To break down a script, you go through the locked screenplay one scene at a time and write down everything that scene needs to be shot: the cast, the extras, the props, the wardrobe, the vehicles, the effects. You number the scenes, measure each one in eighths of a page, and put the result in a breakdown sheet. Every other pre-production document, from the schedule to the call sheets, is built from that sheet.
What is a script breakdown?
A script breakdown is an inventory. For each scene it lists who is in it, where it happens, when (day or night), how long it is, and every physical thing that has to exist for the camera to roll. It turns a story into a list of requirements.
The breakdown is the first real document of pre-production and the one everything else depends on. The shooting schedule groups breakdown rows into days. The budget prices what the breakdown says you need. The call sheet pulls each day's scenes, cast, and props from it. Get the breakdown wrong and all three are wrong in the same way.
What you need before you start
Three things, and the first one is the one people skip.
- A locked script. Not a final draft, a locked one: the version where scene numbers stop changing. You can still fix dialogue. You cannot add or remove scenes without a formal revision.
- Scene numbers on the page. If the writer's draft doesn't have them, add them now, in order, before anything else. Scene 12 needs to be Scene 12 on every document for the next three months.
- A breakdown sheet. A spreadsheet with one row per scene and one column per element category. Our free breakdown sheet template has the columns set up.
Step 1: Number the scenes and measure them in eighths
Go through the script and, for each scene, write down its number, the slugline (INT/EXT, set, day/night), and its length in eighths of a page. A scene is one slugline to the next.
Eighths are the industry unit because a script page is roughly a minute of screen time, and scenes rarely fill a page. Lay a ruler (or your eye) across the page, divide it into eight, and count how many a scene covers. Round up. A scene that runs one full page and two strips of the next is 1 2/8. A three-line scene is 1/8, never zero.
Why bother? Because page counts are how everyone estimates time. A 1st AD plans about 4 to 6 pages a shoot day on an indie drama. A DP looks at a 3/8 scene and plans two setups; at 2 4/8 they plan a morning. The budget multiplies shoot days by day rates. The eighths you write down in this step are the number the whole production runs on.
Step 2: Mark up each scene by element
Now read each scene slowly and mark every element the production has to provide. The classic method is a highlighter per category; in a spreadsheet it's a column per category. Either way, the question for every noun in the scene is the same: does someone have to source, book, build, or buy this? If yes, tag it.
The categories most breakdowns use, and what goes in each:
| Category | Conventional color | What to tag |
|---|---|---|
| Cast | Red | Every speaking or named character in the scene, by cast number. |
| Extras | Green | Background performers, counted. “40 market crowd”, not “a crowd”. |
| Props | Purple | Anything handled by an actor. Mark hero props (seen close) separately; they need duplicates. |
| Wardrobe | Circled / blue | Specific costume requirements, changes, and multiples (a shirt that gets wet needs three). |
| Makeup / hair | Asterisk | Wounds, aging, blood, anything beyond the actor's base look. |
| Vehicles / animals | Pink | Picture vehicles and animals, with their handlers. |
| SFX / VFX | Blue / orange | Practical effects (rain, fire, breakaways) and anything finished in post. |
| Sound | Brown | Playback, specific ambiences, anything the mixer must prepare. |
| Set dressing | Green (dark) | Anything in the set nobody touches: the diner's neon, the case photos on the wall. |
The colors are a convention, not a law. Productions differ, and a spreadsheet doesn't care. What matters is that your whole team uses one key and that nothing gets tagged “misc”.
Step 3: Fill in the breakdown sheet
Move what you marked into the sheet, one row per scene, in script order. Keep the columns consistent and keep the entries short: nouns and counts, not sentences. The sheet is a database, not a diary.
| Scene # | INT/EXT | Set | Day/Night | Pages | Description | Cast # | Extras | Props | Wardrobe | Vehicles | SFX / VFX | Sound | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | INT | Diner — Booth 4 | DAY | 2 | Reyes and Okafor compare case notes over cold coffee. | 2, 3, 1 | 6 diners, 1 waitress | Case file, two coffee cups, photo of the Suspect | Reyes: rumpled suit | Diner ambience | Maya in BG serving | ||
| 12 | INT | Diner — Kitchen | DAY | 1.25 | Maya confronts the line cook about the missing order. | 1, 4 | 2 kitchen staff | Order tickets, pass bell | Maya: apron | Steam from the line | Kitchen clatter | ||
| 12A | INT | Diner — Kitchen | NIGHT | 0.75 | Closing up alone, Maya finds the note taped under the pass. | 1 | Handwritten note (hero prop) | Maya: apron off, coat | Silence; fridge hum | Hero prop — 3 copies | |||
| 27 | EXT | Main Street Market | DAY | 1.5 | Foot chase through the crowded stalls. | 2, 5 | 40 market crowd | Fruit crates (breakaway) | Suspect: grey hoodie | Delivery van (picture) | Crowd walla | Stunt coordinator; permit | |
| 31 | EXT | Rooftop | NIGHT | 1 | The standoff at the ledge. Rain. | 2, 5, 3 | Reyes’s pistol (rubber + hero) | Wet-down doubles for all | Rain bars | Rain; distant sirens | Safety rail; armorer |
- Cast #:
- Lead with the scene’s main character. The numbers come from your cast list and never change.
