scripter

A screenplay compiler.

What does this do?

There's a nice screenplay LaTeX package but using it is not particularly convenient, as the code gets quite verbose.

Instead let's use an ad-hoc minimal script language and transpile to TeX.

The rules of the language

• Whitespace at beginning and end of lines are ignored
• Lines with only whitespace in them are ignored
• The first line is the title
• The second line is the author(s)
• Lines beginning with INT. or EXT. are treated as sluglines, what comes after INT. and EXT. is free-form
• Lines with : in them are split using this character and it's assumed that generates two parts. The first is the character that's speaking, the second is what's being said. Parts in parentheses are treated as parentheticals.
• Other lines are treated as description

Example

Input:

The Alienant, version 1
Firstname Lastname

INT. SPACE STATION

Dark corridor. Something lurks in the shadows.

EXT. MILITARY BASE -- DAY

COLONEL SMITH smokes a cigarette. Looks up as CAPTAIN PARKER approaches.

CAPTAIN PARKER doesn't look too well.

	SMITH: So, it's begun.
	PARKER: Yes. (inhales) Yes, it has.
	SMITH: I was afraid it'd come to this.

TeX output:

\documentclass{screenplay}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[polish]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\title{The Alienant, version 1}
\author{Firstname Lastname}
\begin{document}
\coverpage
\fadein
\intslug{SPACE STATION}

Dark corridor. Something lurks in the shadows.

\extslug{MILITARY BASE -- DAY}

COLONEL SMITH smokes a cigarette. Looks up as CAPTAIN PARKER approaches.

CAPTAIN PARKER doesn't look too well.

\begin{dialogue}{SMITH}So, it's begun.\end{dialogue}

\begin{dialogue}{PARKER}Yes. \paren{inhales} Yes, it has.\end{dialogue}

\begin{dialogue}{SMITH}I was afraid it'd come to this.\end{dialogue}

\fadeout
\theend
\end{document}

Output PDF