Breakdown

Break down a scene in the detail view

The scene detail view is where you do the hands-on work of breaking down a scene: tag its elements, set its metadata, and write its synopsis. It uses a two-panel layout — the screenplay text on the left and the breakdown detail panel on the right. This article covers the detail panel’s fields and tabs.

Before you start

You have a script with parsed scenes.
To edit anything here, you need edit access. Project Owners and Admins must first turn on Edit mode with the View/Edit toggle in the header; other members with edit access can edit directly. Without edit mode, the panel is read-only.

Open a scene

To open the scene detail view, select a scene row on the Breakdowns tab of the breakdown overview. The header’s previous and next arrows and the scene picker move you between scenes without returning to the overview.

The scene list

In wide layouts a scene-list rail sits to the left of the screenplay. Above the list, a search box filters the scenes and a Script order / Shooting order toggle sets how they are ordered. The list contains the current revision’s visible ordinary scenes, copies, and split parts. Each row keeps the scene-number chip, then shows INT/EXT and daytime with the Set as its primary line and a clamped synopsis underneath. Copy and split badges remain visible. The routed scene has a strong full-row selected background, distinct from hover. Select any row to jump straight to that scene.

To give the screenplay and detail panel more room, collapse the rail with the chevron at its inner edge — it shrinks to a thin strip that you select to bring the list back, and the app remembers whether you left it collapsed. On narrow screens the rail is a slide-over drawer opened from the button at the top left instead.

The two panels

Left panel - screenplay. The scene’s heading, action, dialogue, and transitions, for reference while you tag. The text renders as an A4 paper sheet, a white page with a shadow on a grey canvas, with screenplay margins, just like the script viewer. This panel is always shown.
Right panel — detail panel. All the breakdown metadata and element tools. Its paired fields stay in two columns and status/scheduling fields stay in three columns at every supported pane width; narrow content overflows within its row instead of collapsing to one field per row. Phone-sized layouts use the existing collapsible overlay.

[SCREENSHOT: The scene detail view with the screenplay on the left and the detail panel on the right showing the stats row, Set, and element sections]

Scene metadata

The top of the detail panel scrolls through the scene’s metadata fields.

Stats row

A read-only row of Page Start, Page Length, Screen Time, and Shooting Time. In edit mode you can select Page Length, Screen Time, and Shooting Time to adjust them.

Set

The scene’s Set is the in-story place from the script’s slugline (for example, BACHELOR APARTMENT), tracked as its own production entity. It is parsed and linked automatically when the script is ingested. The field shows No set until one is linked. In edit mode, select the field and choose Pick set to open the set picker, where you can pick an existing set, create a new one inline, or clear the link. The Set is not the same as the scene’s Location.

INT/EXT and time of day

Two controls sit side by side. The INT/EXT dropdown shows whether the scene plays interior or exterior; in edit mode, pick INT, EXT, INT/EXT, or I/E to correct parsing. Next to it, a pill shows the scene’s time of day with a sun or moon indicator; in edit mode, change it the same way.

Shoot Status

A pill showing the scene’s shooting lifecycle: Pending, Scheduled, Shooting, or Done. This is the same status shown in the Shoot Status column on the breakdown list. In edit mode, select the pill to pick a new value. An omitted scene shows Omitted here and the pill is read-only, because “omitted” is driven by the scene’s own status rather than the shooting lifecycle.

Review Status and Closed Set

Two labeled sections, each with its own heading:

Review Status - under the “Review Status” label, a pill tracking how far your breakdown work on the scene has progressed: Not Started, In Progress, or Complete. Editing any scene field moves it from Not Started to In Progress.
Closed Set - under the “Closed Set” label, a toggle chip marking whether the scene requires a closed set. The chip’s text reads Closed or Open; select it to toggle.

Sequence, Unit, and Script Day

Three dropdowns:

Sequence — assign the scene to a shooting sequence.
Unit — assign the scene to a production unit (Main Unit, 2nd Unit, …). The list is the project’s shared units — the same ones the schedule uses — so a unit you pick here lines up everywhere. New projects start with a default Main Unit; type a new name in the dropdown to create another inline.
Script Day — set which story day the scene takes place on. Stored numeric days display with a phase derived from the scene’s time category: morning (M1), day (D1), or night (N1). Existing free-text values are preserved, and the picker sorts numbered days naturally (D2 before D10).

On desktop and tablet-sized web layouts, the Page Length, Screen Time, Estimated Shoot Duration, and project Shoot Pace pickers use typed numeric fields. Companion layouts keep the touch-friendly wheels. Values are still limited to each field’s supported range when you save.

