Script Breakdown

What this is about

Assistant directors mark up the script by category: cast, extras, props, wardrobe, vehicles, animals, stunts, effects. Out of that grid come the breakdown sheets that feed the stripboard and the budget. The exercise sounds mechanical, but it is where surprises die early: the rowing boat in scene 12, the rain in scene 31, the child actor with limited working hours. Whatever the breakdown misses will be discovered on set, at the most expensive possible moment.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

In planning terms, that means:

• One breakdown sheet per scene; the sheets, not the script, drive scheduling.
• Eighths of a page are the standard unit for estimating how much script a scene covers.
• Breakdown and shot list answer different questions: what a scene needs versus how it is filmed.

With TillyGen

TillyGen runs the breakdown automatically: Tilly AI extracts scenes, cast and requirements from script or briefing and links them into the schedule.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.