Navigating and reviewing
Counters and writing goals
The page, word and scene counts and the running time at the foot of the window, and a goal in pages or words for the script.
On this page
A screenplay is measured in pages, because a page of screenplay is about a minute of film. Calmly Script keeps the count at the foot of the window, on the right of the bar under the script, and updates it as you write.
What the counter shows
Four lines, each switched on or off in the menu:
| Menu entry | What it counts |
|---|---|
| The pages of the printed script. On when you start. | |
| The words. On when you start. | |
| The scene headings. | |
| The pages at one minute each, as minutes, or hours and minutes. |
Untick all four and the counter is gone. Your choice is kept for the next time you start the app.
The pages are the pages of the PDF. The count comes from the same page breaks the Preview, the PDF and the Word export use, so the number at the foot of the window is the number of pages that will print. A title page does not count: a screenplay’s length has never included its cover. For how the breaks are decided, see How pages are counted.
The words are the words on the page. The characters that are Fountain’s
syntax, such as the ** around bold text or the # in front of a section, are
not counted as words.
On a phone or tablet held without a keyboard, the counter sits above the row of formatting buttons, over the on-screen keyboard.
A writing goal
A goal is a number of pages or words you are aiming for in this script. To set one:
- , or click the target icon at the start of the counter.
- Type the number, and choose pages or words.
- Apply.
The counter then shows your progress against it, as in 43 of 90 Pages, even if you have switched that count off. When you reach the goal, the number is highlighted and Target achieved! shows for a moment at the foot of the window.
To change the goal, open the same dialog again. To remove it, empty the field and apply.
The goal belongs to the document while it is open. It is not written into the
.fountain file.