Fountain: Scriptwriting Made Easier

February 21, 2012 | By Trent Armstrong | Found in The Web, Video | 0 Comments

Serious scriptwriters probably already know about tools like Final Draft, Celtx, and Adobe Story. These are very professional solutions that offer a couple of important things– specifically Formatting and Collaboration.

The collaborative aspect of screenwriting has been built into programs like Final Draft, Adobe Story and Celtx; and, while that and other features are useful, the myriad features in these programs might be a little overwhelming for someone who is just interested in banging out a five or ten minute play or video script.

Most scriptwriting programs also focus heavily on formatting. Formatting a script is an essential part of scriptwriting that can seem like a hassle to those new to the art. However, script formatting conventions have been around for a long time. If you’re going to write scripts, it’s a good idea to learn these conventions in case you want to start sharing your scripts with others. Also, a well-formatted script can be easily read and understood. You can find a good introduction to scriptwriting conventions here.

THE SCRIPTWRITING REVOLUTION
There has been a revolution of sorts in the last few months that has made writing scripts (at least for me) a little more accessible and exciting! The first shot of this revolution was fired by a filmmaker named Stu Maschwitz. His dream was to have a simple way to write scripts with a markdown language – human-readable text with simple formatting which can be easily converted into a proper script format. In other words, being able to write scripts without all the hassle. The early manifestations of this revolution can be seen in the new markup language called Fountain.

NOTE: Before we go further you need to know that Markup is a means of offering format information through plain text. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a good example of this. <strong>Markdown</strong> would look like this on a web page: Markdown

Markdown is just a more simplified version of Markup (as in HyperText Markup Language, or HTML). I have some links below if you need more explanation.

Fountain’s website says this about the language:

Fountain is a simple markup syntax for writing, editing and sharing screenplays in plain, human-readable text. Fountain allows you to work on your screenplay anywhere, on any computer or tablet, using any software that edits text files. … It is straightforward and intuitive. Even when viewed as plain text, your screenplay feels like a screenplay.

Fountain supports everything a screenwriter is likely to need in the early, creative phases of writing … Because it’s just text, Fountain is also a great format for archiving screenplays without worry of file-format obsolescence or incompatibility.

Here is an example from the script for the film Big Fish. The first image is plain text marked up with Fountain syntax. The second image is the formatted results.

The marked up script above is formatted correctly by ScreenPlain.com with the appropriate font, tabs, and spacing below.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
The previous example might not seem like the most magical conversion in the world, but when you are writing dialogue for five people in a 10-minute script, you will spend half your time tabbing the character names and dialogue instead of simply writing.

Since I brought up the issue of time, I will say that it takes a bit of time to learn the syntax for Fountain. However, learning the simple syntax on the front-end can easily save time and effort when you are in the throws of writing your script.

SEEING THE SCRIPT
Since Fountain is human-readable, it is not a big issue to share the text file with someone. But there are currently several ways to see your properly formatted script.

The first is an app called Marked which is available for $3.99 in the Mac App Store. You can also use Fade In, a multi-platform app, which can be purchased for $49.99.

There are FREE options for reading your formatted Fountain scripts on the web at Screenplain.com and through a wordpress plugin called Scrippets.

Screenplain imports your .txt file and converts it to either HTML or Final Draft .FDX. The HTML can be printed or saved as a PDF to your Dropbox. You also have the option to save a Final Draft .FDX file. You can then stick that .FDX file in your Dropobox and use the recently-released FDX Reader for iPad. There are some limitations when converting Fountain formatted scripts to Final Draft. Screenplain.com has a list of supported and unsupported .FDX features.

I feel like a total nerd laying out all this info, but if you look through the details you might see the potential of something like Fountain for your process. There are a lot of options for the seasoned and the burgeoning scriptwriter. And I am of the opinion that staying on top of the tools and new technology will help us be better at our craft. Just for fun, I have a user testimony from Cyndi Mahne, who teaches Video Production at Cor Jesu Academy in St. Louis, MO:

“We’ve always written scripts for our school’s morning show and our videos before they’re produced, but our scripting was bare bones, too many things were unwritten, left to chance. When Trent Armstrong told us about Fountain, my students and I were excited because on the Fountain website, we found a simple, understandable platform guide for scriptwriting; our producers were finally able to put their ideas into writing so the directors and staff could follow them. And our show and videos have improved because of it. Now, my students bubble over with parentheticals and transitions and dialogue and emphasis, where before they just left these things to chance or scribbled them in the margin. The best part is that now anyone who would read one of our scripts would understand all the nuances of our production and see that our students are able to express themselves both visually and on paper. And that’s worth its weight in gold.”

Not bad, huh? Here are a few links to help you with sussing out what will work best for your situation: