Element counts
See how many scene headings, cues, dialogue blocks, and action blocks the parser can recognize.
Free · private browser tool
Free Fountain screenplay validator
Paste Fountain screenplay text and check scene headings, character cues, dialogue, action, and parse structure locally in your browser.
Fountain input
Useful output, not a score
What this tool gives you
Readable structure
Confirm that the draft has enough screenplay structure to import and continue editing.
Private preflight
Check an excerpt or full Fountain file without uploading the screenplay to a server.
How to use it
- 1
Paste Fountain text
Drop a scene or full script into the editor—nothing is uploaded.
- 2
Run validate
Inkwell parses with the same Fountain engine as Plot and reports the structure it can read.
- 3
Fix and re-run
Adjust sluglines, cues, or dialogue blocks and validate again before importing to Plot.
Questions writers ask
Is my screenplay sent to a server?
No. Parsing runs client-side in your browser. Nothing is stored unless you sign up and import manually.
Does this replace Plot's editor?
This is a lightweight check before import. Plot adds real-time formatting, save points, and skills on the full draft.
What Fountain version do you support?
Inkwell implements the open Fountain 1.1 syntax, including scene headings, action, character cues, dialogue, transitions, notes, and title-page keys.
Defined in the glossary
Fountain
An open, plain-text markup for screenplays. Light conventions — scene headings, character cues, dialogue — keep the file readable in any text editor while still carrying structure. In Plot you write normally; Inkwell understands the structure as you type.
Scene heading (slugline)
A scene heading, or slugline, is the line in capitals that opens each scene in a screenplay. It says whether the scene is interior or exterior, where it takes place and the time of day, for example INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT. Production breakdowns and schedules are built from it.
Action
The descriptive prose of a screenplay — what the audience sees and hears, written in present tense. Also called description.
Character cue
The speaker’s name above a dialogue block, conventionally in uppercase — the label that tells the reader who is talking.
Dialogue
The words characters speak in a story, play or film. In a screenplay each speech sits under the speaker's name in a narrow centered column; in Plot, a dialogue pass proposes tighter lines you accept or reject one at a time.
Transition
An editing instruction between scenes — CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO:, SMASH CUT TO:. Modern specs use them rarely; most cuts are assumed.
Keep working with the draft
Free Final Draft FDX inspector
Open an FDX file privately in your browser to inventory revision sets, locked pages, scene numbers, and portability risks before you import or convert.
Open toolFree screenplay analyzer
Analyze scene pacing, dialogue/action balance, character share, and locations from a Fountain screenplay—privately in your browser, with free CSV reports.
Open toolFree Fountain screenplay outline extractor
Turn Fountain sections, synopses, scene headings, and opening action into an ordered visual story map with clean Markdown export.
Open toolFree screenplay rehearsal sides builder
Create actor-ready rehearsal sides from Fountain: filter by character, select exact scenes, include directions, or mask the role's lines for cue practice.
Open toolWant to continue in Plot? Your screenplay stays in this browser tool and is not transferred automatically; paste or import it after you sign in.