Location

The scene’s Location is the real-world filming address — a Location entity. When the scene has a Set, its Location comes from that Set. Select the Location field to open that Set’s existing Edit Set form, where its Location link can be changed. Moving the Set moves every scene that uses it. To film one of those scenes somewhere else, choose or create a separate Set for the other Location.

When a scene has no Set, its Location is independently editable. Select the field to open the Location picker; Add Location takes you to the Locations tab to create a Location with full address, permit, and contact details. Clearing a scene’s Set preserves its current Location, after which you can change or clear that Location directly.

Synopsis

A multi-line text field for the scene’s summary. Type to write it manually, then select the Save button that appears below the field, or press Ctrl+S (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+S (macOS) while the field is focused. You can also generate one with AI. If an AI synopsis exists, an AI badge shows it has not been reviewed; once you edit and save it, a Reviewed badge appears. See Write a scene synopsis.

The detail tabs

Three tabs sit below the metadata in this order: Elements, Notes, Activity.

Elements tab

The Elements tab manages the scene’s tagged elements, grouped into collapsible sections by element type. Each section shows a colored count badge, the type name, and an expand chevron. Expand a section to see its element tags. You can:

Select a tag to highlight where the element appears in the screenplay text.
Select the ⋮ on a tag to open one editor for its name, quantity, tag notes, and key-item status. The name belongs to the project element and changes everywhere it is used; quantity, notes, and key-item status apply only to this scene.
Select the + on a section to open the Add Element to Scene dialog and tag an element to this scene. Character tags are ordered by production Character number, with unnumbered Characters last.
Remove an element by selecting the X on its tag (this untags it from the scene; it stays in the project).

You can also select a word or phrase directly in the screenplay panel. A compact menu appears with Link element and Create element on a readable neutral background: link searches existing project elements using the selection, while create starts a new element with the selected text as its name.

At the bottom of the list, Add category opens the Add custom category dialog, where you create a new element category for the project. New categories appear immediately and are reusable across scenes. See Work with breakdown elements.

Activity tab

The Activity tab shows a chronological log of changes to this scene — element edits, status changes, and other breakdown updates — with who made each change and when.

Notes tab

The Notes tab is a running log of free-text notes on this scene — continuity notes, director’s notes, anything the crew wants to leave for each other. Each note shows its author and a relative timestamp. In edit mode, type in the box and select Add note to post one. On full desktop web, Enter posts the new note; use Shift+Enter or Alt+Enter for a new line. Use the ⋮ menu on a note to edit or delete it: you can edit or delete your own notes, while Owners/Admins can delete (but not edit) anyone’s. Notes here are separate from the discussion comments in the script viewer — the two never mix. The breakdown list’s Notes column shows how many notes each scene has.

Run AI tools and scene actions from the header

The scene detail header carries two menus, both for Owners and Admins:

AI tools — Element Breakdown (run AI element detection on this scene), Generate Synopses, and Auto-Estimate Timings. While a job runs, this menu is replaced by a Cancel button. See Detect elements with AI.
Scene actions — Edit Scene Number, Split Scene, Merge scenes…, Copy scene, Copy elements from another scene…, context-sensitive Revert Split, and Delete. The scene-number identity sits in this action bar beside the View/Edit toggle; the metadata grid’s labeled Set control is the only Set control. See Split a scene.

Copy a scene

Copy scene creates an independent scene in the same revision. The reason is optional; when present it appears as a reason-only synopsis prefix such as Phone Conversation:, never Copy - Phone Conversation:. Copy all elements from this scene is unchecked by default, preserving the lighter copy behavior.

When that checkbox is selected, SceneItAll duplicates the editable breakdown sheet: synopsis and notes, timings, Set and Location, unit, sequence, script day, scene flags, screenplay content, and every tagged element with its scene-specific quantity, hero flag, and notes. Breakdown notes are recreated as brand-new notes attributed to the person making the copy. IDs, audit history, discussion comments, schedule strips, and report snapshots are not copied.

Copy elements from another scene

Choose Copy elements from another scene… to add tags from another visible ordinary scene, copy, or split part in the current episode breakdown. Elements already present on the current scene are skipped, preserving their quantity, hero flag, and notes. The result reports how many element tags were added and skipped. Matching scenes already share their breakdown across revisions automatically.

Where this scene’s data goes next

What you build here feeds everything downstream:

Elements tagged to the scene drive the call sheet’s department requirements and the Day Out of Days; character elements also feed the cast call list and sides.
Cast linked through character elements appear on the call sheet and in sides for the days the scene is scheduled.
Set and Location links surface in the schedule strip board and the call sheet’s locations section.
Script Day, Sequence, and Unit feed scheduling and the reports.

Reports are snapshots, so refresh (re-snapshot) a report to pull through changes you make here.