Fountain is a plain-text markup language for screenwriting. It was created so that screenwriters could write in any text editor — a napkin, a Notes app, a dedicated tool — and still produce a properly formatted screenplay. If you’ve ever wondered why professional scripts look the way they do, or how apps like ScriptDraft produce that formatting automatically, this guide explains everything.
What Fountain actually is
A screenplay in Fountain is just a text file with light conventions. There’s no proprietary format, no software lock-in. A scene heading looks like this:
INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAYAction follows on the next line without any special marker:
Mara sits alone at a corner table, notebook open. The room buzzes.A character name is written in ALL CAPS, centred over dialogue:
JON
(sitting down)
You've been staring at that same line for twenty minutes.That’s essentially the entire core of Fountain. The format was designed to be readable as plain text even before it’s rendered.
The six essential elements
Every screenplay — whether it’s a Malayalam thriller, a Tamil drama, or an English short — uses the same six formatting elements.
Scene headings (also called sluglines) tell you where and when a scene takes place. They always begin with INT. or EXT., followed by the location and time of day.
EXT. MARINA BEACH - SUNSET
INT. MARA'S APARTMENT - NIGHTAction lines describe what the audience sees. Write them in present tense, third person. Keep them short — one or two sentences per block. White space is your friend.
Character names appear in ALL CAPS, on their own line, immediately before dialogue. If a character continues speaking after an interruption, add (CONT’D) after the name.
Dialogue goes directly below the character name. Parentheticals — small stage directions — go on their own line in brackets between the character name and the dialogue.
Transitions like CUT TO: and DISSOLVE TO: are used sparingly, usually only when a transition is dramatically meaningful rather than a straight cut.
Scene numbers are optional and usually added in production drafts, not writing drafts.
Why Fountain became the industry standard for mobile writing
Fountain was designed for tools like Final Draft but adopted enthusiastically by writers who work on phones and tablets. The reason: it needs no mouse, no menus, no keyboard shortcuts. You can type a complete scene on a touchscreen keyboard without touching a formatting option.
Apps that understand Fountain — including ScriptDraft — take your spoken or typed ideas and apply all the formatting rules automatically. You describe a scene in natural language and the app works out what’s a slug, what’s action, what’s dialogue.
Common formatting mistakes and how to avoid them
Overwriting action lines. The most common mistake beginners make is describing too much. Action lines in a screenplay describe what the camera sees, not what characters feel. “Ravi looks nervous” is fine. Two paragraphs about his childhood fear of failure is not.
Forgetting the CONT’D. When a character keeps speaking after an action line interrupts their dialogue, the name gets (CONT’D). Miss it and a script reader will think two different characters are speaking.
Starting with backstory. Your first scene heading should drop us into the story. Fountain has no place for “it was a dark and stormy night” preamble — the format itself enforces forward motion.
Misusing transitions. Every scene doesn’t need CUT TO:. A blank line between scenes already implies a cut. Reserve transitions for moments when the how of getting to the next scene is part of the story.
How ScriptDraft handles Fountain automatically
ScriptDraft uses AI to analyse what you say or type and map it to the correct Fountain element. When you record yourself saying “Interior, a crowded market, afternoon” it recognises a scene heading. When you say “Priya says: I can’t do this anymore” it recognises character and dialogue.
The app stores your script in an internal structure and renders it as Fountain when you edit, and as properly formatted PDF or Final Draft FDX when you export. You never have to type INT. or remember ALL CAPS — the AI handles the classification.
Exporting from Fountain
Three export formats matter for professional use:
Fountain (.fountain) is a plain-text file — the most portable format of all. Any app that understands Fountain can open it. ScriptDraft always exports Fountain files without a watermark, even on the free tier.
PDF is what you send to readers, producers, and competitions. A properly formatted screenplay PDF has specific margin widths (1.5” left, 1” right), Courier 12pt font, and page numbers in the top right. ScriptDraft generates this automatically. Free exports include a small ScriptDraft watermark; Pro removes it.
Final Draft FDX is the XML format used by Final Draft, the industry’s most widely used dedicated screenwriting software. If a collaborator or production company uses Final Draft, an FDX export opens natively. ScriptDraft exports FDX directly. Free exports include a small watermark; Pro removes it.
Writing in Indian languages using Fountain conventions
Fountain was designed for English, but its structural conventions work in any language. The slugline convention (INT./EXT., LOCATION, TIME) is understood globally. Dialogue and action blocks work identically in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, or any other language.
ScriptDraft handles Indian language input specifically — you can speak in Malayalam and the app transcribes and maps your words to the correct Fountain element without you needing to know the format at all. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi work the same way. The structure is handled; you focus on the story.
Fountain is a format built on the idea that a good story should be easy to write down. That’s the same idea behind ScriptDraft.