Script Breakdown and Scheduling

 

 

 

 

Completing a script breakdown and schedules for your project are two of the most important processes in pre-production. Here is where you will determine exactly what is needed to shoot your film, and when it is needed. This chapter will sketch out this process, which involves breaking down a script into various elements, getting that information into the computer, and deriving a realistic schedule from which to work. In addition, the chapter outlines which schedules are appropriate for all crew members and which schedules should go only to certain crew members, such as heads of departments.

To begin with, you should break down your script only when it is locked. A script is locked when you are finished making major changes. Minor changes to dialogue or some elements are bound to occur. At the end of this chapter you will find information about how to incorporate those minor changes into schedules you may have already printed.

The process of breaking down a script and creating schedules is pretty much the same from low budget to high budget. The only difference may be in the length of your schedule, which could be shorter because of your budget. Student films can be shot in a couple of days or weeks, depending on the length of your script. For instance, a 20-minute project can be comfortably shot in ten days or less if shooting digitally. Many feature-length low-budget films are shot in four to six weeks because they can only afford a crew for that amount of time. Medium-budget films can usually be shot in two to three months. Some high-budget, special-effects films may take up to a year to shoot. A longer schedule means paying crew for a longer period. When completing your schedule, stay within the confines of your budget, but make sure you have enough time to shoot all you need.

So, who does the breakdown? In low-budget films, the producer most likely will do the breakdown, unless he has hired the unit production manager (UPM). In some television applications the first assistant director (1st AD) will do the script breakdown, and then have a production assistant enter the data into the scheduling program. Then, the 1st AD most likely will take over the actual scheduling of scenes.

SCHEDULING A FILM: A STEP-BY-STEP OVERVIEW

1. First, read the script. You will find that the first step to a breakdown, marking elements, is easier when you know the entire scope of the film. Second, make sure it is in standard screenplay format. This is important because in standard screenplay format, one page equals approximately 1 minute of screen time. This formula provides a way for you to make decisions as to how long your final project will be, which is important in the budgeting as well as the scheduling process. Using standard screenplay format also establishes a standard for how long each scene is, which is important in the scheduling process.

2. Break down the script by marking elements either one of two ways. First, use colored pencils. You should have at least ten different colors. You may need more, depending on your script. Alternatively, break down the script using a tagging process with screenwriting software.

3. Break down the pages into eighths to establish a page count and the length of each scene.

4. Transfer the elements and page count onto breakdown sheets (with scheduling software the computer will do this for you).

5. Turn the breakdown sheets into strips (the computer can do this). These strips form the production board.

6. Arrange the strips on the production board by various parameters.

7. When the strips have been arranged, you will have formed the bones of the schedule.

8. Print out your schedules in readable formats and distribute them to the crew.

 

THE SCRIPT BREAKDOWN

The script breakdown is a valuable tool for examining and bringing out the different elements of a script. Besides schedules, the breakdown also helps you to create lists of elements such as cast, props, set dressing, stunts, and wardrobe. The breakdown also ensures that these elements show up on set. For this reason, accuracy in the breakdown is crucial. Let’s say you mark a scene but forget to mark a character who walks into the room at the end of the scene. That character will not get on the breakdown sheets, which means he will not show up on the strips, which means he will not get on the day-out-of-days (DOOD) (a schedule of actors), which means he will not show up on the call sheet, which means he will not get called with a call time, which means he will not show up on set the day you shoot that scene! It is wise to always double-check your work.

There are two ways of completing a breakdown: by hand and electronically, using screenwriting software. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Both methods will be covered in this chapter.

Electronically—Scheduling Software

There are a few programs for scheduling. The software most widely used is Movie Magic Scheduling. It is also the most expensive, but definitely worth it.

