
Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting - ecopoesis
http://fountain.io
======
borplk
This is very interesting to me from the point of view that it's like a great
combination of programming and another discipline.

I wish I knew enough about other fields so that I could create things like
this. But my lack of in-depth knowledge in other topics prevents me and I
don't know how to come across these things on my own.

~~~
trentbigelow
Applying this to other fields is a really interesting idea. Prescriptions need
a better markup. What about fitness tracking entered via plain text (in email
or text to app)?

~~~
borplk
That's pretty interesting. I think in order for it to take off you would need
a good autocopmlete editor to go with it.

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digital_ins
This looks like a standardization of the way that screenwriting is done,
rather than a revolutionary change in the way screenwriting is done. When I
opened the .fountain file, I half-expected to see XML litter the place :-D

I could see myself writing a screenplay using this - and a really positive
thing is that it imposes a framework on how I should be writing one. (I've
tried multiple times, believe me)

Am really curious: what's the plan to foist this onto the Hollywood
screenwriters?

~~~
jonnathanson
_" Am really curious: what's the plan to foist this onto the Hollywood
screenwriters?"_

Final Draft is the industry standard at the moment, and it has been for 20-odd
years. To disrupt it, you could explore certain channels: dedicated websites
and communities for writers; USC, NYU, and other film schools; or get studios
and and agencies to accept it, which is ultimately where you need to win
approval to get adopted as a standard. In any of these scenarios you'd
probably need Final Draft import/export compatibility to get started and
minimize switching costs.

~~~
petegrif
There is absolutely NO incentive for anyone to change. The valued added (if
any) is not large enough to change established practices.

~~~
runevault
Not totally true, based on everything I've heard FD is a pile of crap that
chugs, crashes, and can eat your file. Mind you that hasn't stopped it from
remaining on top for now, but I would not be surprised if it stops being the
default in the next 5-10 years.

~~~
toyg
From a cursory read of its website, it looks like a pre-internet app,
basically a glorified text editor. There are zero network-enabled features.
The only groupware-oriented feature is _coloring pages differently_ if someone
else edits the document. There is _plenty_ of scope for disruption here.

The only "key feature" they have is that everyone in Hollywood uses FD. They
say so themselves on their website! The "Key features" screen does not list
_any_ actual feature, it's just a list of variations on the concept that
"everyone in Hollywood uses FD". In that sense, the main challenge is clearly
political rather than technological.

~~~
runevault
Colored pages isn't about group editing per se, it is an artifact of not being
able to change page numbers to avoid screwing with the shooting script.
Instead you have like page 5 and then 5 red that is the extra page.

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omaranto
As usual, there's a nice Emacs mode for it: [https://github.com/rnkn/fountain-
mode](https://github.com/rnkn/fountain-mode)

~~~
sedeki
Looks nice. However, I cannot install it via M-x package-install. It says file
not found when doing the request. EDIT: Never mind, I had an old listing.

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Joeboy
The awesome thing about this is that it lets you use git. It's a shame your
chances of finding a co-writer who can use git are negligible. I wonder what
Final Draft etc do about version control?

Another thing: I wish I could work out a free, no-nonsense way of turning
fountain into pdf on Linux. I've been going via html, which works OK but feels
a bit dirty.

~~~
wj
Out of curiosity, what do you envision your fountain > pdf program to look
like? When you say html are you exporting fountain to html and printing view
your web browser?

Re. your first point I think a lot of writers date their scripts as their
version control. Final Draft does have a limited revision tracking system. At
this point I think most screenwriters just pass on PDF documents rather than
.fdx or printed pages.

~~~
Joeboy
I'd like to be doing:

    
    
      textplay myscript.fountain > myscript.pdf
    

but textplay relies on a non-free thing called PrinceXML for its PDF export.
So instead I'm doing

    
    
      textplay myscript.fountain > myscript.html
      wkhtmltopdf myscript.html myscript.pdf
    

which is in no way big deal, it's just a minor annoyance. I have a tiny
wrapper (shell) script that does the above anyway.

