The order
| Revision | Color | Typical header |
|---|---|---|
| Production draft | White | WHITE DRAFT 10/01/26 |
| 1st | Blue | BLUE REVISIONS 10/08/26 |
| 2nd | Pink | PINK REVISIONS 10/13/26 |
| 3rd | Yellow | YELLOW REVISIONS 10/17/26 |
| 4th | Green | GREEN REVISIONS 10/22/26 |
| 5th | Goldenrod | GOLDENROD REVISIONS 10/27/26 |
| 6th | Buff | BUFF REVISIONS 11/02/26 |
| 7th | Salmon | SALMON REVISIONS 11/05/26 |
| 8th | Cherry | CHERRY REVISIONS 11/09/26 |
| 9th | Tan | TAN REVISIONS 11/12/26 |
| 10th | Double white | 2ND WHITE REVISIONS 11/16/26 |
This is the cycle built into Final Draft's feature and TV templates, which the Final Draft 13 manual says follow WGA and Cole & Haag conventions. The manual also notes that some shows have their own patterns. Past cherry, lists vary more (gray and ivory show up), and some UK productions swap blue and pink. Our revision colors glossary entry has the short version. Whatever the order, it belongs on the cover sheet of every revision so nobody has to guess.
The date matters as much as the color. Two blue revisions a year apart on a long TV season are different documents, and the date is how you tell them apart.
Anatomy of a revised page
PINK REVISIONS 10/13/26 31A.
42A INT. GAS STATION - CONTINUOUS 42A *
The CLERK dials. Watches Maya's taillights. *
CLERK *
Yeah. She's headed north on 9. *
43 EXT. ROUTE 9 - NIGHT 43
Four things to read on that page:
- The header gives the revision color and date. On a collated script (below), it shows the most recent revision that touched this page.
- The page number 31A tells you this material overflowed page 31 after pages were locked. See A-pages.
- Scene 42A is a new scene inserted after lock. See A-scenes.
- Asterisks in the right margin mark every changed line, including a line where something was deleted.
Collated pages and full drafts
Most revisions are collated. Only the changed pages go out, each in the new color, and crew members swap them into their existing scripts. After a few rounds, a script is a mix of colors: page 12 yellow, page 13 white, page 31 green. That's normal, and each page's color tells you when it last changed.
At some point so much has changed that swapping pages is pointless. The production issues a full draft in the new color, and every page is that color whether it changed or not. The Final Draft 13 manual describes the usual trigger as more than 50 percent of pages revised in a given color, after which the draft is known as, for example, the "Full Blue."
How a revision moves through the office
A revision is a small process with a lot of people in it. On a feature it usually goes like this:
- Writers make changes in Revision Mode in the locked script file, with the next color set active.
- The script coordinator or production office checks the pages: headers, asterisks, A-pages, scene numbers.
- The 1st AD and UPM read the asterisked lines for schedule and cost impact before distribution.
- The production coordinator distributes the pages with a cover memo listing the color, date, and every page included.
- Departments pull old pages, insert new ones, and update their lists.
- The breakdown, schedule, and call sheets get updated from the revision.
Step 3 gets skipped under pressure, and then a new speaking part shows up on the call sheet two days after the pages went out.
The cover memo
LOW WATER
PINK REVISIONS 10/13/26
Please replace the following pages:
1, 12, 31, 31A, 44, 47-48
Scene changes:
- Sc. 42A added (INT. GAS STATION - CONTINUOUS)
- Sc. 57 OMITTED
- Sc. 61 dialogue revised
Listing the scene changes as well as page numbers saves every department from reading the whole set to find out whether anything affects them.
What a revision means for the breakdown
Take those pink pages and turn them into work:
| Change | Breakdown update | Who else hears about it |
|---|---|---|
| Sc. 42A added: clerk speaks one line | New sheet for 42A, measure eighths, add clerk to cast list | Casting (new speaking role), 2nd AD (DOOD), wardrobe (fitting) |
| Sc. 57 OMITTED | Pull the strip; check each element for other scenes | Locations (release hold on the grange hall), props (raffle drum only in 57?) |
| Sc. 61 dialogue revised, adds 2/8 | Update 61's eighths on sheet and strip; recheck that day's page total | Script supervisor |
| Page 1 typo | Nothing | Nobody |
The routine I use: read only the asterisked lines, write every element added or removed, then push changes to departments the same day. The omitted scene entry has a longer example of what a cut releases.
Setting it up in Final Draft
These steps come from the Final Draft 13 manual:
- Lock pages first with Production > Lock Pages. When asked, turn on Revision Mode. From then on, overflow text goes to A-pages and deleted text doesn't pull later text backward.
- Open Production > Revisions. The Revision Set table lists the sets; most Final Draft templates already include the standard US production colors, and you add the date to each set's label.
- Make the next set active. The manual's best practice is to move down the list in order, since skipping sets or choosing them out of order can cause unexpected results.
- Check Show Page Colors to see the set's color down the sides of revised pages on screen (in Page View). A PDF of a revised script can show the whole page colored.
- Choose what the header shows under Show Text and Marks: the active revision set only, a collated script (each page shows its most recent set), or all sets.
- Use Production > Mark Revised or Clear Revised to fix marks by hand when needed. The asterisk is the standard mark, and the manual recommends no more than two characters if you change it.
The manual also recommends saving each revision set as its own file, like "LOW WATER PINK.fdx", and warns against deleting a revision set that has already been used, since it can break page labels and printing.
Paper, PDFs, and watermarks
Colored paper still shows up on stages and in production offices, because a colored page in a binder is visible from across a room. Many shows now distribute PDFs, and some also watermark each copy with the recipient's name. Either way, the color sequence and the header do the same job. If you distribute PDFs, name files with the color and date ("LOW WATER PINK 10-13-26.pdf") so the file list sorts sensibly and an old attachment is easy to spot.
Keeping software in step
Every revision has to reach the tools built from the script. In Storiara you upload the new script as a new version of the same story, activate it, and re-pull content; switching the active version re-pulls scenes and assets from the new draft. The switch is blocked once scenes or shots are on the stripboard, so after scheduling starts, revised scenes are edited by hand on the Scenes page. The upload a new script version guide has the steps. Then do the same asterisk-by-asterisk check against the Scenes list that you would on paper, since new scenes, omissions, and changed eighths are what move the schedule. For how the scene numbers themselves should behave through revisions, see scene numbering rules.