Glossary pages cover each department on its own: stunts, special effects, and visual effects. This post takes one action scene and splits it among all three, since that's where breakdowns go wrong. Moments get tagged once under whichever department the reader thought of first.
The scene
From a fictional thriller, Dry County. 1 6/8 pages, night exterior, one location.
58 EXT. HALVERSON LUMBER YARD - NIGHT 58
Rain. Floodlights on poles. DEPUTY ROWE (40s) crouches
behind a forklift, revolver drawn.
Headlights. MARCUS's (30s) pickup smashes through the
chain-link gate, clips a stack of pallets, and skids to
a stop sideways.
Rowe fires. The windshield spiderwebs. Marcus bails out
the passenger side, rolls, and runs for the loading dock.
Rowe gives chase. Marcus scrambles up onto the dock and
Rowe grabs his ankle. Marcus kicks free. Rowe falls
backward off the dock, six feet onto wet gravel.
Marcus pulls a lever. A bundle of lumber swings off the
crane hook and crashes down between them.
Through the settling sawdust and rain, Marcus is gone.
Above the yard, the floodlight on the nearest pole
sparks and dies.
Pass 1: list every beat
Read for verbs, and write each beat as its own line before assigning departments. The action paragraphs break into ten beats:
- Rain over the whole yard
- Pickup crashes through gate
- Pickup clips pallets, skids sideways
- Rowe fires revolver
- Windshield spiderwebs
- Marcus bails out, rolls, runs
- Ankle grab and kick on the dock
- Rowe falls six feet onto gravel
- Lumber bundle swings and crashes between them
- Floodlight sparks and dies
Pass 2: split each beat by department
| # | Beat | Stunts | SFX | VFX | Other departments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rain | Wet surfaces for every stunt below | Rain towers and water truck over the playing area | Rain enhancement in wide shots beyond tower coverage | Wardrobe wet-down doubles; camera rain covers; electric: floodlights near water |
| 2 | Gate crash | Stunt driver for Marcus | Pre-scored breakaway gate panel | Possible cleanup of gate rigging | Transportation: picture vehicle plus a stunt-prepped duplicate |
| 3 | Pallets and skid | Stunt driver; precision mark | Breakaway pallet stack (light wood or foam) | None if practical works | Art: pallet stack dressing and resets |
| 4 | Revolver fire | Rowe's actor near a firing weapon | Blank-firing or non-firing revolver per armorer; or none | Muzzle flash and smoke if non-firing | Props / armorer; safety meeting |
| 5 | Windshield hit | Marcus in the cab during the hit: actor or double | Squib or air-driven glass hit on a scored windshield | Digital windshield crack if no practical | Transportation: spare windshields for resets |
| 6 | Bail and roll | Stunt double for Marcus; pads under gravel | None | None | Wardrobe: multiples for torn and muddy looks |
| 7 | Ankle grab | Fight choreography, coordinator present; could be actors | None | None | Makeup: scrapes |
| 8 | Six-foot fall | Stunt double for Rowe; catch pads or boxes hidden below frame | None | Pad removal if visible | Wardrobe: matching doubles; set medic |
| 9 | Lumber drop | Performers kept clear of the drop zone | Lightweight foam or balsa lumber rigged on a controlled release; or none | Full CG lumber if the rig is unsafe or slow | Grip or rigging for the crane; art for hero lumber |
| 10 | Floodlight sparks | None | Spark effect on the fixture, run with electric | Or digital sparks and a light cue | Electric: dimmer cue for the light dying |
Ten beats, and eight involve at least two departments. That table goes to the production meeting, and each blank "or" becomes a decision with a name next to it.
Pass 3: practical or digital, and who decides
Each open question gets settled by the people who'll pay for it and make it safe:
| Question | Who's in the room | What drives the answer |
|---|---|---|
| Real rain or digital rain | Director, DP, special effects supervisor, VFX supervisor, line producer | Night exterior with close coverage usually wants practical rain on the actors. Wide shots can extend it digitally |
| Blank-firing gun or non-firing with VFX flash | Director, armorer or prop master, stunt coordinator, producer | Actor proximity, the production's firearms policy, and budget for VFX shots |
| Practical lumber drop or CG | SFX, stunt coordinator, VFX, grip | Whether a lightweight rig can land between performers safely and reset in reasonable time |
| Floodlight sparks | Electric, SFX, VFX | Many productions use a practical light cue and add sparks in post |
Write the answer on the breakdown sheet. A "TBD" on the sheet means neither department puts it in their bid, and you find the gap when the VFX vendor's number comes in without muzzle flashes.
