and we're trying to make the best of it.
Somewhat. A fully developed proposal will have a book with all that stuff, but OTOH it's a fact of life in Hollywood that you shouldn't spend too much money on that stuff before you go into production, for 2 reasons. One, it's a fast way to go broke. Two, you wouldn't have all that stuff to hand if you were trying to turn your friend onto a great film that you had seen and thought your friend should watch right now. Studio execs don't want to be distracted by eye candy or character sheets, they want to hear something that fires their imagination.
I didn't consider that presenting too much concept art & story details might detract from the experience of letting the concept blossom in the studio exec's own mind.
I'll have to sit down with some screenwriters again, and see if Gingko is something that they'd be able to use or not.
What authors usually do is is knock out a freeform treatment where the story is described in prose, which is then broken down into scenes. It is helpful to have the overview in mind during the writing process, but existing tools such as Final Draft provide a plethora of writing aids for that, from virtual index cards to graphical character timelines.
Bear in mind that when you work with finished scripts like the Alien example, you've got a survivor bias problem, because almost any story that makes it through the screen has been through multiple drafts and hundreds or thousands of mini-edits. So while it seems very natural to lay that out in a neat hierarchy, that doesn't really reflect the writing environment, which is a lot more messy.
As for keeping track of story context, this is job one for the writer - you can beef up the dialog or whatever later, but writers, directors and other keys need to be able to keep the entire story in their head at once and know what the inputs and and outputs of any given scene are, not least because 99.9% of films are shot out of chronological sequence and so being able to keep a handle on that story context is essential for guiding the actors. Obviously you don't try to remember every last little thing at once, that's why we use storyboards and breakdown sheets, but you do need to be able to articulate the whole story off the cuff at the drop of a hat.
I do think this would very useful for film students doing analysis, but I can't really see myself writing a script in it, although I'll try doing some treatments with it.
BTW I also feel that if you offer people the opportunity to try it, you should let them try it, not switch to asking for a signup. That really annoyed me.