The example is Scene 39 from SALT FLATS, the fight between Dell and his brother Hollis on the salt flats. It's one and six eighths of a page in the script and two lines of action, and it touches almost every box on the sheet. That's why it's a good one to learn on: scenes that are short on the page are the ones most often missed in a breakdown.
For a general walkthrough of the breakdown process and what the sheet is for, read how to fill out a script breakdown sheet. This page is about the template's layout and how to fill each part for a real scene.
The two halves of the sheet
The top half is the scene header. Everything in it is copied or counted from the script: scene number, INT or EXT, the set as written in the heading, day or night, and the page count in eighths. Three fields take some judgment. The script day (D5 here) is the day in the story, which the script supervisor usually confirms. The synopsis should be one sentence a stranger could match to the scene. The location is where you'll actually shoot, which you may not know yet in early prep. Leave it blank until the location manager confirms it.
The bottom half is the element boxes. Each category has its traditional color, used when marking up the script and when coloring the boxes on the sheet. The full scheme and its variations are in script breakdown color codes. Some categories, like wardrobe and makeup, are traditionally marked with a shape rather than a color.
The last five rows (set dressing, greenery, visual effects, livestock, security and additional labor) are empty on Scene 39. They're in the template because other scenes will need them, and it's faster to leave a box empty than to add rows later.
Filling it in, one scene at a time
- Read the whole scene once without marking anything.
- Fill the header. Copy scene number, INT or EXT, set, and D/N straight from the scene heading.
- Count the eighths. Divide the page into eight equal strips, about an inch each, and count how many the scene covers. Scene 39 starts at the top of page 58, fills it, and runs six eighths down page 59, so it's 1 6/8. The page count calculator helps when a scene spans several pages.
- Write the synopsis and add the script day. Check the script day against the scenes around it.
- Read again with colored pencils or highlights and mark every element: underline names in red, props in violet, and so on.
- Transfer each marked element to its box. Use character numbers with names for cast (1. DELL), so the sheet matches the stripboard.
- Add what the script implies but doesn't say. "They fight" means a stunt coordinator, doubles, pads, multiples of wardrobe, and injury makeup. The guide to breaking down stunts, SFX, and VFX covers those.
- Write production notes for anything that affects scheduling, safety, or continuity.
- Give the sheet to each department head to add their own details and multiples.
- When a revision comes out, update the sheet, change the revision field, and flag what changed.
What Scene 39 needs that the script doesn't say
The script says Dell and Hollis fight until neither can stand. The breakdown has to translate that into things someone will rent, buy, or book.
Wardrobe needs three sets each for Dell and Hollis, because the costumes get progressively dirtier and a take can ruin a set. The doubles need matching sets as well.
Makeup gets tricky because of the schedule. The fight shoots on Day 11, but Scenes 40, 41, 43, and 44, which happen after the fight in the story, shoot on Day 10. The split lip and bruised cheekbone are designed and applied a day before anyone has thrown a punch on camera, so the makeup department needs them agreed on in prep with reference photos.
The tow chain appears in the scene as a hero steel chain. For any take where it's swung or someone falls on it, props swaps in a rubber one. Both go in the props box, because the prop master buys both.
Sound gets a wild track. Salt flats are windy, and the mixer will want clean scuffles and punches recorded after the scene.
Mistakes that get expensive
Counting pages by feel. A scene that's "about a page" might be 1 6/8. On a 70-page script those errors add up to a wrong number of shoot days.
Listing a prop once when the scene needs multiples. Anything that breaks, gets wet, or gets bloody needs a count.
Blank boxes that mean "didn't check". Write "None" in categories you've considered. An empty box on Scene 39 for extras means someone confirmed there are none. A blank one means nobody looked.
Cast by name only. If the breakdown says "Hollis" and the board says "3", someone will eventually mismatch a recast or a renamed character.
Treating the breakdown as done after the first pass. The blue revisions changed three scenes on SALT FLATS. Every revision gets a pass on the affected sheets.
Where the sheet goes next
Each sheet becomes one strip on the stripboard and one row on the shooting schedule. Departments pull their boxes into their own lists: props into the prop list, costumes into the wardrobe breakdown. Cast numbers from the sheets drive the day out of days, and stunt and special equipment lines drive their budget accounts.
Doing the breakdown in Storiara
Storiara reads an uploaded script into scenes with INT/EXT, time of day, and page lengths in eighths, and those scenes can go straight onto the schedule. In the Script & Breakdown View, you highlight text in the script and choose what to add it as, for example "a loaded revolver" as a prop, and the app fills in a name and description. Props, wardrobe, vehicles and animals, and hair and makeup can be pulled from the script and tagged to scenes. More on the script analysis feature page.