Screenplay Genie

An educational iPad app designed to guide users through the fundamentals of screenwriting in an interactive and engaging way.

WWDC25 Swift Student Challenge Winner

The Idea

Ever dreamed of writing a movie? Many aspiring writers are intimidated by the complex formatting rules and structure required for professional screenplays. Traditional screenwriting software can be overwhelming and difficult to learn.

Screenplay Genie was designed to solve this problem by creating an educational experience that makes learning screenwriting fundamentals accessible, interactive, and enjoyable for everyone.

Key Features

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Interactive Lessons: Learn screenplay formatting and structure step by step through engaging mini-lessons focused on key screenplay elements.
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Live Preview: See your script transform into a properly formatted screenplay in real-time, helping you understand professional styling.
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Free Playground: Apply what you've learned in an unrestricted writing environment where you can create scenes and develop dialogue.
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Fountain Markdown: Use the industry-standard lightweight markup language for screenwriting that's both powerful and easy to learn.

The Application

Screenplay Genie guides users through a series of mini-lessons, each focusing on a key screenplay element. After a quick explanation, users put their knowledge into practice by writing in Fountain Markdown.

As users type, the Live Preview feature instantly transforms their text into a properly formatted screenplay with professional styling—just like in Hollywood. This real-time feedback helps users understand the connection between the markdown they write and the final formatted output.

Once all lessons are completed, users unlock the Playground where they can write without restrictions, creating their own scenes, developing engaging dialogue, and bringing their stories to life using all the skills they've learned.

Educational Impact

Screenplay Genie was created with the belief that creative skills should be accessible to everyone. By breaking down the complex rules of screenwriting into manageable, interactive lessons, the app empowers aspiring writers to focus on storytelling rather than getting lost in formatting details.

The Story

Behind every project is a story. I created Screenplay Genie for the Swift Student Challenge to combine my passion for coding with the one for cinema. The project allowed me to explore how technology can make creative skills more accessible to beginners.

Full story on Substack

The Code

Screenplay Genie is built with Swift and SwiftUI, the latest native technologies from Apple.

Source code on GitHub