Fountain

Meaning

Fountain is an open markup syntax for writing screenplays in plain text, the screenplay equivalent of Markdown. The rules are few. A line starting with INT./EXT. is a scene heading; a line in all capitals is a character name; the line below a character name is dialogue; a parenthesized line is a parenthetical; a line starting with > is a transition; # marks a section, = a synopsis note, [[ ]] a note. Everything else is action. Files use the .fountain extension, and most free and paid tools read Fountain and convert it to standard formatted output (PDF, FDX).

Why it matters

Fountain frees the script from any single program. It can be written in a notes app, on a phone or in a code editor, put under version control (git) and opened twenty years from now. Dedicated software such as Final Draft is expensive and its files are closed; with Fountain you write in text and convert to FDX only when submitting. For web novel writers the large benefit is handling novel and script manuscripts in the same editor. Fountain does assume American format, though. The Korean S# heading and (E)/(N) tags are not in the standard, so a Korean script written in Fountain needs INT./EXT. headings and (V.O.) in place of (E), or a converter that supports Korean extensions. SparkLore's script export offers Fountain and Korean drama (kdrama) as separate formats.

Example

Title: The Bankbook in the Drawer
Author: Han Yuri

# Episode 1

= The day after the funeral, up to finding the bankbook.

INT. GRANDMOTHER'S KITCHEN - DAY

Yuri opens the drawers one by one. The bottom one will not open. She pulls harder.

YURI
(to herself)
Why is this so heavy.

The drawer gives. A single worn bankbook.

> FADE OUT.

Run through a Fountain converter, this text becomes a standard script PDF with centered character names, indented dialogue and bold scene headings. The source stays plain text.

Common mistakes

• Character names not in capitals. Lowercase is treated as action. Names written in Korean script have no capitals, so force them with a leading @ before the name (the same marker Fountain uses for mixed-case names such as @McCLANE).
• Korean-style scene headings. Fountain does not recognize S#12. Use INT./EXT., or start the line with . to force a heading.
• Missing blank lines. Fountain separates blocks with blank lines. Always leave one before a character name.