Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love writing in Highland.
In most screenwriting apps, you need to use a keystroke or menu to switch between different format elements (action, character name, dialogue) before you start typing.
In Highland, you just start typing. Highland figures out the formatting as you go.
Seriously, just write.
Make sure to leave a blank line between paragraphs.
Need something bold, italicized, or underlined?
Just use the standard Mac key commands (⌘B, ⌘I, ⌘U).
<aside> ❓ What’s this about “Markdown” and “Fountain”?
Under the hood, Highland uses a common plain text syntax that looks like this:
**bold***italics*_underline_~~~strikethrough~~~If you prefer, you can type or delete these symbols yourself. To keep everything tidy, Highland hides them unless you’re in the middle of word.
Want to learn more? Check out Fountain Syntax.
</aside>
In 99% of cases, Highland will see what you’re doing and give you exactly what you want. But you can also force it to interpret a line a specific way by preceding it with a specific symbol.
In this example, the writer several uppercase lines stacked together for effect. To force Highland Pro to treat these as action lines rather than dialogue, add an exclamation point ! at the beginning of each line.
Highland Pro Slugline Demo.mov
Just write your scene heading, starting with EXT. or INT. Highland will figure it out.
You can choose whether you want Highland to display your scene headers in bold, underlined, or double-spaced. Open the Preview with the toggle button in the toolbar, or press ⌘E. In the sidebar, you’ll see scene header display options.
To use a scene heading that doesn’t start with INT. or EXT., add a period at the beginning of the line. For example: .UNDER THE TABLE
Type a character’s name in UPPERCASE. Then write their dialogue on the line directly beneath it — no blank line between them.