- Extras:
- Count them. "Some diners" is not a number the AD can book.
- Props:
- Mark hero props (seen in close-up) — they need duplicates.
Two columns people under-use. Pages, from Step 1, which the scheduler will sum per day. And Notes, which is where safety and logistics live: armorer, safety rail, wet-down, permit. If the 1st AD reads only one column on a fast day, it's that one.
Step 4: Build the cast list and number the cast
Once every scene is tagged, list every character, count their scenes, and give each one a number, largest role first. Maya is 1, Reyes is 2, Okafor is 3. From this point the numbers replace the names on the schedule, the call sheet, and the day out of days.
Numbers are shorter, sort correctly, and survive recasting. When the actor playing Cook drops out, he's still 4 on every document; only the cast list changes.
Step 5: Check it, then protect it
Read the script one more time with the sheet beside it and look for what's missing rather than what's there. The misses are predictable: a character who is present but doesn't speak, the rain that the slugline mentions and the action forgets, the second copy of a prop that gets destroyed, the dog.
Then protect the breakdown from the thing that breaks it most: script changes.
What to do when the script changes
- Change the breakdown first. Never patch the schedule directly.
- Keep scene numbers fixed. A new scene between 12 and 13 is 12A. A deleted scene stays in the list, marked OMITTED, so the numbers around it don't shift.
- Re-count pages for any scene that changed, then re-total the days that contain it.
- Issue the revision with a date, and tell every department head what moved.
This is the part software earns its keep on. In morrow, the breakdown is generated from the script and the schedule and budget are generated from the breakdown, so a script change re-flows through all of them instead of being re-typed into each.
How long does a script breakdown take?
By hand, roughly an hour per ten pages for a careful first pass. A 90-page feature is a long day, or two comfortable ones; a 15-page short is an afternoon. Add a second, faster pass for the check in Step 5.
| Script | By hand (first pass) | With breakdown software |
|---|---|---|
| 15-page short | 1.5 to 2 hours | Minutes, plus a 30-minute review |
| 90-page feature | 8 to 12 hours | Minutes, plus a 2 to 3 hour review |
| Revision (5 changed scenes) | 1 to 2 hours, plus re-flowing the schedule | Re-generated; you review the 5 scenes |
The time isn't really the tagging. It's the second and third time you do it, after the rewrites. Plan for those.
Common mistakes
- Vague counts. “Some diners” can't be cast or budgeted. Write the number, even if it's a guess; a guess can be corrected.
- Missing the invisible elements. Rain, steam, a fridge that has to hum, a van that has to be there. If the scene implies it, the breakdown has to say it.
- Forgetting multiples. Anything that gets wet, torn, eaten, or smashed needs duplicates. Count them here, or discover it on the day.
- Tagging once and never again. The breakdown is a living document until the last shoot day. Put the revision date on it.
- Skipping the eighths. The schedule can't be built without them, so someone will do it later, in a hurry, badly.
What comes next
With the breakdown done you have everything the schedule needs. Group the rows by location, then by cast, then by day and night, and you have your first stripboard. Our guide to creating a shooting schedule picks up exactly there, and the shooting schedule template uses the same Nightfall scenes you've seen here.
Frequently asked questions
Who does the script breakdown?
On most productions the 1st AD does it, because the breakdown is the raw material for the schedule. On a small indie it is often the producer or UPM. Whoever does it, one person owns it, and everyone else works from their copy.
How long does a script breakdown take?
By hand, plan on roughly an hour per ten pages for a careful first pass, so a 90-page feature is a long day or two. Breakdown software does the first tagging pass in minutes; you still review every scene.
What are the script breakdown colors?
There is a common convention: red for cast, green for extras, purple for props, circled or blue for wardrobe, pink for vehicles and animals, and so on. Conventions vary between productions. What matters is that your team uses one key consistently.
What is an eighth of a page?
Scripts are measured in eighths because one page is roughly one minute of screen time and scenes rarely fill a whole page. A scene that runs a page and a quarter is written 1 2/8. Every department estimates time from these counts.
What do I do when the script changes after the breakdown?
Change the breakdown first, then the schedule, then everything else. Keep scene numbers fixed (a new scene between 12 and 13 becomes 12A) so nothing downstream has to be renumbered.