Canonical source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain

# Fountain: a screenplay that is just a text file

Fountain is screenplay format written as plain text, readable without any software at all. It is the reason a script written here is not trapped here: the same file opens in any screenwriting app, any text editor, and will still open in thirty years when none of today's apps are running.

## Why plain text is worth caring about

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#why-plain-text-is-worth-caring-about

A screenplay in a proprietary format is readable for exactly as long as someone keeps selling software that reads it. A screenplay in Fountain is readable in Notepad. It goes through version control, survives being emailed, and can be searched by any tool on your machine.

The syntax below is not something you have to type. It is what the file contains when you export one, and knowing it means you can read and fix your own script without the app that wrote it.

## The title page

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#the-title-page

Key and value pairs at the very top of the file, before anything else, each on its own line:

```
Title: The Long Way Round
Credit: Written by
Author: Your Name
Draft date: 12 March
```

The block ends at the first blank line, and everything after it is the screenplay.

## Most of it is just typing

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#most-of-it-is-just-typing

Fountain infers elements from shape, so an ordinary script needs almost no markup at all:

```
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

Rain against the window. MAYA stands at the sink,
not washing anything.

MAYA
(not turning round)
You said nine.

CUT TO:
```

-   A line starting `INT.`, `EXT.` or `INT./EXT.` is a scene heading.
-   An all capitals line with something underneath it is a character cue, and what follows is their dialogue.
-   A line in brackets between the cue and the dialogue is a parenthetical.
-   A capitalised line ending in `TO:` is a transition.
-   Anything else is action.

## Forcing an element

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#forcing-an-element

Occasionally a line is genuinely ambiguous — a character called `MAX` on a line of its own could be a cue or a shouted word. A leading symbol settles it:

-   `.` forces a scene heading — `.THE ROOF`
-   `@` forces a character cue — `@McCLANE`
-   `>` forces a transition — `>SMASH CUT TO:`
-   `!` forces action — `!MAX`

Plotiva writes these into an export wherever a line would otherwise be guessed at, rather than hoping the round trip comes back the same shape. That is the difference between a file that survives a trip through another app and one that quietly rearranges itself.

## Emphasis

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#emphasis

-   `*italic*`
-   `**bold**`
-   `***bold italic***`
-   `_underline_`

A delimiter only counts when it sits against a non-space character, which is what stops `2 * 3 = 6` turning half your scene italic. A literal asterisk is escaped with a backslash.

## The rest of it

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#the-rest-of-it

-   **Dual dialogue.** A caret after the second character cue — `MAYA ^` — prints the two speeches side by side.
-   **Centred text.** Wrapped in angle brackets: `> THE END <`.
-   **A forced page break.** Three or more equals signs on their own line: `===`.
-   **Continued cues.** `(CONT’D)` after a character name, when the same person speaks again after an interruption.

## Getting a script in and out

Source: https://plotiva.in/guide/fountain#getting-a-script-in-and-out

Export writes a `.fountain` file you can keep anywhere; import reads one back, including its title page. Because the format is text, a script that has been round tripped through another application can be compared line by line with the original, which is not true of any binary format.

It is also why nothing here is a lock-in risk. The [writing stays on your machine](https://plotiva.in/private), and the file it produces is one anything can read.

[Open the editor](https://plotiva.in/), or read the [format guide](https://plotiva.in/guide/screenplay-format) for what these elements look like on paper.

* * *