Breaking down the script electronically involves the process of tagging elements. If you are using Movie Magic Screenwriter or Final Draft, the program describes how to do it. Essentially what you do is go through the script and mark each element with a “tag.” The tag tells you what category the element is. For instance, you would tag the word “watch” as belonging to the wardrobe category. When you are finished tagging all the elements, you can then import the file into Movie Magic Scheduling. The program will create breakdown sheets for you, with each element in its proper category on the sheet. Breaking down your script electronically can be advantageous in that the process is fast. There is one major disadvantage to this process. The computer does all the work. There may be nuances in the words of the script that the computer will not translate accurately. The major disadvantage for breaking down a script electronically is that the computer will miss some elements because, frequently, elements are carried over from scene to scene, although the script may not state that explicitly. A computer does not know how to read into a scene to determine if the element should exist, only if it does.

Second, it is important to know your script inside and out. Having the computer do all the work for you eliminates the process of getting to know the script intimately, which doesn’t happen if you break down your script by hand. One way to make the electronic process work to your advantage is to tag your elements, import the broken-down script into the scheduling program, print your breakdown sheets, and then double-check the sheets against the script. This way you can know for sure how the computer interpreted the elements, and you can find any elements the computer may have missed.

By Hand

In order to break a script down by hand, you will need your script and colored pencils. Start with the first scene. Read through the scene and underline or mark the appropriate elements with the appropriate color or notation. This can be time-consuming, so allow yourself about 6–8 hours for a feature-length screenplay.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS?

Elements are items in a script that need to be identified, such as cast members, props, and wardrobe. By identifying these elements, you can later see them in various lists and schedules, which ensures they will be available on set. The schedules also put the elements into a form that makes them easy to find and organize. Following is a list of elements you need to identify and their descriptions. There are two ways of marking the elements: Either you go through the entire script, marking one element, or you mark all of the elements scene by scene. The golden rule here is: Mark elements only one time per scene. The different colors you use to mark each element listed below are standard for the industry. However, you can use different colors if you choose, as long as you do a key to tell yourself which colors refer to which elements. If you are marking elements electronically, you will find a list of these elements in the software.

Speaking Cast (Underline in Red)

Speaking cast are characters who have dialogue. If characters do not have dialogue in one scene, that does not mean they are not speaking cast. They may have dialogue in a following scene. This is why it is wise to read the entire script beforehand. If a character ever speaks in the film, she is considered speaking cast, and you should tag her name or underline it in red pencil. If a character is written as speaking offscreen (O.S.), you should still mark her as being in the scene. Whether the character is actually seen on screen is irrelevant. The director may still want the actor on set to “play off” the on-screen actor. It is better to have everyone there and maybe not need them than to not have them there and absolutely need them.

Extras/Atmosphere (Underline in Green)

Atmosphere are extras who usually appear as crowd members, people walking down the street, people in the background. They do not have dialogue and do not have any special skills or physical anomalies that would qualify them as silent bits.

Silent Bits (Underline in Yellow)

Silent bits are extras who have some form of physical characteristic or skill that would separate them from being normal extras, or atmosphere. For example, a silent bit may be a juggler in a circus scene or the musicians in a quartet.

Props (Underline in Lime) and Set Dressing (Underline in Purple)

The traditional definition of a prop is any item that an actor touches or uses in a scene. Do not get this confused with set dressing. Just because an actor touches a television set to turn it on does not make the television set a prop. The TV is set dressing because it dresses the set. If you were shooting a dinner scene, the plates, silverware, table, and chairs would all be set dressing. However, the food items on the table would be props.

Wardrobe (Circle the Item)

You mark wardrobe when there is any specific type of wardrobe mentioned. For instance, the script may say the character looks at his watch. Draw a circle around the word watch (regular pencil is okay). Alternatively, the script might say the character enters the room wearing a long evening gown. Circle the words evening gown. Other items, besides clothing, that are included under wardrobe are purses, glasses, jewelry, and hats.

Makeup (Mark with an Asterisk)

You mark makeup when either the script refers specifically to a certain style of makeup such as sweat or heavy makeup or there is occasion for special-effects makeup, such as blood or a gunshot wound.

Stunts (Underline in Orange)

Sometimes it is hard to determine if an event in the script is a stunt. Perhaps you have a character who trips over a bucket and falls down. Is that a stunt? Well, it definitely is a stunt if the character is a ninety-year-old man. However, it probably would not be a stunt if the character were a twenty-year-old woman. The best thing to do is to always mark an event as a stunt, even if you are not sure. Later, the producer, director, and/or stunt coordinator will make a final determination on stunts. At this point, it is only your job to point them out.

