/adaptation

Screenplay In Fountain

Fountain is plain-text screenplay markup. Screenwriting apps (Highland, Beat, Slugline, Fade In, WriterSolo, Afterwriting, and others) import it and format it to industry layout. Save the script as adaptations/screenplay/{story-id}.fountain, never as a root .md file.

Scene List From Scene Records

Build adaptations/screenplay/scene-list.md before writing any script page:

---
type: scene-list
story: {story-id}
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# Scene List: {Title}

| # | Source scene | Slugline | Characters | Beat | Decision |
|---|--------------|----------|------------|------|----------|
| 1 | chapter-01-scene-01 | EXT. HARBOR WALL - NIGHT | mara, venn | Mara sees the second light | keep |
| 2 | chapter-01-scene-02 | INT. ARCHIVE - CONTINUOUS | mara | Memory of her father | externalize |

• Slugline: INT., EXT., or INT./EXT. from the setting (interior, exterior, or both) on the scene, else on its location (set it first; ask the author when the prose does not settle it), the location record's name in capitals, and DAY, NIGHT, or CONTINUOUS from the scene's time.
• Characters: the scene's characters, not mentions.
• Beat: what changes in the scene, in one line. Scenes with an outcome field already record it.
• Decision: keep, merge (with which), cut, externalize (interior content that needs a visible action, image, or line), or new (a scene the film needs that the book does not have).
• Use reading order for the default structure; story timeline . gives story-time order when the film should be told chronologically.

Starting The Script From The Build

story build . --format fountain --out adaptations/screenplay/{story-id}.fountain writes the scene skeleton: title page (Title, Credit, Author, Source), a ## section per chapter, and per scene record a heading, the scene title as a = synopsis, and [[Source: ...]], [[Characters: ...]], story time, dilemma, and outcome notes. It holds no action or dialogue.

• Headings follow the records: named times become DAWN, MORNING, DAY, EVENING, or NIGHT, and HH:MM becomes DAY (06:00-17:59) or NIGHT. Change a heading to CONTINUOUS or a more specific time as the script needs.
• A forced heading (.REEF - NIGHT) has no setting behind it, and LOCATION TBD has no location. Fix the scene or location record, or write the heading by hand.
• Apply the scene list: delete cut scenes, merge headings, add new scenes (with a [[Source: new]] note), and add # act sections.
• The CLI refuses to overwrite the file once it exists. To see what changed in the records, build to dist/ and compare.

Novel To Screen

• Length: about one page per minute. A feature runs roughly 90-120 pages; a TV hour roughly 50-60. A novel usually loses most of its scenes; merge characters and locations before cutting plot.
• Externalize: film shows behavior. Replace thought with action, choice, and subtext. Voiceover is a tool, not a fix.
• Compress time: combine scenes that do the same job; start scenes late and leave early.
• Structure: keep the book's turning points (see the arc files) and place them near the film's act breaks.
• POV: a film has no narrator by default. A first-person novel's voice has to come through the lead's actions and the camera's choices.
• Adaptation rights must be cleared before a script is shopped. See the publishing skill's rights inventory.

Fountain Syntax

Title: The Last Ember
Credit: Written by
Author: Jane Doe
Source: Based on the novel by Jane Doe
Draft date: 2027-01-15
Contact: [TODO: author to supply]

FADE IN:

EXT. HARBOR WALL - NIGHT

Waves slap stone. MARA (30s, salt-stained coat) climbs the wall, a lantern
in her teeth.

MARA
(muttering)
Every night. Every single night.

She stops. Below her, a second light flickers on the water.

VENN (O.S.)
You shouldn't be up here.

CUT TO:

.FLASHBACK - THE ARCHIVE, TWENTY YEARS AGO

[[Source: chapter-03-scene-02]]

Young Mara watches her father seal a box of glass plates.

> THE END <

Use # sections to mirror the scene list's acts, and [[...]] notes to record the source scene id for each scene so revisions trace back to the book.