Introducing Fountainhead

Fountainhead is a contextual screenwriting environment that leverages the speed of Sublime Text and the readability of Fountain, enabling the user to just write.

Inspired by Jonathan Poritsky’s Fountain for Sublime Text package.

Compatible with Sublime Text 2 and 3. Optimized for Sublime Text 3.

Help documentation can also be found within Sublime Text at: Tools > Fountainhead > Help.

Note: Even though Sublime Text 3 is in beta, it is extremely stable and is better than 2 in almost every way.

Contents

Note: Current documentation can be viewed in the README section at https://github.com/derickc/Fountainhead.

1. Why Fountain?
2. Installation
3. Quickstart
4. Symbol Dictionary
5. Fountain Syntax
6. Features
   • Automatic Capitalization and Line Spacing
   • Automatic Escaping of Parentheses, Boneyard, and Notes
   • Color Schemes
   • Character List
   • Scene List
   • (CONT’D)
   • Auto-Save
   • Automatic Page Scrolling
   • Cursor Movement Shortcuts
   • Quick Navigation to Scenes and Sections
   • Show/Hide Boneyard, Synopses, and Notes
   • Text Emphasis
   • Distraction Free Mode
7. Settings
8. Key Bindings
9. FAQ
10. Contribute
11. License

Why Fountain?

John August gives a great explanation on the benefits of writing in Fountain.

Installation

Option A: Package Control

1. Download and install Sublime Text.
2. Install Package Control.
3. Select Package Control: Install Package from Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P).
4. Select Fountainhead.

Option B: GitHub

1. Download and install Sublime Text.
2. Download the ZIP of this repository and uncompress it.
3. Move the uncompressed Fountainhead folder to the appropriate packages directory:
   • In Sublime Text, select: Sublime Text > Preferences > Browse Packages...
   • Place the Fountainhead folder inside the open Packages directory.
4. Relaunch Sublime Text.

Back to Contents

Quickstart

1. Open or create a new .fountain file.
   • If creating a new file, first save the file with a .fountain filename extension.
2. Verify that “Fountainhead” appears in the bottom right-hand corner.
   • If it doesn’t, you can click on the offending syntax and change it to Fountainhead, or you can use the menu: View > Syntax > Open all with current extension as > Fountainhead.
3. Wait for the CHARACTERS FOUND! and SCENES FOUND! text to appear in the bottom left-hand corner, letting you know that everything has loaded properly.
   • The text will not appear if you have disabled the Character and Scene Lists options in Fountainhead settings.
4. Write!
   • Only action and dialogue sentences need to begin with uppercase letters. Starting everything else with lowercase letters will allow character and scene heading autocompletion suggestions to appear.
     • The Space key will cause the autocomplete window to close, so write without spaces to keep the window open.
     • Pressing the Tab key will select the highlighted autocomplete selection.
   • Characters, scene headings, and transitions are automatically capitalized when you press the Return key at the end of a line.
     • Command+Return(Control+Return) will produce a normal carriage return.
     • Starting a character name with @ will keep it as it’s written. Typing an already entered @ character name in lowercase will cause the autocomplete window to appear, which will enter the name in the correct format.
   • Fountainhead commands can be found in the Tools > Fountainhead menu.
   • Instructions to change settings are in: Tools > Fountainhead > Preferences > Fountainhead Settings - Default, and can also be found in the Settings section of this document.
     • Additional settings that are off by default can be activated, like auto-save.
   • The window will automatically scroll down once you reach the bottom.
5. Customize Fountainhead by picking a color scheme.

Back to Contents

Symbol Dictionary

Key bindings are displayed as: OSX / Windows/Linux

Back to Contents

Fountain Syntax

Fountainhead offers complete support of the Fountain syntax. For a complete overview of the Fountain syntax, go to http://fountain.io/syntax.

Note: Leading spaces and tabs are supported.

###Example:

Title:
    Title 1
    Title 2
Credit: Written by
Author: Author name
Source: Story by...
Draft date: 12/10/2014
Contact:
    Contact Info
    Address Line 1
    Address Line 2

# Act 1

= The introduction of Character

EXT. HOUSE - DAY

Some action text.

CHARACTER
(parenthetical)
Dialogue.

CUT TO:

.Scene Heading

Back to Contents

Features

Fountainhead takes care of the formatting, so you just have to worry about the words.