Special Effects (Underline in Blue)

Traditionally, special effects were anything from a car explosion to a building catching on fire. With the advent of computer-generated images (CGI), special effects can include anything from dinosaurs eating people to a bullet that can be seen traveling slowly through the air. Mark as special effects anything that cannot be created in real life or that requires pyrotechnics. In addition, because more special effects are being done with CGI, one trend is to delineate between on-set special effects and CGI. If you think you might have the budget to do CGI, mark these effects with a different color.

Sound Effects (Underline in Brown)

If a script is written properly, sound effects will appear in capital letters. The script may say that a character hears a telephone “RING.” Underline the word ring in brown. A script may also have an O.S. narrator, who would qualify as a sound effect. Generally, these sound effects are ones that you do not expect to record on set, but that will be added later, in post-production. Be careful: There is a difference between narration and O.S. A character speaking O.S. is not a sound effect, but a narrator is.

Special Equipment (Draw a Box around the Action)

Special equipment refers to events that might not be photographable with equipment that you would normally have on set. For instance, a scene may describe a bird’s-eye view that follows someone walking down the street. Getting that shot will probably require a crane and that is special equipment. After you draw a box around the action, make a note in the right-hand margin of the page or in the notes section about what kind of special equipment will be required. You will then put that piece of equipment on the breakdown sheet.

Vehicles and Animals/Livestock (Underline in Pink)

Anytime the script indicates the presence of an animal, whether it is as large as an elephant or as small as a fly, underline it in pink. Also, when the script indicates that a certain vehicle is present, underline that in pink. Remember, a vehicle can be more than just a car. Any motorized vehicle, such as a boat, plane, train, motorcycle, or spaceship, qualifies as a vehicle. For instance, the script might say that a character leaves his house, gets into his van, and drives away. Underline the word van in pink. Because picture vehicles (vehicles seen on-screen) fall under the transportation department and animals fall under the casting department, you may mark them in different colors as well.

Music (Underline in Aqua)

If your script identifies a place where music is heard, you would mark it as music. There are three different kinds of music that could appear in your final project. These are production, source, and underscore. Underscore is the music that plays under a scene. It is usually composed specifically for a project and is added in post-production. Production music is music that may be recorded live on set or pre-recorded and played back on set. People singing a song or a musician playing a piano are examples of production music. Source music is music that comes from a specific source, such as a radio or jukebox. Production and source music are the elements you want to break down. When marking music, it is also a good idea to identify on the breakdown sheet the name of the song or piece. This way you can begin the process of music clearance early in the production.

OTHER CATEGORIES

There are more elements that can be broken down in a script, depending on the amount of detail the producer would like. These elements can be underlined in the script with additional colors of your choice. Since the breakdown is an internal document and not distributed to crew, as long as you know which color is being used for a certain element, you can choose any additional colors you like. Following is a list of additional elements that may be marked in a breakdown.

Animal Handler

In many cases, when an element in the script is tagged as animal or livestock, it is assumed that an animal handler will be employed. However, some prefer to specifically identify when an animal handler will be required. The advantage of also marking for an animal handler is that, if you know you need many handlers, this point can be delineated in the breakdown. For instance, if your script calls for a herd of horses, you will most likely need more than one animal handler to wrangle them. You can then put the number of wranglers needed next to the element on the breakdown sheet.

Greenery

Greenery is any plant or foliage that is specifically identified in the script. For instance, the script may call for a garden full of white roses. Since finding a location that specifically has a garden full of only white roses could be difficult, the roses will have to be placed in the location by the greens department. Some people prefer to mark greenery under set dressing. If you are marking greenery, make sure that the elements are not being doubled up under set dressing.

Security

Breaking down in your script where security is needed is a judgment call. For instance, if the script calls for a scene to take place at night in a dangerous neighborhood, you may want security to ensure the safety of your crew. If you are not sure whether security would be required, it is always best to mark the element and then decide later.

