Private, local-first screenwriting software
Write the screenplay.
Keep every version.
Own every word.
A professional workspace for developing, drafting and revising screenplays, with private AI assistance that helps only when you ask. Your scripts live on your computer, in files you own.
Free edition · Not a trial · No credit card
- Local by default
- Writing works offline
- FDX · Fountain · PDF
- Complete version history
- Plain-text files you own
The workspace
One place to take a story from first spark to shooting draft.
01
Develop the story
Index cards, notes and research stay connected to the draft instead of scattering across seventeen browser tabs and three notebooks.
02
Write without friction
Professional screenplay formatting in a focused editor, with multiple views of the same draft: cards for structure, writing flow for momentum, preview for the page.
03
Rewrite without fear
Branch the script, compare versions and restore anything, five minutes or five years back, without a folder full of duplicate files.
Version history
Every rewrite can be brave.
Try a different ending. Restructure the second act. Follow the dangerous idea. Origin Draft preserves the version you trust while you explore the version that might be better.
- Branch a risky rewrite without touching the main draft
- Merge the best parts of different versions back together
- Restore any version in seconds, even years later
When your producer asks about that version from three weeks ago, you have it before the call ends. Final_v3_REAL.fdx is dead.
Powered by Git, the system that versions the world's software. Designed so writers never have to think about Git.
Explore a rewrite without damaging the draft you trust.
AI, on your terms
The AI works for the writer. Not the other way around.
Most AI writing tools want your pages. Origin Draft is built the opposite way: the AI researches, critiques and organizes, and the writing stays yours.
Local models by default
Out of the box, AI runs on models on your own machine. Your script is never sent to our servers.
Cloud models only with your keys
Want a stronger model? Connect your own account. The script travels only to services you choose, when you choose.
Nothing enters the script without you
Agents research and give honest feedback. In Free they never generate a page. In Pro they can propose, but only your hand puts words in the draft.
Writing, formatting, versioning and local AI work offline. Web research and cloud models need a connection.
For writers who want to write, not prompt.
Diagnostics
See the draft from another angle.
Every writer knows the feeling: something is off, but you can't point at it. Diagnostics plot pacing, character presence, dialogue balance and emotional movement across the script, grounded in real narrative theory.
They reveal patterns. The writer decides what the patterns mean.
Free opens the full instrument gallery with real example reports and runs a selection on your own pages. The complete suite ships with Pro.
Draft Anchor
Anchor a version in time.
When it matters that you wrote it, and when: one click creates a tamper-evident timestamp for the exact version in front of you. Included in Free, because provenance shouldn't be a premium feature.
01
Fingerprint
Origin Draft computes a cryptographic fingerprint of your draft. The fingerprint is what gets recorded, never the script itself.
02
Timestamp
The fingerprint receives an independently verifiable timestamp, fixing that exact version to that exact moment.
03
Verify
Anyone can later confirm that your file matches the record: evidence this version existed by that date.
Anchoring gives you strong, verifiable evidence of when a version existed. It supports provenance; it is not a substitute for copyright registration or legal advice.
Editions
Free is the product. Pro extends it.
The software is never subscription-gated. Paid editions are one-time purchases with a year of updates included.
Free
Early accessA real writing tool, free forever. Not a trial.
- ✓Professional screenplay editor with FDX, Fountain and PDF
- ✓Index cards, writing flow and project documentation
- ✓Complete version history: branch, merge, restore
- ✓Draft Anchor timestamping
- ✓Research agents on local models
- ✓Diagnostic gallery, with a selection running on your pages
Pro
In developmentThe full writer's room, as a one-time purchase.
- +Everything in Free
- +Complete diagnostic suite running on your pages
- +Specialist feedback agents for dialogue and structure
- +Proactive project assistance that files suggestions without breaking your flow
- +Vision Explorer: moodboards and concept art linked to the draft Planned
Roadmap
Where it's headed.
The long-term goal is a complete path from first idea to released work. These come after Free and Pro are solid, and none of them will be a subscription.
Director's Cut
· Storyboards, video drafts and production planning from the same project files.Impact Monitor
· Release through YouTube and watch real audience response flow back into the next story.Why this exists
Writing tools force a choice: professional software stuck in the past, or AI products that want to do the writing for you. Origin Draft exists to refuse that choice.
It's built in public on the Many Monkeys Substack: real build logs, one capability per post, failures included. Paid supporters fund the workshop and receive experimental Research Review builds. The app itself is never subscription-gated.
Follow the build on SubstackHelp shape it, and skip the line.
We're mapping how working screenwriters actually write: the tools, the workarounds, the places it all falls apart. Your answers decide what Free ships with. The survey takes about 15 minutes.
In return: the first builds before the general waitlist, the findings report, and a place in the credits if you want it.
Take the writer surveyFor working writers and writer-filmmakers. Your answers stay private.
FAQ
Quick answers.
Is Free really free?
Yes. Origin Draft Free is a real writing tool, free forever, not a trial. Paid editions like Pro are one-time purchases with a year of updates included. The software is never subscription-gated.
Does the AI send my script to OpenAI or Google?
Not unless you tell it to. Origin Draft runs on local models by default. If you want a cloud model, you connect your own API key: your script travels only to accounts you control, when you command it. Your script is never sent to our servers.
Will the AI write my screenplay?
No. In Free, agents research and give feedback; they never generate pages. In Pro, specialist agents can propose drafts for you to accept, rework, or discard, but nothing enters your script without your hand on it. The writer writes. That's the whole point.
Does it work offline?
Writing, formatting, version history and local AI all work with the internet switched off. Web research and cloud models are the only features that need a connection.
Does Draft Anchor prove copyright?
It gives you tamper-evident, independently verifiable evidence that an exact version of your draft existed by a certain date, without recording the script's contents anywhere. That supports provenance and priority, but it is not a substitute for copyright registration or legal advice.
What formats can I import and export?
The ones production actually uses: Final Draft (.fdx), Fountain, and PDF, with more over time. Your projects always live in structured plain-text files you fully own. Deliver in whatever format the room needs, and leave whenever you want, with everything.
Is my data backed up?
Your scripts live on your computer, so you control backups. Origin Draft works with any backup system you already use: Dropbox, iCloud, Time Machine, external drives. We never store your scripts on our servers.
Your next draft should belong to you.
Join the first writers testing Origin Draft Free. Builds go out in small batches.
Prefer to help shape it? Take the writer workflow study.