Breakdown
Split a scene
Sometimes one script scene needs to be treated as several production scenes — for example when it spans different times of day or needs very different setups. You can split a scene manually at a chosen line. This article covers how.
Before you start
- You have a script with parsed scenes.
- You are a project Owner or Admin, and the breakdown is in Edit mode. Splitting is Owner- and Admin-only.
Split a scene manually
- Open the scene’s Scene actions menu in the scene detail header and choose Split Scene (the scene must be active).
- The Split Scene dialog opens, showing the scene’s text with line numbers and the prompt Click a line to set the split point.
- Select the line where the new scene should begin. (You cannot pick the first line.) The boundary above that line is highlighted.
- Under New scene suffix, choose how the new part is numbered (see Suffix notations). The dialog defaults to your project’s notation setting and shows a Preview of the resulting numbers.
- Optionally, under Tag (Reason to split), attach a reason (see Split tags).
- Select Split.
The scene is divided at the chosen line into linked production parts. Each part becomes its own scene to break down, schedule, and edit. The original parent is hidden automatically from breakdown scene lists, but remains intact and visible in Script Management. You land on the first resulting part.
[SCREENSHOT: The Split Scene dialog with numbered script lines, a highlighted split boundary, the New scene suffix dropdown, and the Tag dropdown]
Suffix notations
The New scene suffix dropdown sets how the new part is numbered:
| Option | Example |
|---|---|
| Letter (A, B) | 5A |
| Part number (pt1, pt2) | 5pt1 |
| Fraction ((1/2)) | 5(1/2) |
| Part fraction (pt.1/2) | 5pt.1/2 |
| Dash number (-1, -2) | 5-1 |
| Roman (I, II) | 5I |
| Custom… | Your own suffix (reveals a text field) |
Split tags
The Tag (Reason to split) dropdown records why the scene was split. In the detail view the tag appears as a leading prefix in the scene’s synopsis, for example Phone Conversation: . Copies use the same reason-only format and never add a synthetic Copy - prefix. The prefix is generated from the structured tag value and reapplied automatically when the scene is loaded, so it stays visible while you edit the synopsis. It is stripped again on save, so it is never written into the stored synopsis text and cannot stack or duplicate. The options are None, 2nd Unit, Pickup, Phone Conversation, VFX, Cross Cut, and Custom… (which reveals a text field for your own reason).
Revert a split
Open the hidden parent from Script Management, then choose Revert Split from its Scene actions menu. SceneItAll first checks every split part:
- If any part is scheduled, the revert is blocked. Remove those parts from every schedule first.
- If the parts are unscheduled, the confirmation lists the affected parts and totals their elements and notes.
- Confirming permanently deletes the parts and all of their live operational data, then makes the untouched parent visible again. Nothing from the parts is merged back into it.
The deletion cannot be undone. Immutable audit entries and historical report snapshots are retained, with their links to the deleted parts detached. Copies are independent records and are not removed when their source or a split parent is reverted.
Merging scenes is a separate forward action. Merge scenes… creates one new combined scene and uses the backend visibility mechanism to hide its source scenes.