We’re heads down on the next big update, and it’s coming in the next two months. In the meantime, we wanted to make the features you already use every day work even better. So this one is all about quality of life. There are four areas we went over, and those are the PDF import, sync, the script editor, and the shot list and call sheets.
PDF import
PDF is not the format I’d recommend for an import, because an FDX or a Fountain file carries the elements with it. But we all know that sometimes a PDF is the only version of the script you can get. So we went over the import and rebuilt it around how a script actually sits on the page. CineLog now reads where every line is, and it figures out from that position what each line is. Action, cues, dialogue, parentheticals, scene headings and transitions come in as themselves. Dual dialogue comes in as two speeches. Page numbers, CONTINUED headers and MORE markers stay on the page where they belong, and so do revision asterisks. Scene numbers land on their headings, including lettered and part numbers like 13A and 17PT2. And a speech that runs over a page break comes in as one speech.
The import is quicker to use too. You pick the file, and it opens in the editor, with the steps on screen while CineLog reads the pages, detects the elements and prepares the script. For a PDF that carries no layout of its own, you still get the import dialog with the paragraph slider, so you always have a way in. And it’s the same import on your Mac, on Windows, on your phone and your tablet, and in the browser.
Sync that keeps up with you
The main thing is that CineLog keeps every edit, wherever you made it. Close your laptop halfway through a scene, open the project on your phone, and the edit is there. Work offline for a week, come back online, and CineLog sends the backlog in pieces until it’s all through, no matter how much you wrote. And when you open a project you haven’t touched in a while, you get it exactly as it is now, because the app picks up from the server’s latest position.
Another big thing is the first action after a switch. Switch to a project and add a shot, and it appears right away, because the app decides from what it already knows and checks with the server afterwards. Signing in works the same way. You’re in right away, and your subscription status catches up in the background.
Script editor
The page holds steady as you write, so the text stays where you’re looking when you press Enter or Backspace. And typing is more forgiving: parentheticals, character names you go back and fix, and action lines after a speech all land as what you meant them to be.
Shot list, breakdown and call sheets
The Cast & Crew column in the shot list shows your cast by number, the same numbers you see on the schedule, and your crew by initials, so one look tells you who’s in the shot. The breakdown’s cast auto-tag, the pass that marks characters in the script, now marks every line a character speaks, so the breakdown shows every place the character turns up on the page. And on a call sheet, picking a location from the suggestions saves it on the spot, the suggestion list stays inside the card, and the weather hint tells you exactly what it still needs, for example a date, and when the forecast was fetched.
Plus bug fixes and performance improvements throughout.