Script

Breakdown sheet

What is breakdown sheet in film production?

A breakdown sheet is the one-page record of a single scene's requirements produced during a script breakdown. It carries the scene number, its length in eighths, the location, day or night, a one-line synopsis, and every tagged element grouped by department.

One sheet per scene is the convention, and the set of sheets is the input to the stripboard — each sheet becomes a strip. Departments work from the filtered view of them: the art department reads the props and set dressing rows across every sheet, and nothing else.

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Breakdown sheet template

Reviewed 2026-08-27

Related terms

Script breakdown: A script breakdown is the process of reading a screenplay scene by scene and tagging every physical element a scene requires — cast, extras, props, wardrobe, vehicles, stunts, special effects, animals. The tagged result is what the schedule, the budget and every department's prep list are built from.
Stripboard: A stripboard is the shooting schedule represented as one coloured strip per scene, ordered in the sequence the production will actually shoot. Each strip carries the scene number, length in eighths, cast IDs, location and day/night. Reordering the strips reorders the shoot.
Page eighth: A page eighth is the standard unit of screenplay length used for scheduling. Every script page is divided into eight equal vertical strips, so a scene measured at 3/8 occupies three of them. Scheduling, day counts and stripboard lengths are all expressed in eighths rather than in pages.