Additional Labor

Additional labor could mean additional camera operators, assistant camerapersons, makeup, hair, wardrobe, drivers, construction crew, and more. Additional labor is usually needed on days when there are large numbers of cast or major stunts and special effects. For instance, the script calls for a large battle scene with hundreds of soldiers. You will need additional makeup people to make up these soldiers, additional wardrobe people to dress the soldiers, additional weapons people to arm the soldiers, and additional stunt personnel to handle any of the fighting that qualifies as stunts.

Optical Effects/CGI or Visual Effects

Optical effects, CGI or visual effects, are elements that call for effects to be created in post-production or on a computer in production. The traditional title for this category has been optical effects. However, as CGI has become a more popular term, many people are using it in their breakdowns. Additionally visual or digital effects can also be used. At this point in the process, you may not know whether an effect will be attempted on set or if CGI will be used. In some cases the use of CGI will be obvious. For instance, if a scene calls for a person to morph into a robot, you would mark this occurrence as CGI. In another case the scene could call for a spaceship to crash into a mountain. You may not know whether this effect will be accomplished with models or CGI. You make the judgment call based on what you know of your budget. CGI can be expensive. Unless you know for sure that you will be able to afford CGI, mark the element as a special effect instead.

Miscellaneous

This category is left for anything you might find in your script that does not qualify as another element.

Notes

The notes category is for any notes you might want to make during the course of your breakdown. For instance, I once worked a show in which, halfway through the story, the lead character dyes his hair blond. We made notes on each breakdown page where he appeared, of what his hair color needed to be. This way, when it came to scheduling the actor, we could find and shoot all of the scenes with his hair one color, and then plan to dye his hair and shoot the scenes with the other hair color.

A NOTE ON CONTINUITY

Be aware of continuity of elements. A script could say that a character walks into a scene with, for example, a briefcase. The script may then cut to the next scene, which is continuous (meaning one scene happens immediately after the other in real time). In this next scene the script might not stipulate that the character is still carrying his briefcase, but he should be. You need to watch for these kinds of continuity nuances. What you do is make a note in the right-hand margin of this next scene. Just writing the word briefcase is sufficient. You will find many elements that need to be carried over like this.

You also need to be aware of character names that may change. For instance, the writer may have a character called Jim in the first scene. In this scene the character is four years old. Later in the script, when the character is twenty years old, he could still appear in the script as Jim. What you need to do is delineate the four-year-old Jim from the twenty-year-old Jim. You can do this by calling the four-year-old Young Jim and the twenty-year-old, Jim. Be sure to check with your writer and producer on this, as changing character names qualify as a script change, which must always have the approval of the producer.

BREAKING THE SCRIPT INTO “EIGHTHS”

Now that you have finished marking the elements, you will need to determine how long each scene is. Breaking down the script into eighths is the process of taking each scene and determining how many pages long it is. A scene can be a portion of a page long, a whole page, or more than a page. Because scenes are different lengths, there is a minimum unit of measurement that is used to determine a scene’s length, and that is eighths. The use of eighths as opposed to some other fraction comes from the calculation that there are approximately 8 inches of typed copy on one page of script in standard screenplay format. Therefore, the minimum unit of measurement, eighths, was created.

To begin, draw a straight horizontal line between each scene, as in Figure 2.1, for the entire script. Next, you need to determine how long each scene will be. The standard formula for the page is that eight-eighths equals one page. The standard formula for the length of an eighth is that one-eighth (1/8) equals 1 vertical inch on the page, indicating that this scene may not take long to shoot. However, that approach does not allow for the content of the scene. Here, some of your own judgment needs to come into play. A scene may only be 1 inch long, yet it may involve stunts and special effects that require a whole day to shoot. What you need to do here is to consider not only the length the scene takes up on the page, but also the amount of time the scene might take to shoot. Again, there is no exact right or wrong here: You make the judgment call. If a scene is only 1 inch long on the page (vertically) but would take a better part of the day to shoot, make it four-eighths long. If you have more than eight scenes on a page, you will then have more than eight-eighths to a page. That is okay. Just make sure each scene has a length in eighths. You also need to be aware of scenes that may be five or more pages in length. See the section “The Breakdown Sheet.”

