I built Fonte because I got tired of seeing tools that treat screenwriters as products, not users. It’s not about a lack of options — it’s about the model behind them.
The landscape that led me here
The screenwriting software market follows a pattern: either you pay a subscription that only goes up, or you use a “free” tool that locks your files in a proprietary format. In both cases, the person who wrote the script doesn’t control its destiny.
A study by Opara-Martins, Sahandi and Tian (2016) in the Journal of Cloud Computing identified the lack of open formats as the central factor driving vendor lock-in — and showed that most users underestimate this risk until they need to migrate.[1] In screenwriting, this is even more critical: the script file is the project’s primary asset. Losing access to it because the tool changed its business model is not an inconvenience — it’s a real production risk.
What they call “the cloud” is often just the transfer of control over your files to a server you don’t administer. Yanis Varoufakis, in Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, describes how digital platforms extract value not just from what you buy, but from what you produce — including your creative work.[2] It’s no coincidence that screenwriting tool costs have risen while open formats have been neglected.
Why Fountain
Fountain is plain text. You open it with any editor — Notepad, Vim, VS Code, anything. No company owns it. If Fonte disappears tomorrow, your scripts keep working, readable, exportable to any compatible editor — Fade In, Highland, Slugline, WriterDuet, Trelby, Scrivener, Storyist.
When I decided to build an editor, the format choice was the easiest: Fountain isn’t just an open standard — it’s the standard that independent screenwriters already use. I didn’t need to invent anything.
The name “Fonte”
The app was called Fountain Writer. A correct name, but in English. And honestly, generic. I changed it to Fonte — Portuguese for “fountain”, but also carrying the meaning of source, spring, where writing flows from. It’s Brazilian, it says what it is, and it doesn’t hide that it was made here. By and for screenwriters who produce in Portuguese.
Autonomy for independent creators
Two audiences motivated Fonte’s creation. First, myself: I needed a lightweight, offline, no-fuss tool that let me write scripts anywhere — on a laptop, on a phone, on a computer that isn’t mine. Second, cultural producers, solo screenwriters and film students who can’t afford $80/year tools but have every right to write with professional quality.
That’s why I added the Cultural Project module: a complete second interface for drafting grant proposals for programs like LIC-RJ, Rouanet Law and municipal funding. Ten sections — applicant data, core team, detailed budget with auto-total, clickable 12-month execution schedule, distribution plan, technical specifications. All exportable to PDF. Because having a finished script is useless if you can’t fund its production.
The antidote to technofeudalism
While closed platforms compete to see who can hoard more user data, Fonte does the opposite: no signup, no telemetry, no cloud. Your files stay on your device. The code is open. You can audit, modify, distribute.
The study by Feretzakis et al. (2024) in Information (MDPI) details privacy risks in generative AI systems — training data memorization, fine-tuning leakage, inference attacks.[3] The same principle applies to any platform that processes your files on servers you don’t control. In Fonte, zero data leaves your device. Not because connecting to an API is impossible — but because the decision to send your files to third parties should always be yours.
How Fonte connects to my pipeline
Fonte was built with the same tools I use in my animation pipeline: Blender for graphics, Krita for image editing, Inkscape for vectors, all running on Debian. Pure HTML, CSS and JavaScript — no framework, no external dependencies, no telemetry.
The complete project is on GitHub, licensed as open source. If you’re a developer and screenwriter, you can contribute. If you’re just a screenwriter, you can use it without knowing what a repository is.
Who Fonte is for
Screenwriters who want to write in Fountain format without hassle. Cultural producers who need to structure projects for grant funding. Film students looking for a free, functional tool. Creative teams wanting a lightweight way to share scripts.
Frequently asked questions
Is Fonte really free? No catch?
Yes. No premium plan, no ads, no signup, no project limits. Download, extract, and use. It’s open source — if I ever decide to charge, anyone can take the code and keep going.
Can I use my scripts commercially?
Yes. Fonte imposes no restrictions on what you write or publish. Your scripts are yours.
What happens to my data?
Nothing. It stays in your browser (localStorage) or in the .fountain file you downloaded. No data leaves your device. No server, no telemetry, no collection.
Is Fountain hard to learn?
No. Fountain is plain text with simple rules: INT. OFFICE — DAY becomes a slugline, UPPERCASE names become characters, text below becomes dialogue. You learn it in 5 minutes. Fonte renders everything automatically.
Will there be a paid version in the future?
No. Fonte is and will remain free and open source. If the project helps you, you can support it via PayPal or Pix donation — but it will never be required.
Why build with free software
Building Fonte with free software isn’t a technical choice — it’s an extension of what the application itself stands for. Just as Fonte doesn’t lock your scripts into proprietary formats, the tools I used to create it don’t lock me either. The result is an editor that owes nothing to anyone.
If you’re structuring an audiovisual project, use the Briefing Generator I created — guided questions that organize all the starting points. And to estimate the budget, there’s the Budget Calculator.
Fonte is available at ricolandia.com/editor-roteiros-gratuito/. Download it, try it, write with it.
— Ricardo A. B. Graça · ricolandia.com
References
- Opara-Martins, J.; Sahandi, R.; Tian, F. (2016) Critical analysis of vendor lock-in and its impact on cloud computing migration: a business perspective. Journal of Cloud Computing, 5(4). Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13677-016-0054-z
- Varoufakis, Y. (2023) Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. Melville House. Available at: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741927/technofeudalism-by-yanis-varoufakis/
- Feretzakis, G.; Papaspyridis, K.; Gkoulalas-Divanis, A.; Verykios, V. S. (2024) Privacy-Preserving Techniques in Generative AI and Large Language Models: A Narrative Review. Information, 15(11), 697. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/15/11/697