Fountain Screenplay Format: Syntax Guide + Examples

Fountain is a plain-text markup language for screenplays. You write in ordinary text, following a few simple conventions, and any Fountain-aware app turns that text into a properly formatted screenplay. There are no proprietary file formats, no tab-key gymnastics, and no lock-in. A .fountain file is just text, readable in any editor on any device, today or twenty years from now.

This guide covers the complete Fountain syntax: the basic elements, the "power user" forcing characters, and the writer's tools (notes, boneyard, sections, and synopses). Every example can be copied. The rules here follow the official spec at fountain.io. (Version 1.1 is the most recent release documented there.)

What is Fountain?

Fountain was created by screenwriter John August and filmmaker Stu Maschwitz, with input from others in the screenwriting community. It's to screenplays what Markdown is to web writing: a way to write formatted documents in plain text.

The golden rule of Fountain is simple: make it look like a screenplay. If you type a scene heading the way it would appear on the page, in caps and starting with INT. or EXT., Fountain recognizes it. The same goes for character names, dialogue, and transitions. Most of the time you don't need any special symbols at all.

Why writers use Fountain

• Future-proof. Plain text will always open.

• Portable. Write on a laptop, phone, or tablet in any text editor.

• Version-control friendly. Text files diff cleanly, which makes changes between drafts easy to see.

• Distraction-free. No formatting menus while you write.

• Interoperable. Many screenwriting apps can open or export Fountain.

The basics

If you only learn five rules, learn these:

1. Scene headings start with INT, EXT, or similar.

2. Character names are in UPPERCASE.

3. Dialogue comes right after the character name.

4. Parentheticals are wrapped in (parentheses).

5. Transitions are uppercase and end in TO:.

Here's a complete mini-scene with no special symbols:

INT. DINER - NIGHT

Rain needles the windows. MARA (30s) slides into a corner booth.

WAITER
Coffee?

MARA
(not looking up)
Black. Whatever's oldest.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS

Mara's car won't start.

Now for the details of each element.

Scene headings

A scene heading is any line that has a blank line before and after it and begins with one of the following, followed by a period or a space (case-insensitive):

INT
EXT
EST
INT./EXT
INT/EXT
I/E

EXT. BRICK'S POOL - DAY

Uppercase is recommended for readability, but Fountain still recognizes ext. brick's pool - day.

Forced scene headings

To make any line a scene heading, start it with a single period followed by a letter or number:

.SNIPER SCOPE POV

The period is removed in the formatted output. Because it has to be a single period followed by an alphanumeric character, an action line that starts with an ellipsis (...where the carnival is parked) won't be mistaken for a heading.

Scene numbers

You can add scene numbers to a heading by wrapping them in #:

INT. HOUSE - DAY #1#
INT. HOUSE - DAY #1A#
INT. HOUSE - DAY - FLASHBACK (1944) #110A#

Leave them out of spec scripts. Scene numbers belong in shooting drafts. (More on that in our screenplay format guide.)

Action

Action is any paragraph that doesn't match another element. Fountain treats every line break as intentional, so your single- and double-spacing choices are preserved:

They drink long and well from the beers.

And then there's a long beat.
Longer than is funny.
Long enough to be depressing.

Leading tabs and spaces are kept in action (tabs become four spaces). That's handy for text such as a handwritten note:

He opens the card:

    Scott --
    Palace Hotel, RM 412
    1:00 pm tomorrow

Forced action

An all-caps line followed directly by another line looks like a character and dialogue to Fountain. To force it to be action, start it with !:

!SCANNING THE AISLES...
Where is that pit boss?

Character

A character element is a line that is entirely uppercase, with a blank line before it and no blank line after it:

STEEL
The man's a myth!

Character extensions can be uppercase or lowercase:

MOM (O.S.)
Luke! Come down for supper!

HANS (on the radio)
What was it you said?

A character name must contain at least one letter. R2D2 works; 23 doesn't.

Forced character

For names with lowercase letters, or names in non-Roman scripts, start the line with @:

@McCLANE
Yippie ki-yay! I got my lower-case C back!

Dialogue

Dialogue is any text that follows a character or parenthetical. Manual line breaks are allowed:

DAN
Then let's retire them.
_Permanently_.

To leave an intentionally empty line inside a dialogue block, type two spaces on that line. A truly empty line ends the dialogue.

Parenthetical

A parenthetical follows a character or dialogue line and is wrapped in parentheses:

STEEL
(starting the engine)
So much for retirement!

Dual dialogue

To set two characters speaking at once side by side, add a caret ^ after the second character name:

BRICK
Screw retirement.

STEEL ^
Screw retirement.

Transitions

A transition is uppercase, has blank lines before and after it, and ends in TO::

CUT TO:

To force any line to be a transition, start it with >:

>Burn to White.

