Sides

Sides

Sides are the script pages actors hold on set — the day’s scenes, in order, formatted for reading. SceneItAll generates sides for a shooting day, an individual character, or a specific element, with optional surrounding context and an AI-generated synopsis.

The Sides Library

Open Reports → Sides. You land on the Sides Library — a card index with three tabs:

  • By shoot day — One card per shooting day with the date, page count, scene chips, cast pips, and a status pill (Wrapped, Shooting, Scheduled, or the day type for non-shooting days). Use the toolbar to search by date, scene number, or setting; sort chronologically or by total pages; and hide wrapped days (on by default).
  • By character — One card per cast element. Use the toolbar to search by character or actor and sort A–Z or by scene count.
  • Full script — One card per script revision in the episode’s revision chain, ordered by published date.

Click any card to open the reader. A ← Sides library back arrow at the top of the reader returns you to the library; your tab + search + sort state are preserved.

Generating Sides

  1. From the By shoot day or By character tab, click the card you want sides for. The reader opens with the right selection pre-applied.
  2. The first time you open sides for that selection, click Create Sides in the right-hand panel (admin role required). This pulls the current schedule into a frozen snapshot.
  3. Set Previous and Next scene counts (0–5 each) to include surrounding scenes for context. Use Refresh after stripboard changes if needed.

The sides render in reading order after the snapshot exists.

If the selection has no synced snapshot yet, you’ll see “Not synced yet” — use Create Sides in the panel. If the snapshot exists but the schedule has no matching scenes, you’ll see “No scenes found.”

What’s in a Side Block

Each scene shows:

  • A screenplay-formatted heading (scene number, INT/EXT, location, time of day).
  • A description (italicized).
  • The full script text in screenplay format.
  • Optional AI synopsis as a left-border italicized quote.
  • Element tags grouped by type.
  • A footer row with page count, scene type, revision color (if any), and estimated duration.

Reader controls

The right-hand panel exposes reader-side controls that don’t change the snapshot:

  • Hide neighbouring scenes — Hides any context scenes pulled in via the Previous / Next window. Toggle off to focus on just the scenes for your selection. Session-only — resets when you reload.
  • Text size (A− / A+) — Steps the screenplay font size between 11 px and 24 px. Persisted per project via your sides config.
  • Contents — Lists every scene in the side bundle in scene-number order. Click to jump.

Display Settings

The Display Settings section in the right-hand panel controls which metadata appears on each side block. Toggles:

  • Description, page count, scene type, revision color, synopsis, elements, timing.

Admins can persist these preferences per project/episode/script/scenario scope. When scope is incomplete, defaults apply.

Variations

Each sides scope (a character, shoot-day, or department) can hold multiple sides variations — for example “Main” alongside a “Director’s Cut” with different context-scene counts or different override notes. The version picker at the top of the canvas shows the currently viewed variation and exposes a Manage button.

Switching the picker target (character, day, or element) re-keys the picker — variations are stored per scope, so the “Rain Plan” you created on Walter’s sides won’t appear on Eva’s.

Inside Manage variations you can:

  • Create new variation — pick a label and seed mode:
    • Empty draft — no upstream pull.
    • Copy active variation — full duplicate of the active body and your saved overrides.
    • Fresh snapshot from upstream — pull a new snapshot from the current schedule.
  • Activate any variation as the primary one for the scope.
  • Rename a variation’s label.
  • Delete a non-active variation (active and sole-remaining variations are protected).

Variations are independent: editing or refreshing one never touches its siblings. The first time you create sides for a scope, that variation is called Main and is active.

Exporting

Three export actions sit in the right-hand panel:

  • Export PDF — Direct PDF download of the current sides view.
  • Email — Opens the email dialog (see Reports overview). Send sides to recipient groups or specific addresses.
  • Roster Export — Opens the Roster Export dialog. Pick which cast members get a watermarked copy (each PDF is watermarked with the recipient’s name), then click Export Roster. A progress bar shows the batch state. Use this when you need actor-specific sides for delivery.
    • Buttons inside the dialog: All, None (toggle the cast checklist), Export Roster.

Tips

  • Set Previous and Next to 1 or 2 if your actor likes to see what comes before and after their scene — many do.
  • The Roster Export action is the right choice for delivery — each actor receives a copy watermarked with their name, which discourages leaks.
  • Toggle off description in Display Settings if you only want the dialogue and action lines.