Centerdraft is a story-structuring tool for creators. Plan your podcast, YouTube video, film, book, or speech — block by block, before you record or write.
Great work doesn't start when you press record or open a blank document — it starts when you structure your thinking. Centerdraft gives you a simple, visual rundown: a list of blocks that represent the parts of your project. Add blocks, name them, set durations, and arrange them until the shape feels right. (New here? Start with What is Centerdraft.)
It works for any format where structure matters before execution: a podcast episode you want to time out, a YouTube video you're scripting, a speech you're giving in two weeks, a film's three-act breakdown, a book's chapter plan.
Pick a format, choose a starting template or start blank, and start building your rundown block by block. Each block has a label, a colour, optional notes, and an optional duration. Drag to reorder. Export to PDF, Word, or Excel when you're ready.
Projects are saved automatically in your browser. Sign in to sync across devices and keep your work safe in the cloud.
The words Centerdraft uses, in plain terms.
The ordered list of blocks that make up your project — for example Intro → Segment → Sponsor break → Outro. Building a rundown is the core of what you do in Centerdraft.
One unit of your content — a segment, scene, chapter, act, or slide — with a label, a colour, optional notes, and an optional duration. You stack blocks in order to form a rundown.
A clean, large-type view of one block at a time that you can present or record from on a phone or tablet. Your plan becomes the script you read from.
The live running total of every block's duration, shown against an optional target, so a timed project — a podcast, a keynote, a film — stays to length to the second.
A proven starting structure for a format — a guest interview, a video essay, a three-act drama, a chapter outline. Around fifty are built in; you can start from one or from a blank canvas.
A free-floating coloured bar that runs across the block list to mark a cross-cutting thread — a music bed, an act structure, or a character arc — independent of the blocks beneath it.
A classic story shape — setup, confrontation, resolution — available as a film template and a useful frame for videos, speeches, and pitch decks alike.
Yes. The core planning tool is free to use — no credit card required. A Pro plan unlocks unlimited projects, all export formats, and cloud sync across devices.
Podcast, Video & Social (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Stories, Snapchat, Carousel), Film & TV, Book, Speech, and Script. Each format comes with its own set of block types and templates tailored to that medium.
A block is one unit of your content — a segment, scene, chapter, act, or any named part of your project. Blocks have a label (the name), a colour (for visual scanning), optional notes (for details or script), and an optional duration. You build your rundown by stacking blocks in order.
Yes. You can export any project as a PDF (ready to print or share), a Word document (.docx), or an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx). The PDF layout matches what you see on screen.
Projects are stored locally in your browser by default, so no one else can see them. When you sign in, your projects are backed up to our cloud (hosted by Supabase in the EU) so you can access them from any device. We don't share or sell your data.
Yes. Centerdraft is designed to work on both desktop and mobile. On mobile you can add blocks via a scrollable palette, reorder with a visible drag handle, and use the gear icon to access design options. The full editor is available — though we recommend desktop for longer planning sessions.
Layers are free-floating coloured bars that run across your block list — useful for marking a music bed, an act structure, a character thread, or any cross-cutting theme. You can drag the handles to resize them and they sit independently of the blocks beneath.
Yes. Centerdraft is a Progressive Web App (PWA). Install it from your browser and it works fully offline. Your projects are always stored locally first — cloud sync happens in the background when you're connected.
Go to your account settings (click your avatar in the top-right corner) and select "Manage subscription". You can cancel at any time. You keep Pro access until the end of your current billing period.
Centerdraft is built specifically for this. You start with a blank rundown or a template (solo deep dive, guest interview, narrative story, debate), then add blocks for each segment — intro jingle, welcome, interview round, sponsor break, outro — and set a duration on each. The live total at the top shows you exactly how long the episode will run. Export to PDF when you're ready to record.
Yes — Centerdraft is designed for this. Pick the Video & Social format, choose a template (vlog, essay, tutorial, product review), and build your video structure block by block: hook, intro, chapters, B-roll notes, sponsor slot, CTA, outro. Each block shows its duration so you can time the video before you press record. When you're done planning, export to Word to write the script or PDF to keep on set.
Centerdraft has ready-made templates for TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Stories, Snapchat, and Carousel — each with the right block types and target durations built in. The TikTok template, for example, opens with Hook (3 sec), Opening (5 sec), Main content (30 sec), B-roll (5 sec), and CTA (5 sec). You can adjust any block, add your own, and export the plan before you start filming.
Centerdraft is a pre-writing planning tool for film and TV. Before you open Final Draft or write a single scene, use Centerdraft to map your three-act structure: Act 1 setup, Plot point 1, Act 2 confrontation, Midpoint crisis, Climax, Denouement. For TV, lay out cold opens, act breaks, B-plots, and cliffhangers episode by episode. It's not a scriptwriting app — it's what you use to get the structure right before you write.
