Then I tried exporting as pdf and importing that pdf into Fade In to export again as fountain file. Tab Delimited Dialogue Export and attempted Fountain Interpretation Text with Layout Export and attempted Fountain InterpretationĪvid Script-Based Editing Export with attempted Fountain Interpretation Plain Text Export and attempted Fountain interpretation I’m just using Highland to check the formatting of the file that Final Draft 10 exports.Īs you can see, the result of the first plain text export is not satisfactory. But I’m not using that functionality here because I want to see if you can export fountain from Final Draft 10 without additional software. On a side note, Highland can also import Final Draft files directly and convert them into Fountain plain text.
But you could also use other programs like Fade In of course, the free Amazon Storywriter, or the free Trelby on the PC. txt file and open it in a program that can interpret the fountain format. But since it’s in fact plain text I just tried every possible plain text export method there is, to see what happened. Testing Final Draft 10 and Fountainįountain is not listed in the Final Draft 10 export menu. That means, once you get a Fountain File out of Final Draft 10 you can pretty much do with it whatever you want.
But that doesn’t interfere with reading nor with writing.
If you open it in a software that can interpret fountain files you have nice standard screenplay formatting, but if not, no problem, you can still write in plain text format and it’s all nice and pretty. To make a long story short, Fountain is basically a possibility to write screenplays as plain text files that you can use on every device that you want. I wrote an article about Fountain a while ago to demonstrate what it can do. Why Fountain?īut, before I go any further, why would you want to export Fountain from Final Draft 10 anyway?įountain is a screenplay markup language for writing screenplays, invented by the wonderful John August and a few others.īy the way, if you want to learn a thing or two about screenwriting, go subscribe to the “ScriptNotes” podcast on iTunes with John August and Craig Mazin. Well, I took the Final Draft 10 User’s Manual, entered “Fountain” in the search bar, what it said was, “meeeeh”. But that didn’t stop me from trying…Įxporting a Fountain file out of Final Draft 10, theoretically speaking, shouldn’t work. Because there is no Fountain export listed there. If you take a look at the export in Final Draft 10 it says you can’t. I wanted to get a Fountain-formatted plain text file out of Final Draft 10. Since you studied writing and presumably paid absolutely no attention in math class, I’ll tell you: that’s 50 percent off.Today I want to show you a little test. But for a limited time, Inverse readers can get it for only $124.99. Normally, Final Draft 10 would set you back $249.99 - a not-so-ideal price for struggling writers. And if you have a writing partner, Final Draft has a Google Doc-esque feature, where you can work - and fight! - with a collaborator in real time. It also features a Story Map, which can help you organize your scenes and sequences efficiently. With over a hundred templates, writers can choose from a constellation of formats, from screenplays to stage plays, graphic novels to query letters (whatever those are). No matter how riveting your Tarantino-ripoff dinner party scene is, if the script isn’t formatted properly, it’s getting shredded and going into the agent’s daughter’s hamster cage. The tool’s goal is to paginate your scripts to meet entertainment industry standards. Final Draft is the one screenwriting software you need to bring your stories to life. Abrams, Sofia Coppola, and, yes, even Aaron Sorkin swear by it. Why believe me, though? I’ve never written a critically acclaimed movie.
Formatting is everything, and each version of screenwriting has its own set of rules, which means Final Draft helps bypass those embarrassing notes like “don’t include camera angles in action descriptions.” Basically, Final Draft 10 helps make the hard stuff easy, so you can get down to writing.
The ins and outs of writing a good script - whether it’s a 30-minute comedy pilot, a $30 million action movie starring Willem Dafoe (imagine that), or a single-act play for the local community theater - can be hard. Whether you’re trying to get that short film off the ground, or you’re freakin’ Aaron Sorkin, you should have Final Draft, the most ubiquitous and popular screenwriting software in the game.