
Type the dialogue, then press Return to move to Action or press Tab to move to Parenthetical. Type a parenthetical, then press Return to move to Dialogue or press Tab to move to the next Character Name. Type a character name, then press Return to move to Dialogue or press Tab to move to Parenthetical. Type an action, then press Return to move to another Action or press Tab to move to Character Name.

Type a Scene Heading, then press Return or Tab to move to Action.
Final draft tagger elements switching to random scenes how to#

If you don’t have film production scheduling software, be sure to check out our film shooting schedule template. And they’ll be sure to tell you if you missed anything. The information that you organize will travel from department to department, where your department heads will process it in different ways. Add too many categories, and you might as well not have categories at all.īreakdown sheets are the first step in a long production process. There’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to the level of organization when breaking down a script. StudioBinder lets you customize your script breakdown templates, which means there could be dozens more possible categories into which you can sort your elements.ĭon’t drive yourself crazy with the details. We’ve gone through lots of breakdown categories in this article, but they’re just the default categories in most script breakdown software. Up Next Create better script breakdowns for better productions If a piece of clothing is supposed to get ruined (maybe someone spills coffee during the scene?) it may be beneficial to list multiples of that piece of clothing as separate items in the breakdown.If a specific piece of clothing is unusual or hard to find, it may be useful to list it separately in the breakdown, as it may be important information for budgeting or even scheduling.

You can trust your costumer to keep track of which individual pieces of clothing correspond to each outfit combination.īut as always, there are two exceptions to this: Each wardrobe element should be labeled with (at least): You should develop a system for labeling each of your wardrobe elements to keep track of them all. In big productions that span many script days, this can become very challenging to track and organize. That character is “cast” in every scene where she appears, even those where she’s just another face in the crowd.įor each story day in your script, your characters are (presumably!) wearing Costumes. We’ve encountered this rule before: if a character has a line in one scene, but no lines in another scene, that character isn’t categorized as “cast” in one breakdown sheet and “extra” in another. This script breakdown example is a good time to review a basic rule of breakdown sheets:Įvery element can appear in only one category. (They’re set dressing, which is a category we’ll discuss soon!)īut what if the pirate captain tears the curtain off the wall in his zeal? At that point, the curtains are no longer being handled in a usual manner - they are props.īut there’s a kicker: unless the curtains that are ripped off the window are different than the curtains that will appear on that window at other times in the film, those curtains are ALWAYS props, even in the breakdown sheets for scenes where they simply hang there looking pretty. There’s nothing unusual about pulling aside the curtains, so, in this scene, the curtains are not a prop. The curtains are part of the set, so we must ask if they’re being handled in the usual manner. In this hypothetical scene from my pirate film, the pirate captain hears a noise outside his cabin and pulls aside the curtains to look out the window. A SCRIPT BREAKDOWN EXAMPLE: THE PIRATE CURTAINS If it is being handled in the usual manner, then it’s not a prop.

If it is part of the set, then.Is the object being handled in the usual manner? If not, it’s a prop. Is the object part of the set? If not, it’s a prop. If a character interacts with part of the set that might otherwise be considered set dressing - does that change the category of that object? The general rule is that if a character interacts with an object, that object is a prop, otherwise it’s something else.īut this rule can get confusing. The truth is, this is a big category, but not every small object in a scene is a prop. Every scene seems to have oodles of small objects that somehow fall into the props category if you’re not paying attention. The Props category can easily get cluttered.
