OpenDraft

OpenDraft — Professional Screenwriting, Free & Open Source

Write screenplays like the pros — without the price tag. OpenDraft is a full-featured screenwriting app that delivers industry-standard formatting, real-time collaboration, and powerful production tools, all for free.

Whether you're drafting your first short film or managing a multi-episode series, OpenDraft gives you everything you need to go from idea to finished script.

WRITE WITH CONFIDENCE

• Industry-standard screenplay formatting — Scene Headings, Action, Character, Dialogue, Parenthetical, Transitions, and more

• Smart element switching with Tab and Enter — the app knows what comes next

• Character name autocomplete so you never misspell a recurring name

• Bold, italic, and underline formatting

• 70+ built-in fonts including Courier Final Draft and Courier Prime

• Customizable page setup — US Letter, A4, custom sizes, adjustable margins

• Built-in spell checker with custom dictionary support

PLAN YOUR STORY

• Beat Board — visually plan your story structure with draggable beat cards, color coding, and act organization

• Index Cards — rearrange scenes with drag-and-drop, add synopses, and see your story at a glance

• Scene Navigator — jump between scenes instantly with location grouping

COLLABORATE IN REAL TIME

• Invite co-writers to edit simultaneously with live cursors

• Conflict-free editing powered by CRDT technology

• Granular permissions — Co-Edit or Read-Only access

• Secure collaboration with time-limited invite links

TRACK EVERY CHANGE

• Git-based version history — check in drafts with descriptive messages

• Visual diff viewer to see exactly what changed between versions

• Restore any previous version instantly

• Revision mode with color-coded highlights

ANALYZE & ANNOTATE

• Script Notes — highlight text and add color-coded annotations with context tracking

• Character Profiles — auto-detected characters with roles, descriptions, portraits, and dialogue statistics

• Production Tags — tag text with custom categories for pre-production planning

• Find & Replace with case-sensitive and whole-word matching

IMPORT & EXPORT

• Import from Final Draft (.fdx), Fountain, and plain text

• Export to PDF, Final Draft (.fdx), and Fountain

• Full project backup as ZIP archives

• Round-trip compatible — move between OpenDraft and other tools without losing formatting

MANAGE ASSETS & PROJECTS

• Organize multiple scripts within projects with metadata, genre, logline, and synopsis

• Asset Manager for reference images, documents, and research materials

• Pin, color-code, and sort your scripts however you like

PRIVACY FIRST

• Works 100% offline — no account required for local writing

• No telemetry, no tracking, no ads

• Your scripts stay on your device unless you choose to collaborate

• Open source — inspect every line of code

AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE

OpenDraft runs on Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. Start writing on your desktop and continue on your phone — your scripts are always in an open format you control.

WHO IS IT FOR?

• Screenwriters who want professional tools without a subscription

• Film students learning the craft

• Writing teams who need real-time collaboration

• Producers who need production tagging and character breakdowns

• Anyone who believes creative tools should be free and open

OpenDraft is free, open source (MIT license), and community-driven. No subscriptions. No feature gates. No lock-in. Just write.