Fountain+ TL;DR
Screenplain is the reference implementation of the Fountain spec — a Python CLI and minimal web form for developers and pipelines. Fountain+ Exporter is the writer-facing Google Docs Add-on. Different tools, different audiences, no real overlap.
At a Glance — Fountain+ Exporter
Free Google Docs Add-on. Reads Fountain or Mangaplay markup, writes FDX, FadeIn, PDF, TXT and Fountain. 14 locales. Built for writers who draft in Docs.
At a Glance — Screenplain
Free open-source (MIT) Python tool by Martin Vilcans. Installs via pip install screenplain (also on PyPI). Provides a command-line tool for batch conversion, a Python library, and a minimal upload form at screenplain.com. Outputs FDX, HTML and PDF.
Pricing
Fountain+ Exporter — Free
- Google Docs Add-on
- All export formats
- Active in 2026
Screenplain — Free (OSS)
- Python CLI + library
- MIT licensed
- Active but slow cadence
Feature Matrix
| Feature | Fountain+ | Screenplain |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | Google Docs Add-on | Python CLI / library / web form |
| Fountain markup | ✓ | ✓ (reference) |
| .fdx export | ✓ | ✓ |
| .fadein export | ✓ | No |
| HTML export | No | ✓ |
| PDF export | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLI / scriptable | No | ✓ |
| Lives in Google Docs | ✓ | No |
| Mangaplay / comic format | ✓ | No |
| Locales | 14 | English |
| Open source | No | MIT |
Why Pick Fountain+ Exporter
- You're a writer, not a developer — you want a button in Docs, not a terminal command.
- You need FadeIn export, which Screenplain doesn't ship.
- You need Mangaplay comic/manga page-panel format.
- You want the Add-on UI in your own language (14 supported).
Why Pick Screenplain
- You're building an automated pipeline — for example, rendering Fountain to FDX, PDF or HTML on every commit.
- You need HTML output for a publishable web format.
- You want a reference parser to compare other Fountain tools against.
- You want open-source code to fork, audit or embed in a downstream tool.
Workflows
These are different jobs. Few writers would pick Screenplain instead of Fountain+ for screenwriting. A developer might use Screenplain in a build pipeline that regenerates static-site HTML versions of public-domain scripts from a Fountain source repo, while a writer drafts in Docs and runs Fountain+ when they want a Final Draft file.
Spec compliance reference. When Fountain+'s parser disagrees with Screenplain's on an edge case, Screenplain usually has the closer reading of the spec — it's been treated as a reference implementation since the format's early days. That's a debugging consideration, not a writer-facing concern.
Switching Direction
This isn't really a switching story. The two tools coexist in the same Fountain ecosystem without conflicting.
1. To take Screenplain output (Fountain text) into Fountain+ Exporter: paste it into a Google Doc, run Extensions → Fountain+ Exporter → Export FDX (or FadeIn, PDF, TXT). 2. To take Fountain+ Exporter output into Screenplain: Extensions → Fountain+ Exporter → Export Fountain, save the .fountain file, run screenplain script.fountain --format fdx.
Bottom Line
Pick Screenplain if you're a developer wiring a Fountain conversion step into a pipeline, or you need HTML output.
Pick Fountain+ Exporter if you're a writer drafting in Google Docs.
FAQ
Is Screenplain still maintained? Yes, slowly. Most recent commit is from April 2026. The repo README explicitly warns that master may not always work — treat releases as the stable surface.
Does Fountain+ Exporter have a CLI? No — it's a Google Docs Add-on. For programmatic conversion, Fountain+ Screenplay Converter runs in-browser without an upload, which fills part of the same use case.
Does Screenplain export to FadeIn? No. FadeIn export is, as far as I'm aware, a Fountain+ Exporter-only feature among free tools.
Can I use Screenplain to validate Fountain+ Exporter output? Yes — exporting Fountain from Fountain+ and running it through Screenplain is a reasonable round-trip sanity check.