# Script Breakdown Color Codes: The Chart and How to Mark a Script

Source: https://storiara.com/blog/script-breakdown-color-codes
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Nick Harty, Storiara

> Script breakdown color codes assign one color or symbol to each element type so anyone can scan a marked script. The usual chart is red for cast, orange for stunts, yellow for silent bits, green for background, blue for special effects, purple for props, pink for vehicles and animals, and brown for sound and music, with a circle for wardrobe, an asterisk for makeup, and a box for special equipment.

## The chart

Print this, tape it inside the script binder, and write it on the first page of any script you hand to someone else.

| Element | Mark | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Cast (speaking or principal) | Red | Every character a principal performer plays, by cast ID |
| Stunts | Orange | Falls, fights, precision driving, anything a stunt coordinator signs off on |
| Silent bits / featured extras | Yellow | Background with a specific action or a clear eyeline to camera |
| Background (atmosphere) | Green | Crowd counts with a description |
| Special effects | Blue | Rain, smoke, squibs, breakaways, anything rigged live |
| Props | Purple | Anything an actor handles |
| Vehicles and animals | Pink | Picture cars, horses, the dog in the back seat |
| Sound effects and music | Brown | Playback, specific practical sounds, songs characters hear |
| Wardrobe | Circle | Costume pieces the script calls out, damage, changes |
| Makeup and hair | Asterisk | Blood, bruises, aging, wet hair, wigs |
| Special equipment | Box | Crane, Steadicam, drone, underwater housing |
| Production notes | Underline | Questions and warnings for the AD or producer |

This matches our [breakdown color codes](https://storiara.com/glossary/breakdown-color-codes) glossary entry. If you've seen a chart with yellow for cast or green for props, that's a different scheme passed around online. No union or studio enforces a single chart, so the rule that matters is internal consistency: one chart for the whole script, written down where the next reader will see it.

## Categories the chart doesn't cover

The classic chart predates several departments that now get their own breakdown boxes. There's no settled color for visual effects, set dressing, greenery, security, animal handlers, or intimacy coordination. Here is what I do on paper, and it's only a convention for my own scripts:

| Category | My mark | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Visual effects | Blue with "VFX" written in the margin | Keeps the practical versus digital question next to the effect |
| Set dressing | Purple with "SD" | Same color family as props, so the prop master and set decorator settle who owns it |
| Greenery | Green pencil with a leaf doodle | Greens rarely conflict with background because greens are nouns and extras are people |
| Minors on set | Red with a circled "M" | The 2nd AD needs to spot every scene with a minor for work hours and a studio teacher |

Whatever you pick, add it to the key on page one. A key that only lives in your head disappears the day you get sick and someone else updates the breakdown.

## Marking a scene, pass by pass

Here's a scene from a fictional indie called *Low Water*, marked with the chart. Brackets stand in for the colors:

```
23  EXT. MARINA BOAT RAMP - NIGHT                          23

    Rain [blue]. TESS [red] backs her father's pickup [pink]
    down the ramp, trailer hitched [pink]. Two DOCKHANDS [green]
    in slickers (circle) watch from the bait shack.

    A DEPUTY [yellow] leans out of his cruiser [pink], radio
    crackling [brown].

    Tess slips on the wet ramp [orange] and catches herself on
    the winch. Her palm comes away bloody [asterisk].

                         TESS
               Don't just stand there.

    The winch strap [purple] snaps [blue]. The skiff rolls off
    the trailer into black water.
```

I don't try to catch every category in a single read. Three passes go faster and miss less:

1. People first. Red for anyone with lines or a principal role, yellow for the deputy (he's in a specific action, leaning out, no line), green for the dockhands with a count.
2. Things second. Pink for the pickup, trailer, and cruiser, purple for the winch strap, circle for the slickers.
3. Risk and effects last. Blue for the rain and the rigged strap snap, orange for the slip on a wet ramp, asterisk for the blood, brown for the radio.

The third pass is the one people rush. The slip on a wet ramp reads like a stage direction, and it's also a performer falling on a slick concrete incline at night in rain. Orange it and let the [stunt coordinator](https://storiara.com/roles/stunt-coordinator) decide whether Tess's actor does it or a double does.

Once marked, the scene moves to its [breakdown sheet](https://storiara.com/glossary/breakdown-sheet). The [script breakdown example](https://storiara.com/blog/script-breakdown-example) post walks a full scene all the way through the sheet, so here's the short version of scene 23:

| Box | Entries |
|---|---|
| Cast | 1. Tess |
| Silent bits | Deputy (in cruiser, radio) |
| Background | 2 dockhands in slickers |
| Stunts | Tess slip on wet ramp (coordinator to assess; possible double) |
| SFX | Rain towers over ramp; winch strap snap rig |
| Vehicles | Tess's father's pickup; boat trailer; skiff; sheriff's cruiser |
| Props | Winch strap (hero plus breakaway multiples) |
| Wardrobe | Dockhands: slickers x2; Tess: wet-down doubles |
| Makeup | Tess: cut palm, blood |
| Sound | Police radio chatter (playback or wild track) |

## Practical problems with colored pencils

A few things go wrong every time someone breaks down on paper.

