Screenwriters

Plotra writes scripts in their own layout: a screenplay, a stage play, a comic script or an audio script, with Enter and Tab moving between elements so your hands stay on the keys. The script sits in the same project as its characters, its outline and its storyboard, and when it is finished Plotra reads it back as the lists a shoot or a recording session runs on. Scripts go in and out as Fountain, and print as US Letter pages.

The two modules this page leans on, Script formats and Production, carry a Beta tag in the product.

Start writing for freeEvery feature is on the Free plan. No card needed.

Set upCopy Anchor Link

1. Start the project. In the cold open, choose Something else under "What are you making?" and pick your type. Or use New project for a blank one.
2. Answer the questions for your medium. A screenplay is asked "A film, a pilot or a series?", which names the first folder "Act One", "Pilot" or "Episode 1", and whether the first scene opens INT. or EXT. The other three types have no extra questions.
3. Switch on Production when you reach that stage, under More → More tools. It is off in every new project.

What each type starts with:

A format belongs to a note, not to the project, so one project can hold screenplay scenes and a prose treatment side by side. Change a note's format with the format switcher above its title.

If the script already exists, run "Import Fountain…" from the command palette. It makes a folder for the script, a chapter for each section and a scene for each scene heading. See Import Fountain….

Typical workflowCopy Anchor Link

1. Lay out the structure. Run "New beat sheet" from the command palette and pick Save the Cat, Hero's Journey or three acts: each beat becomes a scene with a synopsis. Then open the Corkboard and drag the cards into order.
2. Write the scenes. Enter at the end of an element starts the one that usually comes next, and Tab turns the line into the next kind of element. Scene headings, character names and transitions are typed in capitals for you. See Writing in a script.
3. Let the names fill themselves in. On a character line, a list offers who has already spoken and then the project's character notes. Give each character a note, with aliases, so the name in the script and the page in the Codex are the same person.
4. Board it. Create a canvas and add image / shot panels. Each takes a picture by its web address, a caption, a shot type, a camera move and a duration. Groups mark sequences. See Canvas.
5. Break it down. In the script, select "a revolver" or "the red coat" and tag it as Props, Wardrobe or one of the other categories. The Production view lists what each scene needs, by scene or by element. Everyone with a line is cast without any tagging. See Script breakdown.
6. Record it. Recording sheets list every line of dialogue with its speaker and direction. Mark each Written, Approved or Recorded and leave a note for the session. Fill in Played by on a character note and the sheet names the actor. See Recording sheets.
7. Read off the shots. Shot lists number the panels of each storyboard in reading order, with the total running time of the shots that have a duration. See Shot lists.
8. Get notes. Share the project by email. A commenter can comment on any passage, and can tick lines off on a recording sheet without being able to change the words. An editor can use suggesting mode. See Working together.
9. Send it out. The Read view lays a folder out as script pages with a title page and page numbers: press Print / PDF. "Export as Fountain" saves a file other screenwriting apps open. The breakdown, each actor's sheet and each shot list save as CSV.

By mediumCopy Anchor Link

What to read nextCopy Anchor Link

Things to knowCopy Anchor Link

• Fountain is a screenplay format. A stage play, a comic script or an audio script is exported as the nearest screenplay elements, and importing the file again gives screenplay scenes.
• Fountain has its own commands. It is not in the import and export dialogs: "Import Fountain…" and "Export as Fountain" are in the command palette while Script formats is on.
• "Export as Fountain" ignores the spoiler horizon. The file holds the whole script, passages tagged for a later release or Never included.
• On import, dual dialogue comes in as one speech after the other, lyrics come in as action, and the boneyard is left out. A file can be up to 900,000 characters and make up to 1,500 notes.
• There is no form for the title page. A script that was imported keeps its Fountain title page; any other is exported with the title and your name.
• Pages are US Letter, and Plotra does not estimate a running time from the page count.
• Production makes lists, not paperwork. There is no call sheet or schedule, and the lists can't be edited in the view: change the script or the canvas and press Reload.
• Storyboard pictures are not uploaded to a canvas. A panel shows a picture from a web address.
• Subtitles are SRT only, and are made from the dialogue of script-format scenes with the Localization module on.
• Tag the same words each time. "Revolver" and "the revolver" are two elements in a breakdown.