# Breakdown color codes

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

> Breakdown color codes are the conventional colors and symbols used to mark elements in a script during breakdown. The common scheme 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 symbols for wardrobe, makeup, and equipment.

## The common scheme

This is the set most film schools teach and most paper breakdowns use:

| Element | Mark |
|---|---|
| Cast (speaking) | Red |
| Stunts | Orange |
| Silent bits / featured extras | Yellow |
| Background actors (atmosphere) | Green |
| Special effects | Blue |
| Props | Purple (violet) |
| Vehicles and animals | Pink |
| Sound effects and music | Brown |
| Wardrobe | Circle |
| Makeup and hair | Asterisk |
| Special equipment | Box |
| Production notes | Underline |

Categories that came later, such as [visual effects](https://storiara.com/glossary/visual-effects), [set dressing](https://storiara.com/glossary/set-dressing), [greenery](https://storiara.com/glossary/greenery), security, and animal handlers, have no settled color. Scheduling software ships its own defaults for them, and offices change those. If you invent colors, write the key on the first page of the script.

## A marked-up passage

Here's a scene tagged with the scheme, with the marks written in brackets:

```
77  EXT. QUARRY ROAD - DAY

    JAKE [red] sprints for the truck [pink]. A DEPUTY [red]
    fires twice [blue: squib hits] [purple: revolver]. Jake
    dives [orange] behind the tailgate, tearing his
    jacket (circle). A hawk [pink] lifts off the rocks.
    Two QUARRY WORKERS [green] duck behind a loader [box].
    Blood on Jake's palm [asterisk].
```

Moved to the [breakdown sheet](https://storiara.com/glossary/breakdown-sheet), that becomes:

| Box | Entries |
|---|---|
| Cast | 2. Jake, 11. Deputy |
| Stunts | Jake dive behind tailgate (stunt double) |
| Background | 2 quarry workers |
| SFX | 2 squib hits on truck |
| Props | Deputy's revolver (blank-firing) |
| Vehicles / animals | Jake's pickup; trained hawk |
| Wardrobe | Jake: torn jacket, multiples |
| Makeup | Jake: blood on palm |
| Special equipment | front loader (practical) |

The dive and the gunfire both need a [stunt coordinator](https://storiara.com/roles/stunt-coordinator) and the SFX team, and the hawk needs a handler. The colors are what make those needs visible when someone flips through 110 pages.

## Mistakes with colors

Two colors that look alike under office light (pink and red, purple and blue pencil) cause mis-sorted elements, so test your pencils or highlighters first. Another trap is marking a word once and assuming it carries: the revolver in scene 77 must be marked again in every scene it appears. And people confuse these codes with [stripboard](https://storiara.com/glossary/stripboard) colors, where yellow means an exterior day scene, not a silent bit. The [stripboard color legend](https://storiara.com/tools/stripboard-color-legend) lays out the difference.

In software, the colors are just a display setting. Storiara's [script analysis](https://storiara.com/feature/script-analysis) lets you highlight text and choose what to add it as (Prop, Wardrobe, Stunt, and so on), and the highlight color on screen follows that type.

## Frequently asked questions

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

Red. Speaking cast members are underlined or highlighted in red, and they go into the cast box on the breakdown sheet by their cast ID number.

### Are breakdown color codes the same as stripboard colors?

No. Breakdown colors mark element types in the script text. Stripboard colors mark whether a whole scene is interior or exterior, day or night. They use some of the same colors for unrelated meanings.

### Do I have to use the standard breakdown colors?

Nobody enforces them, and software lets you pick your own. Sticking to the common scheme helps when you hand a marked-up script to a UPM or department head who learned the same colors.

### How do you mark wardrobe and makeup in a breakdown?

With symbols instead of colors in the traditional scheme: a circle around wardrobe items and an asterisk beside makeup and hair notes. Special equipment gets a box drawn around it, and production notes are underlined.

## Sources

- [Filmustage: Script Breakdown Symbols and Color Codes](https://filmustage.com/blog/script-breakdown-symbols-and-color-codes-a-complete-guide/)