How to Write a Screenplay: A Developer's Guide to Fountain Format

If you're a developer who's ever thought about writing a screenplay, you'll love Fountain. It's like Markdown, but for screenplays. What is Fountain? Fountain is a plain-text markup syntax for screenwriting. Just like Markdown lets you write formatted documents in plain text, Fountain lets you write properly formatted screenplays. Here's what it looks like: INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY SARAH sits at a corner table, laptop open, typing furiously. Her coffee grows cold. JAMES (30s, disheveled) approaches with two fresh cups. JAMES I brought reinforcements. SARAH (not looking up) I'm in the zone. Come back in an hour. JAMES You said that two hours ago. Sarah finally looks up. She sees the coffee. Smiles. SARAH Okay, maybe a five-minute break. That's it. No special software needed. The formatting rules are intuitive: Scene headings: Start with INT. or EXT. Action: Regular paragraphs Character names: ALL CAPS on their own line Dialogue: Lines following a character name Parentheticals: Text in (pa