Estimated from the script's layout. If Final Draft shows a different page count, enter it and every scene scales to match.
Location grouping ignores time of day, so INT. KITCHEN - DAY and EXT. KITCHEN - NIGHT sit in the same block. Within a block, day scenes come before night.
The stripe down the left of each scene is the standard stripboard colour: yellow and green mark your weather-dependent exteriors, blue and green your night work.
A heading like CONTINUOUS or MOMENTS LATER does not name a time, so it carries the time of day forward from the last heading that did. Those scenes show the time they resolved to in a small box, and they stay with their sequence when day and night are kept apart.
Break down a script to see scenes here.
Day order arranges the finished days so each actor's work runs together, which cuts the days they sit on hold being paid. It also avoids putting a day shoot straight after a night-only day, where crew rest makes the turnaround expensive, and keeps the same location on back-to-back days where it can.
Days fill to a target length rather than a page quota. A scene costs setup time plus shooting time, with exteriors, night work and large cast counts costing more, so a controlled interior packs denser than a city street. Scenes are ordered for the shoot, not for the script.
Each strip shows the scene number with the script page it starts on underneath, and the scene's length in eighths on the right.
Break down a script to build a schedule.
Built from dialogue cues, so non-speaking background will not appear. Sorted by who works most.
No schedule yet.
Cast days are not shoot days. They are every performer's booked days added together, working days plus held days, because a held actor is paid too. A 23-day shoot with a dozen speaking roles easily runs past 75. Keeping each actor's days together on the Schedule tab is the main way to bring this down.
Starts on Ultra Low Budget, the lowest union scale a feature can use, so the budget opens at the SAG minimum rather than at a rate you have to notice and reduce. Move up a tier only when the total says you must; the topsheet flags it when that happens. SAG-AFTRA scale and pension & health come from the published rates effective 1 July 2026. Every other rate is a placeholder to replace with what you are actually being quoted. Quantities follow the schedule and can each be overridden.
Break down a script to build a budget.