Advice sought Page 2

Thanks Crindy, the truth is that I'm a writer but not much else when it comes to computers or grammar for that matter. Its the same at work I do replies on Facebook , I don't know how to do links or anything and the only reason they keep me on is because I can write live funny relies on any subject for 12 hours at at time and all for the princely sum of £5 an hour.
My ideal scenario would be to write them as best as I can and then find someone with Script Smart and an eye for layout and get them to do it and then go half on anything if it comes good.

I would strongly urge you format properly before sending stuff in.
You might as well send it in in red crayon.
There are free software packages - Celtx, WriterDuet as well as Trelby.
You need to get to grips with one of them.
Personally I always recommend Scrivener - hugely over-specced for what you need (right now) but it has good Script Formatting - about £30.
Does takes little getting used to but it will serve you well in the years to come - and it exports to Final Draft which is what a hell of a lot of people ask for.
But, please, please, don't put all this effort into writing and fall at the first because you haven't formatted properly.
The old "if its good enough, they won't mind " myth is just that - a myth.
And when you do re=-format - do it in screenplay format, not some bozo BBC Drama bollocks.
Good luck.

Thanks Lazzard I can see that I really can so my best bet is to try and get a collaborator who can do that and free me up to write the story as a lot of it is already done and the rest is in my head and its a cracking tale with loads of twists.
I just need a grown up or a mentor to get me over that hurdle of layout and a bit of editing and I would see them as a Co Writer as I can't do it without them .

So if anyone is interested PM I'm hardworking determined and I have a good product , I just need help but like I would burn the candle getting this to shine and as I say I would split anything right down the middle for a bit of help at this juncture in my life.

You've got to learn your craft, mate.
A plumber who can't mend toilets ain't much of a plumber - however good he is at envisioning luxury bathrooms.
There probably are people who'll format stuff for you, but they'll want paying up front.
And writers don't get paid enough to give half what they earn to a typist.
Take a fortnight out. Learn how to use one of the suggested softwares. Read a book on it.
It's the price of entry I'm afraid.

Quote: Crindy @ 26th October 2018, 2:45 PM

Try Writerduet.

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If you don't like that one, there's Birdsduet, Beesduet and even Educatedfleasduet.

You're probably right Lazzard, its just that I'm self educated so my grammar is still poor despite working and working at it and self editing doesn't help me either.
Anyway on the plus side I'm made up you thought it was ok so far and I'll write the last bit and go over and over the rest and and then get it formatted one way or the other. So thanks once again for the advice it was literally sound.

Thanks for the info Crindy

Lazzard I realise now that you mean the way its laid out on her

I do set my scripts out in the correct layout with the dialogue in Courier and each character in bold and the dialogue is Tabbed under that . I have also looked at scripts and copied the exact lay out . Its just that its not in anything other than Word but I have laid it out to near as dam as example scripts .
So perhaps I'm not as far behind as I thought which is good news .

Honestly, if you can use Word you can certainly use something like Writerduet or Celtx. They're designed to be as intuitive as possible, and it means you don't have to waste any time worrying about picking the right font or aligning character names or checking other scripts/formatting guides to try and approximate the standard way of doing something, which leaves you free to focus on all the other things to worry about.

Thanks for all this Crindy, you don't know which is the cheapest do you?

Writerduet and Celtx both have a free version. You don't get all the bells and whistles of the full product, but you get more than enough to write and pdf a script.

I use Writerduet and have never had any major issues with it, plus it's all online so you can log in on any computer/tablet and have your latest script ready to go. But I do keep backups of everything elsewhere to be on the safe side.

But I'm sure others can vouch for other software, so just have a play around with a few of them and see which suits you best.

I will do and thanks for this Crindy it really helps .

I would certainly not do it for £5 an hour. Ben might, but we haven't seen him for ages.

Crindy, does WriterDuet remember your character names, scene heading etc and autofill as you go? it seems if Teddy struggles with grammar/formatting etc that would be a really good feature. I only ask (to quote Bernard Breslaw) as I'm often asked the "is there free software out there?" question and I find it hard recommending Celtx, as I found it quite clumsy to work with.
The world will come round to Scrivener one day!!

Paul beggars can't be choosers mate , it's not ideal but I'm not on my own, the guy who drops your Pizza off and the person who will bring your Amazon orders to name a few. Its a reflection of a gig economy where people are expendable .

Quote: Lazzard @ 26th October 2018, 5:02 PM

Crindy, does WriterDuet remember your character names, scene heading etc and autofill as you go? it seems if Teddy struggles with grammar/formatting etc that would be a really good feature. I only ask (to quote Bernard Breslaw) as I'm often asked the "is there free software out there?" question and I find it hard recommending Celtx, as I found it quite clumsy to work with.
The world will come round to Scrivener one day!!

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Yep, remembers character names and scene headings. Lets you move between formatting 'bits' just using the tab key (Scene -> Action -> Character -> Parenthetical -> Dialogue -> etc) so you can rattle off 30 pages without needing to touch the mouse. Supports dual dialogue. Stores every act/scene in a panel on the right of the screen so you can jump to wherever you want in a script, even to the point that you can re-order entire scenes by just dragging and dropping. Even supports drafts/revisions to some extent on the free version.

But also, given what Teddy's already written, I've found it's very intuitive at picking up semi-formatted text and converting it (mostly) correctly. I like to vomit draft stuff in Word myself every now and again, and if I just copy/paste my terribly formatted Word text into a new WD file, it mostly shifts everything to the right format (still needs a few passes through to make sure it's done everything properly, mind you).

I'll definitely check Scrivener out, because it definitely sounds like it's good value (certainly much cheaper than the full Writerduet version), but as far as entirely free scriptwriting software I've used goes (Celtx, Amazon Storywriter, various plugins/MS Word templates), I've not found anything better than WD. My only big concern, as I mentioned before, is keeping an outside backup or three of any writing I do on there, because it seems to be a fairly small-scale operation that you could see having some sort of horrible data SNAFU twelve months down the line. But I guess backing up work is a no-brainer whatever you're using.