Once you determine the eighths, write the number of eighths for each scene on the left side of the page. See Figure 2.1 for an example of two script pages broken into eighths. After you have divided your script into eighths, you can then count how long a scene is. In the example, the first scene is six-eighths page long and the next scene is two-eighths page long. On page two of the example each scene is four-eighths page long. Later you will record the length of each scene on a breakdown sheet. You are now ready to convert these broken-down script pages into breakdown sheets.

THE BREAKDOWN SHEET

All the elements you either marked by pencil or tagged in the computer are then put into the breakdown sheet. See Figure 2.2 for an example of a breakdown sheet. If you are doing the breakdown by hand, the procedure is to take one scene and place each element from the script into its proper category on the breakdown sheet. For instance, in scene eleven Regina, Fila, Wochera, Donato, and Dr. Slayvnak go into the cast category. The gun goes into the props category, and CRASH and SCREAMS go into the sound effects category. For scene twelve, Prono goes into the cast category and fall to the ground will be put in the stunts category on the breakdown sheet. Repeat this process scene by scene until all of the scenes have a corresponding breakdown sheet.

An additional consideration when creating breakdown sheets is cast numbering and multiple elements. Cast numbering is the process of giving each character in the script a cast number. These numbers can be assigned by giving the leading character 1. The next role down in terms of size and importance gets 2, and so on. Continue to number all the speaking cast in this order. The more important the role is, the lower the number. It is always a good idea to leave a group of numbers between the speaking cast and extras. Let’s say your last speaking cast is numbered 32. Begin numbering extras at 57. There is no hard rule here. Just make sure there is a gap. The reason for this is that in the course of production a cast member may be added to the script. This gap leaves room to give the new character a lower number than the extras.

Extras are considered multiple elements. This means that one element, extras, will actually require a multiple of people on set. When numbering extras, be sure to estimate how many extras may be required. There is no way you can know this figure for certain at this point, because the number is determined by a combination of budget considerations and the director’s vision for the scene. Making an estimation is all that is needed at this point in the process. For instance, for scene eleven you would put the crowd of children in the breakdown sheet as “62. Crowd of Children (12),” where sixty-two is the cast number and twelve is the number of children in the crowd.

Generally, one breakdown sheet equals one scene, but there are exceptions. For instance, the first consideration is: What is the maximum number of pages you plan to shoot each day? If the answer is four, then you need to make sure none of your breakdown sheets contain a scene that is more than four pages long. If a scene is more than four pages long, you need to break the scene into two different breakdown pages. This way, when each of these breakdown sheets gets converted into a strip on the production board, the scene can be split up and can be shot on more than one day.

The computer may number the breakdown sheets automatically, or you may number each breakdown sheet differently. There is no set rule here. For instance, let’s say scene number fifteen is eight pages long. You can split the scene into two different breakdown sheets, breaking it into four pages and four pages. Then, when you put the scene number on the breakdown sheet for the first half of the scene, you can name it “15 part 1” and the second half, “15 part 2.” Or, you can name them “15 partial” and “15 partial.” What you name each one is a matter of preference. When you have completed creating all the breakdown sheets, the computer will convert these sheets into your strip board, also known as the production board.

 

THE STRIP OR PRODUCTION BOARD

The strip, or production, board is a representation of your breakdown sheets where each breakdown sheet equals one strip. See Figure 2.3. These strips, which in the “old days” used to be written by hand on cardboard strips, are the bones of your schedule. If you are using scheduling software, the computer automatically creates the strips after you have completed the breakdown sheets. At this point, strips are in “breakdown order,” or the order in which you created the breakdown sheets. It is unlikely that you would ever shoot your film in this order. You now need to rearrange these strips into the order in which you will shoot. This process will create your production schedule. The strips, whether cardboard or in the computer, are also color coded as follows:

 

  ■ Yellow = exterior day

  ■ White = interior day

  ■ Green = exterior night

  ■ Blue = interior night

 

This color-coding system allows you to see more easily what is day, night, exterior, and interior, which makes rearranging the strips easier. The strip board also contains a header board (see Figure 2.3). This board has information, such as the name of the director, producer, and 1st AD. The header board also lists the characters’ names vertically, which allows you to locate each of them across the strip board. If you have a large cast, the board will have two columns of character names in order to fit them on the same board.

