Who is familiar with Fountain? Or Markdown? Or the paradigm of using a text editor vs. a program such as Final Draft or Microsoft Word? Many consider text editors (myself included) to be the superior workflow. You stay "in the zone" more, as opposed to being bogged down by formatting. The file is more parseable, making it amenable to essentially an unlimited set of post-processing tools. Virtually any imaginable tool can be developed to further augment the possibilities. And if you use a programmable text editor, it gets even better. If you're not familiar with what a programmable text editor is, check out Sublime Text. Or Atom. Or for Mac only, TextMate. Before diving into Fountain, it would be best to arm yourself with a good text editor, and then learn the basics of Markdown. That will show you the paradigm shift. MarkDown: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax Then, run a markdown file you made through a PDF converter, such as this one: http://www.markdowntopdf.com/ Here's the Fountain webpage, but realize it only begins here: http://fountain.io/ Stu Maschwitz discusses Fountain quite a bit. But the real deal about Fountain is you can make it whatever you want it to be. The key is in the comments you place in the screenplay. Post-processing tools that are available, or will be available, or which you develop, or which the community asks for can allow any number of support documents to be generated in addition to a PDF or Final Draft document. Examples include prop lists, shooting schedules, floorplans, storyboards, links to images, notes for actors, notes for whomever, etc. Anything. The key is that these comments, these annotations, are embedded exactly where they relate to the script itself. And a programmable text editor can make those notes toggle on and off, again, to keep you in the zone. Some great editors: Sublime Text: http://www.sublimetext.com/ Atom: https://atom.io/ Textmate: https://macromates.com/
Screenwriting : Who is using Fountain? Who prefers the streamlined workflow of a text editor? by Bryan Yeater
Who is using Fountain? Who prefers the streamlined workflow of a text editor?
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From my perspective I used to use Microsoft word for my scripts. Well earlier than that it was a Commodore 64 with a dot matrix printer. After going to Final Draft, I would never want to use anything else. IMO. Now I like Word for quick notes, but not having to worry about format now or converting to the right format is so much smoother of a work-Flo for me.
Erica, thanks for responding. Many consider Fountain to be an improvement on Final Draft. It's definitely a paradigm shift though. I only mentioned Microsoft Word as an example of how diametrically opposite it is from using a text editor. Word is a Zone killer. The Zone, of course, is the state of mind that keeps the words flowing because you're not bogged down by the tool. Text editors are the antithesis of tools which bog you down.
Thanks Jim. For those interested, Highland is an example of Fountain. Here's the link: http://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland/
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Hi Bryan, I'm interested in your reasoning and conclusion on why you think a software program for screenwriting doesn't free flow? If anything, it actively encourages it. All you have to do is TAB and you are taken from scene heading, to description, to character name to dialogue. No obstruction or thought required. In any event, you're doubling your work and, when you start translating from text to some program that formats your screenplay correctly, you'll hit other roadblocks you didn't see in text format. My advice is, instead of trying to go against the grain, spend some time learning your way around the workflow of the program and make it work for you. :) P.S. I recently had a conversation with a member on here called Farhan Khan, who's looking for input from screenwriters of all levels into a new program and layout he's developing. You might be interested in providing some input! Kind Regards, Eoin
How am I doubling my work, Eoin?
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If you're using a text editor, how are you formatting the script correctly? Are you printing as is? What's laying it out for you? Way back when I first started learning about screenwriting I bought a book on format, 'The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats', by Cole & Haag and wrote a MS Word macro based on the correct format. Even at that, when it was PDFd, it still didn't look anything like a standard layout from a screenwriting program. Two pages side by side, noticeable difference. I didn't know it until a few people told me it looked off, I investigated.
Eoin, I provided a lot of links in my posts which answer your questions. Fountain is the key. But there is also an open ended potential here that Final Draft can't even touch. I will post more later on what this open ended potential is. It would mostly benefit the filmmaker who coauthors his own scripts. The benefits lie within a syncing and automatic creation and update of a whole suite of support documents for preproduction and production.
I write in pages on my iPad. I then cut and paste it into Writerduet which formats it for me. I’ll read through and find mistakes, but it is 90% correct. I then start the rewrite process.
But writing free from format is much quicker and easier for me.
Eoin O'Sullivan the reason I find script writing software a bit restrictive when just doing a brain dump, is that it actually enforced format.
After some Dialogue it will suggest a character. If you hit enter it goes to action. It is easier to just create and format as a second stage.
Love fountain and don't want to use anything else for script writing.
There are also a plethora of good editors for macOS/iPad OS. My personal favourites being Slugline 2 and Highland 2 with the open source 'beat.app' following closely (it's still a little buggy, but very feature rich).