Fountainhead commands can be found by selecting:

Tools > Fountainhead or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead

All settings can be deactivated and customized by the user, as described in the Settings section.

Automatic Capitalization and Line Spacing

Fountainhead believes in efficiency, and that means doing away with superfluous Shift and Caps Lock usage. It is smart enough to know which elements should be in all uppercase letters. Unless it’s the beginning of an action or dialogue sentence, type everything in lowercase, and let Fountainhead handle the super-sizing.

Pressing ⏎ at the end of lines will have the following effect*:

* Pressing ⌘⏎ / ⌃⏎ will produce a normal carriage return.

* Supports V.O. and O.S. character elements, which are automatically capitalized.

** Character names that begin with @ will remain as written, but V.O. and O.S. will be capitalized ( e.g., @McDOWELL (v.o.) > @McDOWELL (V.O.) ).

Back to Contents

Automatic Escaping of Parentheses, Boneyard, and Notes

Pressing ⏎ when the cursor is directly to the left of the closing ),*/, ]] will automatically escape the element and create a line break.

Pressing ⇧Space is the same as pressing → and will move your cursor to the right (useful for keyboards with Lilliputian arrow keys).

Back to Contents

Color Schemes

Fountainhead comes with a variety of custom color schemes, as well as support for all general Sublime Text color schemes.

By default, all custom color schemes are deactivated, allowing you to pick any of Sublime Text’s general color schemes by selecting: Sublime Text > Preferences > Color Scheme

Fountainhead’s custom color schemes can be chosen by selecting: Sublime Text > Preferences > Color Scheme > Fountainhead > schemes

Note: If you want a color scheme to only appear when working on a .fountain file, you can edit your user settings, and uncomment the desired color scheme.

You may have to close (save first!) and re-open your screenplay if your color scheme changes are not seen.

Back to Contents

Character List

Characters are remembered and can be autocompleted:

1. When a document is first loaded, wait for the CHARACTERS FOUND! to appear. This process generally takes less than a second.
2. Begin a line with any lowercase letter.*
3. When the autocomplete window appears, highlight the desired character by using ↑/↓, or by typing more letters of the character’s name.
   • Pressing the Space or Esc key will cancel the autocompletion. If your name has a space in it, just think of it as being one long name and avoid the Space key like a cliché.
4. Press Tab to accept the autocompletion.**
   • Pressing Return will only produce a newline, and not accept the autocompletion.

* This also works for previously entered @ character names that require lowercase letters.

** If you don’t want any of the suggestions, just write like normal. You can choose to close the window by pressing Esc.

Sublime Text 3: ⇧⌃C / ⇧⌘C will bring up a pop-up menu that displays all previously entered characters. Pressing Enter or clicking on it will select the character (Tab will not select the character).

If the character list gets out of sync, you can recreate it by selecting:

Tools > Fountainhead > Update Character List or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Update Character List

Back to Contents

Scene List

Scenes are remembered and can be autocompleted:

1. When a document is first loaded, wait for the SCENES FOUND! to appear. This process generally takes less than a second.
2. Begin a line with any lowercase letter or a period.
3. When the autocomplete window appears, highlight the desired scene by using ↑/↓, or by typing more letters of the scene heading.
   • Pressing the Space or Esc key will cancel the autocompletion, so skip pressing the Space key.
4. Press Tab to accept the autocompletion.*
   • Pressing Return will only produce a newline, and not accept the autocompletion.

* If you don’t want any of the suggestions, just write like normal. You can close the window by pressing Esc.

Sublime Text 3: ⇧⌃S / ⇧⌘S will bring up a pop-up menu that displays all previously entered scenes. Pressing Enter or clicking on it will select the scene (Tab will not select the scene).

If the scene list gets out of sync, you can recreate it by selecting:

Tools > Fountainhead > Update Scene List or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Update Scene List

Back to Contents

(CONT’D)

By default, (CONT'D)s are added to new characters. If you are loading a screenplay that doesn’t have (CONT'D)s added, or have them added incorrectly, you can update your entire script by selecting:

Tools > Fountainhead > Update Character (CONT'D)s or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Update Character (CONT’D)s

You can remove all (CONT'D)s from the script by selecting:

Tools > Fountainhead > Remove all Character (CONT'D)s or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Remove all Character (CONT’D)s*

* If the "contd" Fountainhead setting is not false, a (CONT'D) will be added to all newly typed characters.