CREATING A SCHEDULE

The process of creating a schedule means rearranging your strips based on various scheduling parameters. Scheduling parameters are considerations you make when deciding what to shoot and when to shoot it. The following parameters are listed in order of importance. Keep in mind that these parameters are only guidelines. Certain situations may necessitate that you consider, for instance, cast before sets. This is rare, but it can happen. Let’s say you have a cast member who can shoot only within a certain time frame. You then need to shoot all of her scenes together. This consideration places cast as a parameter ahead of sets in order of importance. Otherwise, beginning with the order below will work well.

SCHEDULING PARAMETERS

Geography

If your shoot requires you to shoot in different states or countries, start by ordering your strips by these locations.

 

Set

Next, order your strips according to sets. You do not want to go back to the same location more than once. Doing so is inefficient and does not make for good relations with your locations.

Cast Members

When cast members are scheduled to be on set, they are working. However, you may not need a certain cast member every day. If you are doing a union shoot, the in-between days are considered “hold” days. During hold days you must pay the actor, but he is not allowed to leave the location (meaning city, not set) and must be available by telephone. If an actor has more than ten hold days, you need to do what’s called a drop-pickup. This means you will drop the actor from contract and pick him up later. In addition, you can only drop-pickup an actor one time per film. This can make scheduling multiple actors a challenge. What you want to do is to schedule your actors so that, as much as possible, all of their shooting days are together and with the least amount of holding time. In low budget, when you use nonunion actors, these rules are not mandatory but still a good idea since this practice also cuts down on travel to and from location for actors.

Day/Night

As you schedule your scenes you must pay attention to turnaround. Turnaround is the time between camera wrap (in most cases) and crew call the next morning. Most production companies use a 10-hour turnaround, but some use 12. Therefore, you should not schedule an exterior night scene and then an exterior day scene the next morning. If you were to do this, the crew would have no turnaround at all. I have seen some student films attempt to shoot without much turnaround. This situation usually leads to an unhappy and less productive crew. It is possible to have a short golden hour or evening exterior at the end of the day and then schedule an exterior day the next morning, as long as you give enough turnaround and have enough light to shoot the following day’s exteriors.

It is usually a good idea to schedule all night exteriors together because shooting a full night of exteriors requires starting when it gets dark and filming through the night. Your crew will take about two to three days to adjust their body clocks to being up all night and sleeping during the day. If you then put a day off between the night exteriors and your next day exteriors, your crew will have time to readjust to working during the day.

EXT/INT

Because of weather, it is wiser to shoot your exteriors first. This way, if you do have to cancel a shoot day because of the weather, you will have the option of doing interiors until the weather clears. The interiors that you choose to go to are called cover sets. Cover sets should be arranged in pre-production. This means that in pre-production your location people make an arrangement with owners of interior locations that the crew have the option to shoot there if weather forbids them from shooting certain exteriors.

Sequence

There are many definitions of what a sequence is. In the process of scheduling, a sequence is a portion of your script that takes place at a certain time. For instance, if your script has a flashback to the 1920s, you should shoot all of the 1920s scenes together. Let’s say you have a street scene set for the 1920s. Your art department dresses the shop fronts. Your transportation brings in valuable vintage cars. Your costume designer orders vintage clothing for the actors. These departments will certainly not want to re-dress an entire street scene like this more than once! Also when scheduling these sequences, make sure your art department gets enough prep and strike time.

Children

When working with children, there are many considerations. First, children are children; they have short attention spans and little patience when it comes to working all day on a film set, where the pace can appear to move pretty slowly. If you are working on a union shoot and your cast belongs to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), you need to follow strict rules as to how long children can work and how many breaks they must have (check out www.sag.org for a full list of rules). If working nonunion, you may be required by child labor laws in most states to submit an application for a theatrical permit or minor permit. Each state is different in how strictly it requires you to stick to these permits. Check the department of labor for the state you are working in for details. In low budget, you could theoretically work them all you want. However, this is not wise. Tired children will not perform well for long hours anyway. Therefore, you want to schedule children for short periods.