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vixsomnis
Fountain lets me screenwrite like how I code, which is awesome. I use Goyo[1]
and capslock.vim[2] to reduce distraction and make the capitalization easier.
Git in Dropbox works well when only one person is committing.

1:
[https://github.com/junegunn/goyo.vim](https://github.com/junegunn/goyo.vim)

2: [https://github.com/tpope/vim-capslock](https://github.com/tpope/vim-
capslock)

My cowriter uses afterwriting[3] (locally[4]) to view them although we still
use unformatted .docx for rough drafts, since he normally writes those and I
revise.

3: [http://afterwriting.com/](http://afterwriting.com/)

4: [https://github.com/ifrost/afterwriting-
labs](https://github.com/ifrost/afterwriting-labs)

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michaelx386
There's a nice python program that can turn Fountain files in to PDF, HTML or
FDX files:
[https://github.com/vilcans/screenplain/](https://github.com/vilcans/screenplain/)

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trentbigelow
Wonder if blakeross used this to write up his _awesome_ Silicon Valley Script?

[http://blakeross.com/SiliconValleyS03E01.pdf](http://blakeross.com/SiliconValleyS03E01.pdf)

~~~
dunham
He used "Scrivener (2.60.5)" to write that one. (Run pdfinfo on the file to
see this.)

My understanding is that they're not crazy picky about what you use to write
the script as long as the output on paper/PDF is in hollywood standard format.
(Layout, typewriter font, heading formats, etc.)

At work, we've written a system that parses scripts from PDF files that is
being used for breakdown, script analysis, and sides generation by quite a few
movies and tv shows.

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leejoramo
Be sure to checkout the apps page. Fountain is fairly well supported.
[http://fountain.io/apps](http://fountain.io/apps)

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arxpoetica
See also:
[https://github.com/mattdaly/Fountain.js](https://github.com/mattdaly/Fountain.js)

~~~
mmcwilliams
I made a small mobile implementation of this that saves to localStorage:
[http://sceneti.me](http://sceneti.me)

Beware: PDF export is still broken.

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kozukumi
Looks interesting. For any kind of script writing I find it hard to move away
from Scrivener though. It is just fantastic.

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wodenokoto
Oma similar note, what is up with the style/layout of movie scripts?

As an outsider it looks quite ugly compared to even a standard setting in
google docs or word.

I'm sure it's mostly historical reason.

~~~
Joeboy
It emerged when people wrote screenplays on typewriters, and there isn't
really a good reason to "fix" it. Nobody uses any other format, because a)
people who read scripts can make reasonable judgements about timing / pacing
etc if you use the standard format and b) writing in a non-standard format is
a good enough reason to immediately discard your script and move onto the next
one from the neverending pile.

Apparently Mad Max: Fury Road was written as something more like a storyboard
than a traditional screenplay. There may be other exceptions, but not many.

Maybe there's a small element of cargo cultiness to it as well. And you can
write any old shit and put it in The Format and from a distance it looks like
a proper screenplay. But really, there's not much reason to do anything else.

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fho
Somehow I expected this to be a markup language for writing on screen ... and
couldn't figure out why something like this exists.

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bananaoomarang
I have used this fairly extensively before, vim + fountain + git is a winning
combo. Now all I need is a good screenplay :)

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sedeki
I thought I was the only coder doing screenwriting as a hobby... :-) Which
genres are you guys writing in?

~~~
wj
I used to write mostly comedy scripts (tone similar to Get Shorty) but only
ever produced one (extremely low-budget) feature-length film which was more of
a modern noir.

Still have numerous scripts that I want to finish (who has the time?) but my
hobby took a turn a bit and I created Moviestud.io
([http://www.moviestud.io](http://www.moviestud.io)) to help me produce that
film. It supports Fountain import. :)

National Novel Writing month starts tomorrow which would be a great time to
scratch that screenplay itch!

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amelius
Perhaps it is time for a generic markup language with stylesheets.

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55555
I think this is an amazing idea but I need some help brainstorming... What are
some viable ways to turn this into a business?

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oldpond
The bootstrap link is broken.