The breakdown sheet for scene 58
| Box | Entries |
|---|---|
| Cast | 3. Marcus, 5. Deputy Rowe |
| Stunts | Stunt coordinator; stunt driver (Marcus, gate crash and skid); stunt double Marcus (bail and roll); stunt double Rowe (dock fall, 6 ft to gravel); fight choreography for ankle grab |
| Special effects | Rain towers and water truck; breakaway gate panel; breakaway pallets x3 sets; windshield hit rig; lightweight lumber bundle on controlled release (pending approval); fixture spark effect (pending) |
| Visual effects | Rain extension on wides; muzzle flash and smoke if non-firing gun; rig and pad cleanup; CG lumber (fallback) |
| Props | Rowe's revolver (hero and rubber); armorer |
| Vehicles | Marcus's pickup: hero plus stunt-prepped duplicate; spare windshields x3 |
| Wardrobe | Marcus and Rowe: wet-down multiples for actors and both doubles, torn and muddy progressions |
| Makeup | Marcus: palm scrapes; Rowe: gravel abrasions after fall |
| Special equipment | Condor or lift for rain; crane with operator for lumber rig |
| Notes | Safety bulletins attached; set medic; water truck and pumps; gravel inspected for rocks around fall zone |
Safety bulletins
The Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee publishes safety bulletins, hosted by Contract Services, and its page states they may be reproduced and attached to call sheets. The committee describes them as recommended guidelines, and state, federal, or local regulations override them where they apply. For scene 58, the relevant ones from the bulletin list:
| Bulletin | Title | Scene 58 beat |
|---|---|---|
| No. 1 | Recommendations for the Use of Firearms, Blanks, and Dummy Rounds | 4, 5 |
| No. 4 | Stunts | 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 |
| No. 18 | Guidelines for Safe Use of Stunt Air Bags, Boxes or Other Freefall Catch Systems | 8 |
| No. 23 | Guidelines for Working with Portable Power Distribution Systems and Other Electrical Equipment | 1, 10 (floodlights and rain) |
If the production chose pyrotechnic sparks or an actual flame, bulletins No. 16 (pyrotechnic special effects) and No. 19 (open flame) would join the list. The 2nd AD attaches them to the call sheet, and the 1st AD runs a safety meeting before the first rehearsal.
What this does to the schedule
Scene 58 is 1 6/8 pages. On a dialogue day, that's a morning. Here, every stunt beat needs a rehearsal at walking speed, then at speed, before cameras roll. Breakaways and windshields need a full reset between takes, and the rain needs to be turned off and on around resets. Wet doubles need to be dried or changed. Night exteriors also cap your day at the hours of darkness.
So build action days from setups and resets, since the page count says little about how long scene 58 takes. Ask the stunt coordinator and SFX supervisor for their time estimates per beat and build the day from those. The pages per day guide explains why a big action page count can take several nights. Often the right answer is splitting scene 58 across two nights, the vehicle work on one and the dock fight and lumber drop on the other, possibly with a second unit handling inserts.
What this does to the budget
Each department prices its lines differently. Stunts price by performer days, coordinator days, rehearsal days, and rigging. SFX prices by crew days, rigs, and consumables like breakaways and windshields, which multiply with takes. VFX prices by shot, so its number depends on the shot list and on how many of the "or" decisions went digital. In a typical chart of accounts those land in separate accounts, and our post on VFX and music budgeting covers how to carry VFX shot counts before the edit exists.
Common misses
- Tagging the gate crash as a vehicle and forgetting the stunt driver.
- Listing the fall and forgetting matching wardrobe for the double.
- Budgeting practical rain and forgetting the water truck, the pumps, and the permit for running water on a location.
- Tagging a gunshot as a prop and not flagging the armorer or the VFX flash.
- Leaving the lumber drop undecided until the tech scout, when the crane rental is already booked.
In Storiara, the Music & Effects module groups items under Visuals, Sound, Music, and Stunts, and you can highlight text in the script to add a Stunt, Visual FX, or Sound FX item to the scene. The breakdowns documentation has the details.