Time of Year/Climate

Are you shooting during the winter months, when the amount of available light is shorter? Are you shooting in July in California, when you can be pretty much guaranteed a full 12 hours of sunlight? Granted, your script or finances may dictate when you have to shoot, but the climate and time of year can affect your shoot. Many areas of the Northeast have months when it mostly rains, such as Pittsburgh in April and May. Shoot in upstate New York in January and you will definitely have a crew working in freezing temperatures. I once worked on a film that shot in mid-July in the Mojave Desert—on a dry lake bed, no less. There was no shade anywhere, and the temperatures were above 105 degrees daily. The crew members were dropping like flies.

Special Effects and Stunts

Unless you have a script with so many stunts or special effects that these crews would be there for run of show, you need to schedule all stunts together and all special effects together. To have someone be there for run of show means that they are there the whole time, as opposed to just coming in when needed. Also, if you have a couple of major effects or stunts, you should not schedule them back to back, as your team may need prep time.

Second Camera/Second Unit

Some people get second camera and second unit confused. The second camera is the one you use either when you need another camera (or cameras) on set to get extra angles on a tight schedule or when you need extra angles of a stunt or special effect. Famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa used to shoot with three cameras simultaneously so his actors would not know which camera to play to. However, unless you have the influence or money Kurosowa did, you will most likely shoot with one camera.

The crew shooting your main scenes is your first unit. The second unit may be a small crew that gets “beauty shots,” such as sunsets, panoramas, or vistas not requiring actors. Second unit also may be a small crew that shoots crowd shots or minor scenes without the main actors. Second unit can also be a large crew, such as an aerial unit that shoots only aerial footage that may involve your main cast or not (see more about who’s involved in the second unit in Chapter 6). You determine if you need second crew by how tight or how involved your schedule is. If you find you do need a second unit, then you will need to do its breakdown sheets separately and put all second unit personnel in their own schedule, separate from the first unit.

Special Equipment

Special equipment is defined as any extra piece of equipment you may need to accomplish a shot, something you would not normally have. This equipment can be a helicopter with a special camera mount to get aerial shots, a rainmaker to create rain, an underwater camera, a shotmaker to get car interiors while driving, or, in low budget, a steadicam (in higher budget productions a steadicam is usually run of show because they can afford it).

PUTTING THE SCHEDULE TOGETHER

Now that you have considered these parameters, rearrange your strips. Take time and think about your schedule. There are many parameters to consider and they all must be evaluated carefully. Some other things to watch out for are key scenes that may require emotional strain on your actors. Do not schedule these scenes first because the actors may not be ready. Do not schedule these scenes at the end of a long day when your actors might be tired. It is usually best not to schedule very heavy days first in the schedule. Any crew will take a few days to “gel” and get into a smooth working mode. Easier days to begin with will allow the crew to gel better.

 

“Regina of Icelandia” Shooting Schedule
Shoot Day #1—Monday, July 6, 2002
EXT. FOREST	DAY PAGES
Scene 21	Establishing shot, the forest1/8
EXT. FOREST	DAY
Scene 45	Regina and Donato run through the woods	1 4/8
Cast	Props
1. Regina	Scanners
2. Donato	Bowl
	Costumes
	Regina’s pink gown
INT. CASTLE	DAY
Scene 103	The King talks with Regina and the Wochera	2 4/8
Cast	Props
1. Regina	Scanners
5. Wochera
6. Wochera #1	Costumes
15. King	Pink hooded gowns
		End of Day #1—4 1/8 Total Pages
Shoot Day #2—Tuesday, July 7, 2002
INT. LAB	DAY
Scene 3	The future queen is chosen.3 1/8
Cast	Props
1. Regina	Medical equipment
2. Donato	Computer notepad
9. Children
		End of Day #2—3 1/8 Total Pages

FIGURE 2.4
Shooting Schedule

SCHEDULES TO PRINT

After you have arranged your strips according to the schedule you desire, it’s time to print out readable versions to distribute to your crew.