Back to Contents

Auto-Save

Fountainhead has the ability to automatically save your script after a defined number of keystrokes. By default this feature is turned off, but can be activated in user settings.

This feature pairs well with an app like Marked 2 that updates its preview every time you save.

Back to Contents

Automatic Page Scrolling

Automatic page scrolling is built into Fountainhead, and activates when the cursor reaches the bottom of the screen. Once activated, the page scrolls down until the most recently edited action, character, or scene heading reaches the top of the screen.

Back to Contents

Cursor Movement Shortcuts

* ⌘Return / ⌃Return in the middle of a line of text will add a newline below, without breaking up the text on the previous line.

Back to Contents

Quick Navigation to Scenes and Sections

To navigate to a particular scene or section quickly, select: Goto > Goto Symbol... (⌘R / ⌃R). Type the desired scene/section or use ↑/↓, and press Return to select it. Pressing Esc will cancel out of the process.

Back to Contents

Show/Hide Boneyard, Synopses, and Notes

Boneyard, Synopses, and Notes can be quickly hidden or revealed by selecting:

Tools > Fountainhead > Boneyard: Show/Hide ( ⌘K then ⌘/ / ⌃K then ⌃/ ) or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Show/Hide Boneyard

Tools > Fountainhead > Synopses: Show/Hide ( ⌘K then ⌘= / ⌃K then ⌃= ) or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Show/Hide Synopses

Tools > Fountainhead > Notes: Show/Hide ( ⌘K then ⌘[ / ⌃K then ⌃[ ) or Tools > Command Palette (⇧⌘P / ⇧⌃P) and entering Fountainhead: Show/Hide Notes

Within user settings, there is the ability to hide boneyard, synopses, and notes by default.

Back to Contents

Text Emphasis

Previously typed words can be highlighted and given the desired emphasis by typing the appropriate * and _ characters. * and _ will wrap automatically around the word(s).

Back to Contents

Distraction Free Mode

Sublime Text comes with a distraction free mode: View > Enter Distraction Free Mode(⇧⌃⌘F).

You can create separate settings by editing: Sublime Text > Preferences > Settings - More > Distraction Free*.

* These changes are reflected no matter the syntax. I have found that a "wrap_width": 80 setting works well for distraction free coding as well as screenplay writing.

Back to Contents

Settings

A description of Fountainhead’s settings are located in the Default Fountainhead Settings file: Tools > Fountainhead > Preferences > Fountainhead Settings - Default

If you want to change any of Fountainhead’s settings, you must do so in your Fountainhead User Settings file, or else your changes will be lost whenever Fountainhead is updated:

1. Open Tools > Fountainhead > Preferences > Fountainhead Settings - Default
2. Select all of the text: Selection > Select All (⌘A / ⌃A)
3. Open Tools > Fountainhead > Preferences > Fountain Settings - User
4. Paste the copied text: Edit > Paste (⌘V / ⌃V)
5. Comment/Uncomment (⌘/ / ⌃/ or by adding/deleting the // at the beginning of the line) or Edit the value of the setting you want to change*
6. Save (⌘S / ⌃S)

* Each setting should only have one active value.

Back to Contents

Key Bindings

You can customize Fountainhead’s key bindings by copying the desired default key binding and editing it in your user key bindings. Due to how many key bindings Fountainhead uses, changes made to key bindings can have unexpected results.

Key Bindings can be accessed at:

Tools > Fountainhead > Preferences > Key Bindings - Default Tools > Fountainhead > Preferences > Key Bindings - User

Back to Contents

FAQ

• I have completed my Fountain masterpiece; now what?
  • A good place to look for ways to convert your screenplay to a PDF or a Final Draft document, is the official Fountain Apps page.
  • An online solution that appears to convert Fountain files to PDFs well is Writer Duet. You can also convert Fountain to Final Draft and Celtx.
• Will Fountainhead ever have the ability to convert Fountain files to Final Draft or PDFs?
  • I hope to add these features in the future.

Back to Contents

Contribute

• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/derickc/Fountainhead/issues
• Source Code: https://github.com/derickc/Fountainhead

Back to Contents

License

The project is licensed under the MIT license.

Back to Contents