New Corkboard-Style Storyboard Web App From… Amazon?

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amazon storybuilder

Wow, this is a surprise. StoryBuilder is a new browser-based web app from… Amazon. It’s a pretty great corkboard app for screenwriters to plan their screenplays, and because it’s browser based you can use it anywhere, on your Mac, iPad or iPhone.

While it’s billed for screenwriters, the app is good for planning anything, including novels, articles and even parties. Notes, which look like notecards, can be dragged around the board to organize them into groups, and cards contain a title, a body and an optional color. Groups are represented as little strips of sticky tape with writing on them, and the cards can be collapsed to show just the title.

The app also works differently depending on where you’re running it. On an iPad you need to tap a button to enter card-dragging mode, but on a Mac you just click and drag. Images can be added to notes on both platforms, as can tags. The app works really well in full-screen mode on a 27-inch display

You can also invite contributors. They can’t edit your work, but they can leave comments in the form of sticky notes. And finally, there’s a drawer at the top of the screen to stash notes, templates, cards and images.

It looks ideal, and you can even save it as a proper web-app on your iOS home screen. But there’s a problem, and it’s a big one: There’s no real export. None that I can find at least, and I’ve had a good dig around in there. This is inexplicable. After all, at some point you have to actually get on and write your script/novel/awesome product review, so how do you do that? By copying and pasting each card, one at a time? There is an option to view your cards all in one “print-friendly” view, but that’s hardly useful.

If you’d like to take it for a spin, you’ll need to sign up for Amazon Studios. This uses your regular Amazon login it seems, so it’s not too hard to get started.

Source: Amazon Studios
Via: No Film School

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