Pre-Production
Script Breakdown Fundamentals
Before a film can be scheduled, budgeted, or shot, someone has to take the script apart — scene by scene, element by element. The breakdown is where a screenplay becomes a plan for production. Learn to read a script like an assistant director. Taught from the set by a working filmmaker.
What you'll learn
✓How to lock a script and measure every scene in eighths of a page
✓The standard color codes and how to mark up a script for every element
✓How to fill out breakdown sheets for cast, extras, props, wardrobe, and more
✓How the breakdown drives the production board, the schedule, and day out of days
Pairs with this tool
Scene Analysis
The Scene Analysis tool reads your script scene by scene and surfaces the elements in each one — cast, props, locations, and more — giving you a head start on a full breakdown instead of marking every page by hand.
Open Scene Analysis →Course chapters
Module 1 — Foundations
I8 min
How a script becomes a plan for production
What Is a Script Breakdown?
II8 min
Locking pages and scene numbers before you break down
Locking the Script
III9 min
Measuring every scene in eighths of a page
The Eighths System
IV9 min
The standard breakdown elements and their color codes
Elements & Color Codes
Module 2 — Core Craft
V9 min
Reading and tagging every element on the page
Marking Up the Script
VI10 min
Filling out one breakdown sheet per scene
The Breakdown Sheet
VII9 min
Numbering cast and counting extras and stunts
Cast, Extras & Stunts
VIII9 min
Props, wardrobe, vehicles, and special elements
Props, Wardrobe & Special Elements
Module 3 — Scheduling & Delivery
IX9 min
Turning breakdown sheets into a stripboard
The Production Board
X10 min
Ordering the strips into an efficient shooting schedule
Scheduling from the Breakdown
XI9 min
Day out of days, and how the breakdown feeds the budget
Day Out of Days & Budgeting
XII9 min
Software, and the traps that ruin a breakdown
Software & Common Mistakes