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Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

fountain.io

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Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#41

Post by toyg »

Joeboy wrote: post #8
digital_ins wrote: post #3

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 cu…

> This looks like a standardization of the way that screenwriting is done I don't think many people have written scripts in plain text since they stopped using typewriters.

I Am Not A Screenwriter, but from what I've seen circulating in fandom over the years, most professionals write plaintext-over-MSWord or plaintext-over-FinalDraft. The result is pretty much just plaintext, once it's printed out (which it will be).

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#42

Post by quietpipper »

digital_ins wrote: post #3

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 cu…

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

Fountain was created by an A-list screenwriter, John August, who's written Big Fish, Go, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and many others. He's pushed it pretty hard on his podcast, Scriptnotes.

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#43

Post by troyinjapan »

jonnathanson wrote: post #12
digital_ins wrote: post #3

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 cu…

"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…

Final Draft was the first to market and is the most used, but hardly the most loved. They are the IE of screenwriting software.

The industry standard is .PDF. As long as you can get to .PDF, all is good. All modern screenwriting software supports the Fountain syntax, except Final Draft. Final Draft is the dinosaur of the industry, and they are dying. One man shops are making far superior software at a lower price and that are far less buggy.

One you get into production, Final Draft might be needed, but many places aren't updated their overpriced licenses.

The top "traditional" software packages for screenwriting now are either Fade In Pro ($50) or WriterDuet (free/$99 one time license for all the extras). Both support Fountain.

http://www.fadeinpro.com/page.pl?content=comparison

https://writerduet.com/blog/

If you're only writing in Fountain and then to PDF, Highland and Slugline are the other options. They are both under $30.

http://slugline.co/blog/sushi

I also like afterwriting.com. Bascially it's Highland in a browser that can sync to Google Docs and Dropbox for free.

http://afterwriting.com/#

The great things about Fountain is that you can just use any text editor you want and then import into a Fountain compatible package and that it's very readable.

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#45

Post by troyinjapan »

wodenokoto wrote: post #44

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.

http://fountain.io/_img/fountain-quickreference.jpg

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#46

Post by borplk »

trentbigelow wrote: post #31
borplk wrote: post #17

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.

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)?

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

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#47

Post by runevault »

toyg wrote: post #40
runevault wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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 feat…

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.

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#48

Post by Joeboy »

toyg wrote: post #41
Joeboy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This looks like a standardization of the way that screenwriting is done I don't think many people have written scripts in plain text since they stopped using typewriters.

I Am Not A Screenwriter, but from what I've seen circulating in fandom over the years, most professionals write plaintext-over-MSWord or plaintext-over-FinalDraft. The result is pretty much just plaintext, once it's printed out (which it will be).

Oh yes, what screenplays look like is very standardized and hasn't changed much for the best part of a century.

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#49

Post by Joeboy »

wj wrote: post #36
Joeboy wrote: post #7

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.

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…

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.

Re: Fountain – A markup language for screenwriting

#50

Post by Joeboy »

wodenokoto wrote: post #44

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.

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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