Translation

Translation

Translation converts your screenplay text into any of 59 supported languages, making it easy to share scripts with international cast, crew, and co-production partners. Translations are stored alongside the original so you can switch between languages at any time.

How It Works

The AI translates each scene’s screenplay text into the target language while preserving formatting, structure, and character name casing. Translations run in the background — you can continue working while the job processes.

Running a Translation

  1. Open the Script Viewer for the script you want to translate.
  2. In the footer bar, click the “Translate” button.
  3. In the dialog that appears, search or browse the language list and select your target language.
  4. Optionally, toggle “All scenes” off to translate a specific range using the From and To scene selectors.
  5. Click “Translate” to start the job.

The AI Job Status Bar appears below the top bar showing progress. When translation finishes, the new language becomes available in the footer’s language selector.

Viewing Translations

Once a translation exists, a language selector appears in the script footer (to the left of the Translate button). It shows the currently active language — “Original” by default.

  • Click the selector to open a dropdown listing all available translations.
  • Select a language to view the translated screenplay text in the script viewer.
  • Select “Original” to return to the source language.

The active language is highlighted with an accent color so you always know which version you’re reading.

Partial Translation

You don’t have to translate the entire script at once. In the Translate dialog, toggle “All scenes” off to reveal From and To dropdowns. Select the starting and ending scenes to translate only that range. This is useful when new scenes have been added or you only need a specific section for a read-through.

Blocked Scenes

Some scenes may be blocked by Azure’s content safety filter (e.g. for sexual, violent, hate, or self-harm content). When this happens:

  • The job still finishes and reports a partial result — everything that wasn’t blocked is translated normally.
  • A toast at job completion summarises the count, e.g. “5 scenes blocked — see warnings”.
  • In the script viewer’s translated view, blocked scenes show a small red “Blocked: ” chip directly under the scene heading. Hover the chip for the full category label and instructions.
  • To recover a blocked scene: edit its source text to soften the flagged content, then re-run the Translate job. The system picks up the now-allowable content; scenes that still trip the filter stay blocked.

Tips

  • Well-formatted scripts produce better translations. Final Draft (.fdx) and Fountain (.fountain) formats carry structural information that helps the AI distinguish dialogue from action.
  • A translation can run alongside one other AI job (continuity check, element detection, or synopsis generation). The status bar shows up to two concurrent progress rows. A second translation cannot start until the first finishes.
  • Translation uses AI credits on a per-scene basis. Check your available credits before translating a full script.
  • Character names remain in uppercase and are not translated, keeping them consistent across all language versions.
  • Languages that have already been translated are excluded from the language picker. To re-translate, delete the existing translation first.