User Guide

Common questions

What kind of file is my screenplay?

A .fountain file: Fountain is the plain-text format for screenplays. The file holds your words and a few characters that say what each line is, so any other Fountain app, and any text editor, can open it. What you see in Calmly Script is what is in the file.

How do I make a line a character, a scene heading, or anything else?

Mostly you do not have to: Enter↩ starts the line a screenplay expects next, and TabTab changes the line you are on. See Enter and Tab. The elements are also in the Format menu, with a shortcut each for the six a scene is made of.

What goes where on a screenplay page?

The parts of a screenplay shows a page with each part labelled: the scene heading, the action, the character and the dialogue, and the rest, each with a link to its chapter.

Where are the keyboard shortcuts?

Beside each command in the menus, and all together in Keyboard shortcuts.

How long is the trial?

14 days, with every feature.

I bought a license. Where do I enter the key?

Choose Help › Enter License Key… and paste it. The entry is in the menu until a key has been entered.

Is the Android app included?

No. Calmly Script for Android is sold separately on Google Play, and needs no license key.

Contents

Getting started

• Installing Calmly ScriptWhere to download Calmly Script for Windows, macOS and Linux, what each installer does, and where to get the Android app.
• Trial and licenseHow the free trial works, what happens when it ends, and how to enter the license key you bought.
• The windowA tour of the Calmly Script window, from the title strip at the top to the footer at the bottom, and what hides while you write.
• Your first sceneA five-minute walkthrough, from a blank page to a scene with a heading, action and a line of dialogue, saved as a Fountain file.
• A screenplay is a .fountain fileWhat a .fountain file is, what Calmly Script keeps in it and what it keeps elsewhere, and why other apps can open it.

Writing

• How the editor decides what a line isWhy a new line is action, which lines Calmly Script recognises by themselves as you type, and how to pin a line to the element you want.
• Enter and TabHow Enter and Tab choose what the next line of a screenplay is, and how to change it.
• The Format menu and the element shortcutsThe six elements of a scene in the Format menu and on Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+6, the rarer ones under More elements, and the element menu in the footer.
• AutocompleteHow Calmly Script suggests the names, places and times your script already uses, how to accept or ignore a suggestion, and how to turn it off.
• Notes as you writeLeaving yourself notes in the script with double brackets, tagging them so they stand out, and finding them again.
• Line breaks and indentsStarting a new line inside the same element with Shift+Enter, and indenting a line of action or of the title page.
• Writing in other languagesHow the app's language decides which scene headings and transitions Calmly Script recognises, and how the words it prints when a speech runs over a page follow the screenplay's own language.

Fountain reference

• The parts of a screenplayA page of a screenplay with each of its parts labelled, and how shots, intercuts and secondary headings are written in Fountain.
• Scene headingThe line that opens every scene, saying whether it is inside or outside, where it happens and when.
• ActionThe description of what the audience sees and hears, and the element every line is unless something says otherwise.
• CharacterThe name above a speech, in capitals, with an extension such as (V.O.) when the voice comes from somewhere else.
• DialogueWhat a character says, under their name, in a narrower column than the action.
• ParentheticalA short direction in brackets inside a speech, saying how a line is said or what the character does while saying it.
• Dual dialogueTwo characters speaking at the same time, printed side by side, marked with a caret after the second name.
• TransitionThe cut between two scenes, such as CUT TO:, in capitals at the right of the page.
• Centered textA line printed in the middle of the page, such as THE END, written between > and <.
• LyricsThe words of a song, each line written with a tilde in front and printed in italics.
• Bold, italic and underlineHow to make words italic, bold or underlined with asterisks and underscores, and why the marks stay visible.
• Title pageThe cover page of a screenplay, written as Key: value lines at the top of the script, and how it prints on a page of its own.
• Page breaksHow to end a page where you want it with a line of three equals signs.
• Sections and synopsesActs, sequences and one-line summaries that organise a script for you, show in the Outline, and are left off the printed screenplay.
• Notes and boneyardNotes to yourself in double brackets, coloured tags, and the boneyard for text you want to keep in the file but not in the script.
• Line breaks and spacingHow paragraphs, blank lines, line breaks, indents and spaces in the editor become the lines of a Fountain file and of the printed page.
• Fountain cheat sheetEvery Fountain element on one page, with what you type, the character that forces it and its shortcut in Calmly Script.

Navigating and reviewing

• The OutlineThe panel that lists your acts, scenes and notes, and takes you to any of them with a click.
• Find and replaceSearching the script, with every line the word is on listed beside the page, and replacing it once or everywhere.
• PreviewThe printed pages beside the script as you write, broken where the PDF breaks them and kept in step with the text.
• Counters and writing goalsThe page, word and scene counts and the running time at the foot of the window, and a goal in pages or words for the script.
• Full screen, type size and focusFilling the screen with the script, making the text larger or smaller on screen, and dimming everything but the line you are writing.

Document types and pages

• Document typesScreenplay, stage play, multi-camera sitcom or manuscript, how to choose one, and what each does to the printed page.
• Paper sizePrinting on US Letter or A4, and why the same script has the same pages on both.
• How pages are countedWhere Calmly Script breaks the pages of a screenplay, why a page is a minute, and what (MORE) and (CONT'D) mean.

Files

• SavingSaving a screenplay as a .fountain file, by hand or automatically, and where new documents go.
• New, open and windowsStarting a screenplay, opening one, the recent files, and what happens to a file you double-click or drop on the app.
• Importing Final Draft, PDF and WordBringing a screenplay in from a Final Draft file, a PDF or a Word document, and the notes that mark the lines worth a look.
• Exporting and printingMaking a PDF, a Word document or a Final Draft file from a screenplay, and printing it.
• Version history and backupsGoing back to an earlier version of a screenplay, and getting back a screenplay you closed.
• Changes made outside the appWhat happens when the file you are working on is changed by another program or another device.

Preferences

• SettingsWhere Calmly Script's settings are, and what each section of them holds.
• ThemesThe colour themes that come with Calmly Script, and how to add a VS Code colour theme of your own.
• Writing aids, text and soundAutocomplete, the spell checker, typographic quotes, the font and size you write in, typing sounds and the app's language.

Android

• Calmly Script on AndroidWhat is different on an Android phone, tablet or Chromebook, from buying it to the bar above the keyboard, files, saving and the Back gesture.

Reference

• Keyboard shortcutsEvery keyboard shortcut in Calmly Script, menu by menu, for Windows and Linux and for a Mac.
• TroubleshootingWhat some of Calmly Script's messages mean, and what to do about them.