FADE OUT. doesn't end in TO:, so force it as a transition with >FADE OUT.

Centered text

Wrap text in > and < to center it:

>THE END<

Lyrics

Start each lyric line with a tilde ~. Lyrics are always forced.

~Willy Wonka! Willy Wonka! The amazing chocolatier!

Emphasis

Fountain uses Markdown-style emphasis, with one difference: underscores mean underline, not italics.

Emphasis doesn't carry across line breaks. To type a literal asterisk, escape it with a backslash: \*.

Title page

The optional title page goes at the very top of the file, as Key: Value pairs. Indent with three or more spaces (or a tab) to put multiple values under one key:

Title:
    BRICK & STEEL
    FULL RETIRED
Credit: Written by
Author: Stu Maschwitz
Source: Story by KTM
Draft date: 1/20/2012
Contact:
    Next Level Productions
    1588 Mission Dr.
    Solvang, CA 93463

Every part is optional. A page break automatically follows the title page.

Page breaks

A line with three or more equals signs (===) and nothing else forces a page break. It's useful for act breaks in TV scripts.

Writer's tools: notes, boneyard, sections, and synopses

These are the features that make Fountain a drafting tool, not just a formatting syntax. None of them appear in the formatted screenplay.

Notes

Wrap notes in double brackets. They can sit on their own line or in the middle of a line:

This is the home of DAN and JACK[[Did we pick real names?]].

[[Was this supposed to be in Vietnamese?]]

Boneyard

Wrap anything you want to hide (a cut scene, an alternate line) in /* */. Unlike the other syntax, the boneyard can span multiple lines and paragraphs:

/*
INT. GARAGE - DAY

A scene you're not ready to delete.
*/

Sections

Lines starting with # mark structural sections. They're invisible in the output, and many apps use them for outline navigation:

# ACT ONE

## The Diner Sequence

Synopses

Lines starting with = are synopses, short descriptions of a section or scene:

= Mara learns the car was never stolen.

Sections and synopses let you outline inside the script itself. That's useful when you later check your structure against script coverage notes.

Common Fountain gotchas

• All-caps action read as a character. Use ! to force action.

• A missing blank line before a scene heading. Scene headings need empty lines before and after them.

• Asterisks in action, like *69, turning into italics. Escape them with \*.

• Lowercase in character names. Use @.

• Blank lines inside dialogue. Use a line with two spaces.

• Typography. Fountain doesn't convert -- to em-dashes or straight quotes to curly ones. What you type is what ends up on the page, following screenwriting's typewriter tradition.

A complete Fountain example

Title: THE LAST SHIFT
Credit: Written by
Author: Your Name

# ACT ONE

= Mara's night goes sideways.

FADE IN:

INT. DINER - NIGHT

Rain needles the windows. MARA (30s), in nurse's scrubs, slides into a booth.

WAITER (O.S.)
Coffee?

MARA
(not looking up)
Black. Whatever's oldest.

[[Is the waiter a recurring character?]]

!HEADLIGHTS SWEEP THE ROOM.
Mara turns toward the window.

EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS

Her car's door hangs open. The glovebox is empty.

MARA
No. No, no, no.

DANNY (V.O.)
You looking for this?

INT. DANNY'S TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

DANNY (40s) holds up a small envelope.

/*
DANNY
I always told you to lock it.
*/

>FADE OUT.

Writing Fountain in Scripy

You can write Fountain in any text editor. A dedicated editor adds live formatting, element shortcuts, and structure on top. Scripy is a web-based screenwriting and pre-production app built on a Fountain screenplay editor. It keeps draft history, so earlier versions stay saved, and it exports .fountain and .txt, so your script stays in an open, portable format.

Because Fountain scene headings, characters, and action are structured data, Scripy can also work from them directly. It offers AI script coverage (8-dimension scoring in professional studio format), an AI production breakdown (props, SFX, VFX, wardrobe, and insurance flags per scene), an AI shot list with DP lighting notes, and a first-pass schedule clustered by location and cast. Consistent scene headings give the breakdown and schedule cleaner data. See how to do a script breakdown for the manual process these tools speed up.

Scripy has a Free forever plan (no card), with Indie at $19/mo and Studio at $49/mo.

FAQ

What file extension does Fountain use? .fountain is the standard extension. Because it's plain text, a .txt file with Fountain syntax works too.

Do I need special software to write Fountain? No. Any text editor will do. You need a Fountain-aware app to see it formatted as a screenplay.

Is Fountain an industry standard? It's an open, widely supported plain-text format, and many screenwriting apps can import or export it. Check what format a producer or contest wants before you submit.

Where does Fountain fit with screenplay format rules? Fountain describes which element each line is. The app applies the margins and fonts. Learn the page conventions in our screenplay format guide.