Fountain reference
Dual dialogue
Two characters speaking at the same time, printed side by side, marked with a caret after the second name.
On this page
Dual dialogue is two characters speaking at the same time. On the page the two speeches are printed side by side, each under its own name, so a reader takes them in together.
Writing it in Calmly Script
Write the two speeches one after the other, as usual, and put a caret (^)
at the end of the second character’s name. That pairs the second speech
with the one before it.
What you type
They answer at the same moment.
NORA
Left.
BRAM ^
Right.How it prints
They answer at the same moment.
NORA
Left.
BRAM
Right.
In the editor the two speeches stay one under the other, as you wrote them. The caret stays on the line, dimmed like the rest of Fountain’s syntax, and the side-by-side layout is on the page only: you see it in the preview and in the PDF.
They answer at the same moment.
NORA
Left.
BRAM ^
Right.
They answer at the same moment.
NORA
Left.
BRAM ^
Right.
The caret goes after the whole name, extension included: BRAM (O.S.) ^.
Delete it and the two speeches go back to being printed one after the other.
How it prints
The two speeches print side by side, each in a column of its own with the name centered over it, the first speech on the left and the one with the caret on the right. The caret is not printed.
A caret on a character with no speech before it to pair with changes nothing: that speech prints as usual.