Start with the header, not the strips
A board makes no sense until you've read its header. On a printed board, the header is the first block at the top (on a traditional paper board, the tall card at the left end). It carries the production title, the version color and date, and the cast list with ID numbers.
Here's the header of RIVER ROAD, a fictional feature set on a Kentucky tobacco farm:
| ID | Character | ID | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JUNE BRENNAN | 5 | SHERIFF OAKES |
| 2 | TOM BRENNAN | 6 | PASTOR LEWIS |
| 3 | CAL BRENNAN | 7 | DR. AMBROSE |
| 4 | LILA HART | 8 | YOUNG CAL |
Board: BLUE REVISION, 9/28/26. Legend: white INT day, yellow EXT day, blue INT night, green EXT night, black day break, gray banner.
Two things to check before reading on. First, the version. If your copy says WHITE and the office sent BLUE yesterday, stop and get the new one. Second, the legend. Most boards use the colors above, but some productions change them, and the stripboard color legend shows the variations.
The ID numbers are the same everywhere: on the breakdown sheets, the day out of days, and the call sheet. Learn the ones that matter to you. A makeup artist on RIVER ROAD will know by the end of week one that 3 and 8 are Cal at two ages, which matters on every day with a flashback.
One strip, field by field
Every strip is a single scene. Here's scene 27 as it prints on the RIVER ROAD board:
| Field | On the strip | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Color | White | Interior, day |
| Scene | 27 | Script scene number. A letter (27A) means a scene added after numbering was locked |
| I/E | INT | Interior. INT/EXT means both, such as a porch or a car |
| Set | BRENNAN FARMHOUSE - KITCHEN | The set as written in the scene heading |
| D/N | D | How the scene plays on screen, not the time it's shot |
| Pages | 2 3/8 | Length in eighths of a page |
| Script day | D4 | Story day 4. Wardrobe, makeup, and props track continuity by this |
| Cast | 1, 2, 3 | June, Tom, and Cal are in the scene |
| BG | 2 | Two background actors |
| Synopsis | Tom tells the family the farm is sold | One line so you can find the scene without the script |
| Location | LOC 02 | The practical location, keyed to the location list |
Some boards add columns for stunts, vehicles, animals, special effects, or estimated shoot time. Movie Magic Scheduling's strip designer, for example, offers fields such as Script Day, ID List, Unit, Shoot Time, Sunrise, and Sunset. If a field is blank, it usually means none, but ask the AD before assuming a blank vehicle column means no picture car.
The page count is the one people over-read. It measures script length, not shoot time. A 1/8 scene that says "the barn burns" can take a day. Page eighths explains how the count works.
Day breaks and banners
A black day break ends each shoot day. On RIVER ROAD it reads: "END OF DAY 6. WED 10/14/26. 5 1/8 PGS." The total is the sum of the strips above it back to the previous day break.
Gray strips are banners. They carry notes that sit in order with the scenes: "COMPANY MOVE TO COUNTY COURTHOUSE," "WEEKEND," "SC. 41 STUNT. SAFETY MEETING AT CALL." Banners have no pages and no cast, so they don't change the day's total.
Reading two days together
Most of what a board tells you comes from reading a run of strips together. Here are Days 6 and 7:
| Color | Sc. | I/E | Set | D/N | Pgs | Day | Cast | BG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 27 | INT | BRENNAN FARMHOUSE - KITCHEN | D | 2 3/8 | D4 | 1, 2, 3 | 2 |
| White | 29 | INT | BRENNAN FARMHOUSE - KITCHEN | D | 1 | D5 | 1, 3 | |
| Yellow | 30 | EXT | BRENNAN FARMHOUSE - PORCH | D | 1 6/8 | D5 | 1, 3, 4 | |
| Black | END OF DAY 6. WED 10/14/26 | 5 1/8 | ||||||
| Gray | BANNER: COUNTY COURTHOUSE, SPLIT DAY. CALL 11:00A | |||||||
| White | 44 | INT | COURTHOUSE - HALLWAY | D | 1 2/8 | D9 | 2, 5 | 6 |
| White | 45 | INT | COURTHOUSE - COURTROOM | D | 2 4/8 | D9 | 1, 2, 5, 6 | 20 |
| Green | 46 | EXT | COURTHOUSE STEPS | N | 1 1/8 | D9 | 1, 2 | 4 |
| Black | END OF DAY 7. THU 10/15/26 | 4 7/8 |
Check the totals first. Day 6: 2 3/8 + 1 + 1 6/8. Whole pages 2 + 1 + 1 = 4; eighths 3 + 6 = 9, which is 1 1/8. Total 5 1/8. Day 7: 1 2/8 + 2 4/8 + 1 1/8. Whole pages 4; eighths 2 + 4 + 1 = 7. Total 4 7/8. Both match the day breaks.
Now read it the way a department head would.
Who's working. June (1) works both days. Tom (2) is on Day 6 in scene 27 only, then all of Day 7. Cal (3) is off on Day 7, and Lila (4) works one scene on Day 6. Sheriff Oakes (5) and Pastor Lewis (6) start on Day 7. If you're the 2nd AD, that's cast 5 and 6 as start-work days on the day out of days.
Where the company is. Day 6 is the farmhouse, moving from the kitchen to the porch in the afternoon, which is a set move, not a company move. Day 7 is a different location entirely, and the banner says it's a split day with an 11:00A call.
Light and time. Day 6 ends on a yellow strip, a day exterior, so the porch scene has to finish before sunset. Day 7 ends green: the courthouse steps at night. That's why Day 7 is a split day with a late call, and it means Friday's call will be pushed later by turnaround.
Story days. Day 6 covers D4 and D5, so June changes wardrobe between scenes 27 and 29. Day 7 is all D9, so each character keeps one look all day. D9 follows D6 through D8, which shoot on other days, so costume needs continuity photos of the D8 looks on hand.
Crowd. Scene 45 needs 20 background actors in the courtroom. Look for extras casting, holding space at the courthouse, and wardrobe for twenty people on Day 7.
Reading for your department
| Department | Scan these fields |
|---|---|
| Camera, grip, electric | Color, I/E, D/N, location, day breaks, banners for moves |
| Costume, hair, makeup | Cast IDs, script day, synopsis |
| Props, set dressing | Set, script day, synopsis, element columns |
| Transportation | Location, banners for company moves, BG counts |
| Locations | Location, D/N (night work means neighbors), day breaks for dates |
| Production office and accounting | Cast IDs across days, day totals, split days and nights |
Paper boards read sideways
If you're handed a physical board, the strips run vertically. The header card sits at the left with character names written down it, one row per cast ID. Each strip has its scene information printed along the top, and a number appears on the strip in a character's row when that character is in the scene. Reading across a row shows every scene a character works in; reading down a strip shows everyone in one scene. The information is the same as a printed row-based board, rotated 90 degrees. Strip and stripboard in the glossary cover the physical format.
When something looks wrong
A board is a working document, and you're allowed to ask. Good questions for the 1st AD: why is this location visited twice, can this actor's days be grouped, does this exterior finish before sunset, is there a move between these two strips that isn't bannered. If you're building your own, stripboard colors explained and the stripboard template are the next reads, and what is a one-line schedule shows how the same strips print as a list.
In Storiara, the strips on the schedule come from the uploaded script's scenes, with INT or EXT and day or night already filled in (page counts in eighths are on the Scenes page), and the view switcher moves between the stripboard and the cast Day Out of Days built from it.