Yes. Centerdraft's Book format is chapter-based: you create a list of chapters (novel, memoir, non-fiction, documentary), and within each chapter you add content blocks — scenes, key arguments, case studies, anecdotes, turning points. You can collapse chapters you're not working on and see the whole structure at a glance. There are templates for novel, memoir, non-fiction/self-help, and documentary.
Centerdraft's Speech format lets you build a rundown of your talk block by block — opening, story, point, quote, moment, closing — with a duration on each block. The running total at the top tracks your time automatically, so you know whether your 20-minute keynote is actually 20 minutes before you step on stage. There's also a Cue Card preview mode you can open on a phone or tablet to present from.
Yes — Centerdraft has a built-in Cue Card mode. Once you've planned and written your speech block by block (opening, story, key point, quote, closing), tap Preview and switch to Cue Card view. The screen goes clean white with large, readable text — one block at a time, easy to glance at while presenting. It works on any phone or tablet without installing anything extra. Plan your speech on desktop, present from your phone.
Centerdraft covers the full speech workflow in one tool: plan your talk block by block, write notes inside each block, set durations to hit your time target, and then open Cue Card mode on your phone to present. You don't need a separate teleprompter or cue card app — the planner and the presenter are the same tool. It works for keynotes, TEDx-style talks, wedding speeches, eulogies, and panel presentations.
Yes. Export any Centerdraft project as a PDF and open it on a second screen, tablet, or printed page while you record. The PDF layout matches your rundown exactly — block labels, durations, and any notes you've written — so it reads like a production sheet. You can also use the built-in Preview mode on a tablet next to your mic, which shows the same clean document view without exporting. Some podcasters also export to Word and write their full script there, then read from that.
For speakers who prefer cue-based presenting over reading a word-for-word script, Centerdraft's Cue Card mode is a free, purpose-built alternative. Each block becomes one card: your opening is one card, your first story is the next, your main point is the next. You tap or swipe through them at your own pace. For podcasters, the PDF export works as a static script you read from. Both are free.
A rundown is a structured list of every part of a piece of content — each item is called a block. A podcast rundown might list: Intro jingle → Welcome → Segment 1 → Sponsor break → Segment 2 → Wrap-up → Outro jingle. A film rundown might list: Act 1 setup → Plot point 1 → Act 2 confrontation → Climax → Denouement. Centerdraft is a tool for making rundowns: pick your format, add blocks, name them, set durations, and export when you're ready.
Centerdraft is a structure planning tool, not a scriptwriting app. You use it before you open Final Draft, Celtx, Arc Studio, or Highland 2 — to get the shape of the project right first. Where does each scene go? How long should Act 2 run? What comes after the midpoint? Centerdraft answers those questions visually, before a single word of script is written. Think of it as the planning layer that sits above the writing layer.
No — and that's by design. Centerdraft is the step before writing. Once your structure is solid, you export your rundown to Word (.docx), open it in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or Google Docs, and write from there. The exported document includes your block labels and durations as a ready-made outline. Centerdraft is what makes the blank page less blank.
Scrivener is a full writing environment — it handles both the structure and the prose, and it's excellent for long manuscripts. Centerdraft is lighter and faster: it's purely a visual planning tool, not a writing tool. If you want to map your chapters before committing to Scrivener's binder structure, or if you work in Word or Google Docs and just need the planning layer, Centerdraft fits that gap. Some writers use both — Centerdraft to plan, Scrivener or Word to write.
Centerdraft is purpose-built for content structure — it's not a general notes or wiki tool. Where Notion or Google Docs give you a blank page, Centerdraft gives you a visual rundown with block types, colours, durations, and format-specific templates. If you currently plan your podcast or YouTube video in a Google Doc or Notion page, Centerdraft replaces that part of your workflow with something built specifically for the job.
Centerdraft works well as a pre-writing outline tool for books. Create a Book project, add your chapters, and fill each chapter with content blocks — scenes, key arguments, turning points, case studies. When the structure feels right, export to Word and open in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or Google Docs to start writing. It bridges the gap between "I have an idea" and "I have a chapter-by-chapter plan."
Most broadcast rundown tools (Octopus, iNews) are expensive and built for newsrooms. Centerdraft is a free, creator-focused alternative — designed for podcasters, YouTubers, filmmakers, and authors rather than broadcast producers. It's browser-based, works on any device, and exports to PDF, Word, or Excel. The free tier covers the core planning features; Pro adds unlimited projects and cloud sync.
Yes. You can plan a documentary as a Film project (using scenes, interview scenes, B-story, and act structure) or as a Book project (using chapters with interview, B-roll, narration, archive footage, and witness account blocks inside each chapter). Many documentaries work well as a chapter-based structure where each chapter is an episode or a major sequence. There's a Documentary template in both formats.
Centerdraft handles all the formats a solo creator typically works across: long-form YouTube videos, short-form TikTok, Reels, and Snapchat clips, podcast episodes, and speech or live presentation planning — all in one tool, with the same block-based interface. You don't need a separate outlining tool for each format. Start a project, pick the format, build your rundown, and export to PDF, Word, or Excel.