title: Fountain Mode
credit: written by
author: Paul W. Rankin
date: 2019-08-10
contact:
  help@fountain-mode.org


INT. ABOUT FOUNTAIN MODE - DAY

Fountain Mode is a scriptwriting program for GNU Emacs using the Fountain plain text markup format.

WRITER
So I can write a screenplay in Emacs?

PAUL
Yes! Or a stageplay if you want.

WRITER
But how?
(sheepish)
I only use Emacs for writing Ruby code...

PAUL
Nobody's perfect. Just start writing and Fountain Mode will do the rest. The core concept is that if it looks like a script, it will be parsed as a script.

[[ Core Concept: if it looks like a script, it will be parsed as a script. ]]

PAUL (CONT'D)
There is very little markup - mostly it's just whether words are in CAPITALS or not.

For more information on the fountain markup format, visit https://fountain.io.

INT/EXT. SCREENSHOTS - CONTINUOUS

The writer sits on a La-Z-Boy chair.

WRITER
Okay. That's cool, but what does Fountain Mode look like?

PAUL
A bit like this...

CUT TO:

INT/EXT. EXAMPLES - MOMENTS LATER

Paul moves to the wall. He places his hands on the floor and walks his feet up the wall until he is doing a kindof handstand.

WRITER
What export options do I have when I'm done?

PAUL
Check out the Nicholl Fellowship sample script exported from Fountain Mode to the following formats...

- https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/pwr-share/Nicholl_Fellowship_sample.txt plain text
- https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/pwr-share/fountain-export.html HTML
- https://f002.backblazeb2.com/file/pwr-share/fountain-export.fdx Final Draft
- https://www.overleaf.com/project/54ed9180966959cb7fdbde8e LaTeX

CUT TO:

EXT. INSTALLATION - NIGHT

The latest stable release of Fountain Mode is available via
MELPA-stable and can be installed with:

EMACS
M-x package-install RET fountain-mode RET

Alternately, download the latest release from
https://github.com/rnkn/fountain-mode/releases/latest

[[ Move this file into your load-path and add (require 'fountain-mode) to your .emacs/init.el file. ]]

If you prefer the latest but perhaps unstable version, install via MELPA, or clone the repository into your load-path and require as above:

SHELL
git clone https://github.com/rnkn/fountain-mode.git

Users of Debian >=10 or Ubuntu >=18.04 can install Fountain Mode with:

SHELL (CONT'D)
sudo apt install elpa-fountain-mode

INT. REQUIREMENTS - CONTINUOUS

Fountain Mode should work on Emacs versions as early as 24.5.

DONALD KNUTH
What about for exporting to PDF using LaTeX?

PAUL
Okay for that you will need a TeX distribution with the following packages...

geometry fontspec titling fancyhdr marginnote ulem xstring oberdiek

WRITER
I really don't wanna install TeX. Surely there is another way to export my script to PDF?

PAUL
Currently the best way is to use node.js and _afterwriting_. You can install it with...

SHELL
npm install -g afterwriting

EXT. HISTORY - DUSK

See https://github.com/rnkn/fountain-mode/releases

SMASH CUT TO:

EXT. BUGS - EARLY MORNING

PAUL
You can report bugs at...

https://github.com/rnkn/fountain-mode/issues

FADE OUT

> THE END <
