Writing Your Screenplay
Everything you need to know about the editor and screenplay elements.
The Editor
The OpenDraft editor works like a word processor designed specifically for screenwriting. Your script is displayed as formatted pages, exactly as it would appear in print. As you type, text automatically flows between pages.
Key behaviors:
- The editor shows a paginated view — you see actual page breaks as you write.
- The page count is displayed in the status bar at the bottom.
- Use ⌘G to go to a specific page.
- Zoom in or out using the zoom control in the toolbar (50%–200%).
Screenplay Elements
Screenplays use specific element types for different kinds of content. Each element has its own formatting (font size, alignment, margins) following industry standards.
Primary Elements
| Element | Shortcut | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scene Heading | ⌘1 | Establishes location and time of day. Always uppercase. | INT. OFFICE - DAY |
| Action | ⌘2 | Describes what we see and hear. Regular paragraph text. | Sarah enters the room, slamming the door behind her. |
| Character | ⌘3 | The name of the character who is speaking. Centered and uppercase. | SARAH |
| Dialogue | ⌘4 | What the character says. Centered, narrower margins. | I can't believe you did that. |
| Parenthetical | ⌘5 | Acting direction within dialogue. In parentheses. | (whispering) |
| Transition | ⌘6 | Editing transitions. Right-aligned and uppercase. | CUT TO: |
| General (Unformatted text) | ⌘7 | Full-width text with no screenplay formatting, and indentation you type is kept. For anything that does not fit another element — onscreen records, archival entries, notes. Called General in Final Draft and Normal Text in Fade In. | Any text that doesn't fit another category. |
| Shot | ⌘8 | Camera directions. Uppercase. | ANGLE ON - the letter on the table |
Additional Elements
These elements are available from the Format menu (no keyboard shortcuts):
- New Act — Marks the beginning of a new act (common in TV scripts).
- End of Act — Marks the end of an act.
- Lyrics — For song lyrics within the script.
- Show/Episode — Show title or episode information.
- Cast List — Lists of cast members.
Outline Elements (Not Printed)
Two elements exist to organise the script rather than to appear in it. Neither is included when you print or export to PDF, Word, Final Draft or Open Screenplay Format, and neither counts towards the page count or the script statistics.
-
Section — An outline heading. Sections nest: the Scene Navigator's
Structure tab shows them as a tree with the scenes filed under each one.
In a Fountain file a Section is a line beginning with one or more hashes
(
# ACT ONE,## Sequence One), and the number of hashes is its depth. Use a Section for structure you want to navigate by; use New Act for an act break the reader is meant to see on the page. -
Note — An aside to yourself, kept in the file and left off the page.
This is Fountain's
[[ double bracket ]]note. For notes anchored to a particular run of text, with colours and a panel of their own, use Script Notes instead.
A Synopsis is a third piece of outline that is not printed. It is not an
element of its own — it belongs to a scene heading or a Section, and is written in
Fountain as a line beginning with =. Scene synopses are shown and edited from the
Scene Navigator.
Switching Element Types
There are three ways to change the element type of the current line:
- Keyboard shortcut — Press ⌘1 through ⌘8 for the primary elements.
- Toolbar dropdown — Click the element type dropdown in the toolbar and select from the list.
- Format menu — Go to Format and select the element type.
Auto-switching: After pressing Enter on certain elements, the type automatically changes. For example, after a Scene Heading, the next line becomes Action. After a Character name, it becomes Dialogue.
Character Autocomplete
When typing a Character element, OpenDraft suggests character names that already appear in your script. Start typing and select from the dropdown suggestions to ensure consistent spelling.
Handwriting with an Apple Pencil (iPad)
Tap the handwriting button on the bar above the keyboard to open a large, empty writing box. Write in it with your Apple Pencil at whatever size is comfortable; when you tap Insert, what you wrote is placed in the script at your cursor. If you had text selected before opening it, the handwriting replaces that selection.
- Write several lines and each becomes its own paragraph, in the element your cursor was in.
- Write a single line and it is inserted into the sentence you were already in.
- Cancel discards what you wrote and leaves the script untouched.
Why not write straight onto the page? iPadOS decides how big a Scribble writing area to give you from the blank space it finds around your cursor. In the middle of a script there is very little — often just the tail of the current line — and writing past it can replace the text that follows instead of making room. The handwriting box has nothing after the cursor to replace, so it is always safe and always big enough.
Undo and Redo
- ⌘Z — Undo your last action
- ⇧⌘Z — Redo (bring back what you undid)
You can undo and redo multiple steps. The full history is available as long as the editor is open.
Selecting Text
- ⌘A — Select all text in the screenplay
- Click and drag to select specific text
- Double-click a word to select it
- Triple-click a line to select the entire paragraph
Right-Click Context Menu
Right-clicking in the editor opens a context menu with quick access to:
- Format Panel (change element formatting)
- Spell check suggestions (if a misspelled word is selected)
- Cut, Copy, Paste
Distraction-Free Writing Mode
When you want to focus entirely on your writing, OpenDraft offers a distraction-free mode that hides the menu bar and toolbar, giving you a clean, full-screen writing experience with nothing but your screenplay on the page.
Activating Distraction-Free Mode
Go to View > Menu & Toolbar > Hidden to enter distraction-free mode.
In this mode:
- The menu bar and toolbar are completely hidden.
- Only a small hamburger menu button (☰) remains in the top-left corner for accessing menus when needed.
- The status bar at the bottom still shows your project name, script title, and current page count.
- The full screen is dedicated to your screenplay pages — no buttons, dropdowns, or controls in the way.
This is especially useful on mobile devices and tablets, where screen space is limited and you want every pixel dedicated to your writing.
All Toolbar Modes
OpenDraft offers three toolbar display modes under View > Menu & Toolbar:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Comfortable | Full menu bar and toolbar visible. Best for when you need frequent access to formatting controls and menus. |
| Compact | Reduced toolbar height with smaller controls. Good balance between access and screen space. |
| Hidden | Menu bar and toolbar completely hidden. Only the hamburger menu (☰) remains. Maximum writing space with zero distractions. |
Tip: You can still access all menus in Hidden mode by clicking the hamburger button (☰) in the top-left corner. All keyboard shortcuts continue to work as well — so you can format text, switch elements, find and replace, and more without ever leaving distraction-free mode.
Tips for New Screenwriters
- Scene headings always start with
INT.(interior),EXT.(exterior), orINT./EXT.(both), followed by the location and time of day. - Action lines should describe only what the audience can see and hear. No internal thoughts.
- Character names are always in ALL CAPS the first time they appear in an action line, and always in the Character element.
- One page equals roughly one minute of screen time.
- Use parentheticals sparingly — only when the dialogue would be misread without them.