Shooting Schedule

This schedule takes all the information on your strips and prints it in a readable format. Because it is so comprehensive, including all the elements, it is quite a sizeable document. You will distribute this schedule to heads of departments only (see Figure 2.4). Heads of departments include the following: producer, director, first AD, production manager, director of photography, key grip, gaffer, costume designer, production designer, props, makeup, art director, special-effects supervisor, sound mixer, transportation coordinator, location manager, and second unit director (if you have one).

Production Schedule

The production schedule takes a more limited amount of information from your strips. Typically, it will only include a scene description, scene number, a note about whether the scene is exterior or interior, whether the scene is day or night, and what cast is involved (see Figure 2.5). Because it is not as comprehensive as the shooting schedule, it is distributed to all crew members.

One-Liner

The one-liner is like a production schedule in that it has more limited information than a full shooting schedule. The distinctive thing about the one-liner is that it is sometimes in scene order. You may need to look at a scene to remember what actors play, or whether it is a night exterior or day interior. If you tried to find the scene in the production or shooting schedule, you would need to remember what date you were shooting the scene. Obviously, flipping through twenty or so pages of a production or shooting schedule is not efficient. Since the one-liner is in scene order, you can quickly find the scene. This schedule is generally only distributed to heads of departments. See Figure 2.6.

 

Day-Out-of-Days

The DOOD is a schedule that shows when cast members work (Figure 2.7). Because it is in chart form, it is easy to see when an actor starts (S), works (W), and finishes (F). This schedule also gives you a chance to see when actors are being put on hold (H) or dropped (D) and picked up (P). You will notice that one day an actor might be an “SWF.” This means that the actor starts, works, and finishes in one day. An actor’s first day is always written as “SW,” meaning it is a “start-work.” An actor’s last day is always written as “WF,” meaning it is a “work-finish.” All other days when actors work are written as “W.” This form is distributed to the production team, director’s team, and any heads of departments that work with cast, such as wardrobe and makeup.

 

UPDATING YOUR SCHEDULE

You have now completed scheduling your production. However, no schedule is really ever completed. The nature of production is that situations change daily. You will most likely be changing your schedule several times during pre-production. This is normal. When this happens, go back to your strips, rearrange them in the new order, and reprint your schedules. There may be times when more than just the order of scenes will change. For instance, let’s say the director writes a new scene that must be incorporated into the schedule. You will need to break down the scene into elements, create a new breakdown page, and insert that page into your other breakdown sheets. The computer will then create a new strip, which can be placed in the strip board at the appropriate place. As before, reprint your schedules. For another example, maybe you will decide to delete an actor from a scene. Go back to the original breakdown sheet and delete the actor. Your computer will automatically delete the actor from the strips. Reprint and distribute the new schedules. With all this reprinting you may be wondering how people know they have the most recently updated schedule. The answer is revision colors.

Revision Colors

Revision colors are different-colored papers that are used for different versions of a schedule, script, or DOOD. All documents start out white. When a new version is completed (or a portion as in the case of a script), you copy the page or document on the next color in the revision order and put the revised date in the upper right corner of the document along with the word REVISED. This assures that crew members will know they have the most recent version of a document. Most studios and production companies use six revisions colors as standard. These colors in order are as follows:

 

  ■ White

  ■ Blue

  ■ Pink

  ■ Yellow

  ■ Green

  ■ Goldenrod

 

If your document goes beyond five revisions (which is pretty usual for script pages), other colors used are salmon, cherry, buff, tan, and gray. If revisions go beyond these colors and you need more colors, it is at the discretion of the production to choose other colors. I have seen some productions go to neon-colored paper when necessary.

SUMMARY

Breaking down a script begins with reading the script and knowing it well. You can create a breakdown either by hand or with the use of certain screenwriting software. With either method, you must ensure accuracy in the breakdown. Forgetting to mark even one item will result in its not being on set when needed. The many categories of elements help to guarantee the breakdown will be thorough. After you break the script into eighths, you can derive an accurate scene count and continue the process of creating strips. You use the strips to construct your schedule based on parameters such as geography, cast, day or night, and more. Once the schedules are finished, they are printed and distributed to a variety of crew members. Keep in mind a production schedule will always change as locations are locked and cast schedules are secured.