For many films, especially old ones, the screenplay can't be found: it was lost, never published, or only exists in one language. MovieCineLab rebuilds it from the film: it watches the pictures, listens to the dialogue and writes the script scene by scene.
What's inside
- Scenes, each with its place and time: interior or exterior, day or night.
- Characters, by name, recognised over the course of the film.
- Action, described by looking at the pictures, not just listening: who comes in, what they do, what they're wearing.
- Dialogue, assigned to the character who speaks it, translated into the language you choose.
A real excerpt
The opening of the English screenplay of the example film Popeye: Assault and Flattery (1956), exactly as it came out, untouched:
INT. COURTROOM - DAY
Over the main titles, a title card reads: "ASSAULT AND FLATTERY."
A packed courtroom. Judge WIMPY, bald and mustached in black robes and bow tie, sits on the bench, rubbing his chin and holding a paper. Popeye the Sailor, muscular, in a sailor shirt and cap, stands in the center of the room. In a wheelchair beside the bench sits BLUTO, heavyset and bearded, his head, arm, and leg wrapped in bandages. He looks bruised and pathetic.
LOUDSPEAKER
Hear ye, hear ye. The case of Bluto versus Popeye the Sailor. Judge Wimpy presiding.
JUDGE WIMPY
Bluto, party of the first part, being brutally beaten on several occasions by Popeye the Sailor, party of the second part, charges him with assault and battery.
BLUTO
Popeye flexes confidently.
POPEYE
Your honor, I'm innocent.
It is laid out the way film scripts are: the scene heading in capitals, action across the full width, the character's name centred above their line. Characters who are heard but not seen are marked as voice-over (V.O.).
Which formats
You download it in two formats. The PDF is laid out like a script, ready to read or print. Fountain is a plain-text file following screenplay conventions that screenwriting software opens, so you can correct it and carry on writing. There are five languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish and German.
Time and cost
For a 90-minute film it takes about an hour and a quarter, because the characters and who speaks have to be worked out first. It costs 15 minutes from your pack, and it's included if you dub the film: the dubbing needs it to know who says each line. If a job fails, the minutes go back into your pack.
What it's for
Studying how a film you love is built, scene by scene. Preparing a film club or a lesson with the script in hand. Starting from a classic to write your own version, for the stage or a short film. And as the basis for the novel from the film, which arrives sooner if the screenplay already exists.
Like everything else, the screenplay is written automatically: it may get the name of a minor character wrong or describe an action loosely. It is a solid starting point, not a critical edition. You also get the Fountain file, a plain-text format: you can correct it, rewrite the scenes you want and use it as the basis for your own version.