Mac tutorials › Story
StoryOpen the Beat Board and read its toolbar
Find your way around an empty Beat Board before you add anything.
Before you start
- A project is open.
Steps
Click Story in the sidebar, then Beat Board in the bar across the top.
The title reads Beat Board, with the line How does my story fit together? Drag cards until the story works. At the top right, No scene numbers; they come from the screenplay tells you scene numbers belong to the screenplay, not the board.
Look at the toolbar under the title.
Add opens the menu of things to put on the board. Search / filter cards narrows the board to cards that mention a word. Zoom Out, the percentage and Zoom In change the size of the board. Vertical and Horizontal change its layout. Parking Lot shows or hides the place where you keep cards out of the story. Build Screenplay turns cards into screenplay scenes. More holds Card Display Settings…, Apply Board Order to Screenplay… and Export Outline.
Read the message in the middle: Your Beat Board is empty.
It explains that Scene Cards are short reminders of what happens in each scene, and that you can add an Act, Sequence, Beat or Scene Card, or drag an idea from your Idea Vault. Two buttons start you off: Add Scene and Add Act.
Click Add to see the menu.
The menu lists Act, Sequence, Beat and Scene Card (Command+N), then From Idea Vault…. Sequence is greyed out until there is an act to put it in.
What you get
You know what each part of the Beat Board toolbar does.
Watch out for
- Scene numbers never appear on the board. They come from the screenplay once cards are built into scenes.