What Storiara reads from an .fdx file
An .fdx file is XML, so Storiara reads it directly instead of guessing at layout the way it has to with a PDF. The importer walks through every paragraph in the script body and converts it to plain screenplay text based on the element type Final Draft assigned: Scene Heading, Action, Character, Dialogue, Transition, and centered text. Dual dialogue comes through with both speakers in order. Script notes are kept inline, and any scene synopsis you wrote in Final Draft is kept under its heading.
The title page is read too. Title, Written By, Author, Draft or Date, and Contact fields are mapped to a title block, which Storiara uses when it suggests the story title on the approval screen.
From that text, scene detection is rule based. A line becomes a scene when it starts with INT, EXT, EST, I/E, or INT/EXT. INT or EXT and the set name come from the heading, and the time of day is set to Night when the heading contains NIGHT, EVENING, DUSK, or MIDNIGHT (everything else is marked Day). After scenes are split, the AI pass fills in scene descriptions and pulls characters, extras, locations, props, wardrobe, vehicles and animals, makeup and hair, and music and effects into their pages. Every item it pulls is checked against a quote from the script.
What stays behind in Final Draft
Scene numbers are the one most people trip over. Storiara numbers scenes 1, 2, 3 in script order, so if your shooting script has locked numbers or A-scenes like 42A, the numbers in Storiara won't match the pages your AD is holding.
Formatting doesn't come across either. Bold, italics, and underlines are dropped, and so are revision marks, page colors, and locked pages. Storiara has no revision tracking of its own, so a new draft is simply a new script version. Breakdown tags you added with Final Draft's Tagger are ignored as well, because Storiara builds its own breakdown.
Page breaks are the subtle one. Storiara renders the converted script as a Courier 12 pt, letter-size PDF for the side panel and measures page eighths on that PDF. A scene Final Draft calls 1 3/8 pages can come out an eighth or two different.
If exact page counts from your own pagination matter more than the structured import, upload a PDF exported from Final Draft instead. The PDF import page explains that trade.
Importing an .fdx file
- On My Stories, click Create Your Story.
- On the Scripted Content card, click Upload Script (.pdf, .docx) and pick your .fdx file, or drag the file onto the card. The button label leaves FDX out, but the line under it reads "Supported formats: PDF, DOCX, FDX (Final Draft)."
- Wait for the FDX Processed Successfully message, then click Analyze.
- On Approve Story Details, check the Title, Genre, and Tags, then click Approve & Continue.
- A progress banner shows the pull working through scenes, locations, cast, props and wardrobe, and effects. The work runs on Storiara's servers, and results fill in as each step finishes.
The same steps, with the error messages you might see, are in how to import a script.
Bringing in a revised draft
When pink pages come out, export a fresh .fdx and open Edit on the story card in My Stories. Under Scripts, click Upload Script. Storiara asks "Re-pull content from this script?" and warns that pulled scenes, locations, cast, assets, and effects will be deleted and pulled again, while items you added or edited by hand stay. Once anything is on the stripboard, or a scene has shots, the switch is blocked until you clear those. Uploading a new script version covers the blockers one by one.
Limits
- Only .fdx is accepted from Final Draft. Older .fdr files, Fountain, Celtx, and Movie Magic files are refused.
- The script can be up to 1,000,000 characters. A feature script is far below that.
- Nothing is written back to Final Draft, and there is no live link between the two apps.
Troubleshooting
- A "No Scene Headings Detected" message means your Scene Heading elements probably don't start with INT., EXT., or I/E. Headings typed as "MONTAGE" or "LATER" won't split into scenes. Fix them in Final Draft and export again, or continue and add scenes by hand on the Scenes page.
- "Unsupported File Type" usually means the extension isn't .fdx. A file saved as .fdr, or renamed from another format, won't pass.
- When two scenes collapse into one, the second heading is almost always formatted as Action. Change the element type to Scene Heading in Final Draft and upload again.
- Page counts that don't match your printed script come from the PDF Storiara generated, not from Final Draft's pagination. If you are breaking down against printed pages, import a PDF export instead so the breakdown sheet page numbers line up.