Fountain vs FDX: two files, two jobs

What Fountain is

Fountain exists so you can write a script as text, not as a binary document. The public spec lives at fountain.io: scene headings, action, character, dialogue, parentheticals and transitions come from typographic conventions, not a proprietary GUI.

A Fountain file belongs in git, diffs cleanly, and opens in any editor. It is a writing and interchange format, not a stand-in for a production package.

What FDX is

FDX is Final Draft's XML. Production offices, script supervisors and locked-page pipelines use it because it carries metadata plain text does not: bound scene numbers, colored revisions, MOREs and CONTINUEDS, page titles.

If a delivery asks for «the Final Draft file», it usually wants FDX (or a PDF already paginated from that workflow), not a .fountain.

Fountain, FDX and PDF side by side

PDF is the object you read and print, not the source. Fountain is the textual source. FDX is the XML source aimed at production. Mixing them up is why someone asks a production assistant for «the Fountain» when they need locked pages.

When to use which

Write in Fountain when you want versioning, portability and control of the text. Export FDX when a department, festival or producer asks for the Final Draft file. Export PDF when you need a paginated reading copy, not a source.

If you are in production with locked pages, Fountain does not replace Final Draft or a production equivalent. If you are in development, FDX is a deliverable, not the room where you build the story.

Minimal syntax, with Italian examples

A Fountain scene heading is an uppercase line that starts with INT. or EXT. (Italian drafts also use EST. for exterior): `INT. CUCINA - NOTTE` and `EST. PORTO - ALBA`. Action is a normal paragraph under the heading. Character is an uppercase line before dialogue.

Transitions are often right-aligned with `>`: `> TAGLIO A:` or `> FADE OUT.` Parentheticals sit between character and speech, in parentheses. None of this produces locked pages: it is markup. The details are in the fountain.io spec, not in a vendor tutorial.

How CineQuill uses it

CineQuill writes the screenplay in a Fountain editor and exports FDX, Fountain and PDF. That carries story development to a standard deliverable; it does not act as script supervisor: no locked pages, MOREs or colored production revisions.

If the set needs a shooting package, export FDX and open it in the production tool they require. The Copilot reads the project; it does not replace that workflow.