Colors that look fine at your desk blur under fluorescent office light. Pink and red pencil are the usual casualty, followed by purple and blue. Test your set on a scrap page, and if two colors look close, swap one for a highlighter.

Highlighters bleed through thin copy paper, which puts a green smear on the back of the next page's action lines. Pencil or fine felt tip avoids it.

Photocopies and PDF scans kill color. If the marked script will be scanned and emailed, write the category initial beside each mark (C, S, BG, P, V) so a black-and-white copy still reads. The same habit helps anyone on the crew who has trouble telling red from green.

Colors don't carry. Marking the revolver purple in scene 12 does nothing for scene 31, where it shows up again. Mark every appearance. On a feature, the prop you forgot to re-mark is the one missing from the call sheet on the day it's needed.

## Three color systems that get confused

A production runs three unrelated color systems, and newer crew mix them up:

| System | What the color means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Breakdown colors | Element category inside the script text | Yellow = silent bit |
| [Stripboard colors](https://storiara.com/blog/stripboard-colors-explained) | Whether a whole scene is INT/EXT and DAY/NIGHT | Yellow strip = exterior day |
| [Revision colors](https://storiara.com/glossary/revision-colors) | Which draft a script page belongs to | Yellow page = third revision |

So "the yellow scene on the yellow pages" can mean three different things. The [stripboard color legend](https://storiara.com/tools/stripboard-color-legend) shows the board system side by side if you need to explain it at a production meeting.

## Colors in software

In software, color is a display setting attached to a category. Final Draft's Tags mode, for example, shows tagged text in each category's assigned color, and the manual notes that tagged items go back to normal script color when you leave Tags mode. Each category's text color, highlight, and style can be edited in the Categories window. The [Final Draft breakdown walkthrough](https://storiara.com/blog/how-to-break-down-a-script-in-final-draft) covers those steps.

The thing to get right in any program is the category, since that decides which department list the element lands on. A breakaway bottle tagged as a prop goes to the prop master; tagged as SFX it goes to the effects team. Colors only help you see the mistake.

In Storiara, you highlight text in the Script & Breakdown View and choose what to add it as (Character, Prop, Wardrobe, Vehicle, Animal, Makeup, Hair, Visual FX, Sound FX, Music, Stunt, Extra, and so on), and the item is filed in that module. The [tagging how-to](https://storiara.com/docs/how-to/tag-breakdown-elements) has the exact steps.

## Before you hand the script off

Run through this on the last page:

- The key is written on page one, including any categories you invented.
- Every scene has at least a red mark or a note saying why not (an empty establishing shot, an insert).
- Background marks have numbers next to them. "Crowd" isn't a count.
- Every orange mark has a question or a name next to it for the stunt coordinator.
- Anything that could be SFX or VFX has the undecided option written in the margin.

Then copy it to sheets with the [script breakdown sheet template](https://storiara.com/templates/script-breakdown-sheet), or start from the reading order on the [script breakdown learning path](https://storiara.com/learn/script-breakdown).

## Frequently asked questions

### What color is props in a script breakdown?

Purple, sometimes called violet. Mark every prop in every scene where it appears, including props the script implies but never names, like the phone a character reads a text on.

### Is there an official script breakdown color chart?

No guild or studio publishes a binding one. The chart in this post is the one most film schools teach and most paper breakdowns follow, and charts you find online sometimes swap colors. Pick one, print the key on page one, and keep it for the whole show.

### What color are extras in a breakdown?

Green for general background (atmosphere) and yellow for silent bits or featured extras who do something specific on camera. The split matters because featured extras get cast and placed individually.

### How do you mark wardrobe if there is no wardrobe color?

Draw a circle around the wardrobe item. Makeup and hair notes get an asterisk, special equipment gets a box, and general production notes are underlined in pencil.

### Can I use my own colors in breakdown software?

Yes. Final Draft lets you set the text color, highlight, and style for each tag category, and most breakdown programs have their own defaults. What matters is that the category is right, since the color only controls how it displays.

## Sources

- [Filmustage: Script Breakdown Symbols and Color Codes](https://filmustage.com/blog/script-breakdown-symbols-and-color-codes-a-complete-guide/)
- [Final Draft 13 User Guide (Mac), Tagging chapter](https://www.finaldraft.com/downloads/manuals/fd13-user-guide-mac-exported.pdf)