Coverage asks whether the story works. A script breakdown asks what the page will cost to shoot. Those are different jobs, and most “breakdown tool” pages on the web blur them into a generic explainer. The useful object is narrower: an inventory of observable structure — sluglines, cues, inherited time of day, page length in eighths — that a coordinator can argue with.
That inventory is not a shooting schedule, a budget, or a verdict on craft. It is a ledger. If the ledger is wrong, every department downstream inherits the error.
The page is the source, not a second spreadsheet
A first-pass breakdown should be derived from the structured screenplay, not retyped into a colored grid. Fountain and Final Draft FDX already carry scene headings, character cues, and (when the writer used them) authored scene numbers. Re-entering those by hand is how a diner becomes three diners and JUNE becomes JUNIE.
The free script breakdown tool runs that derivation in the browser. It uses the same production ledger Plot uses for reports: scenes, eighths, cast, locations, and day/night. The screenplay is not uploaded. The output is still a first pass — a 1st AD decides what must actually be pulled.
The fixture above is the sample the tool ships with. Scene 2 is CONTINUOUS, so it inherits DAY from the diner that opened the draft. Scene 4A keeps its authored number instead of becoming “scene 4.” REVOLVER, LEDGER, PICKUP TRUCK, and DESK LAMP appear because they were written in ALL CAPS in action — candidates, not a finished props department.
Eighths, inheritance, and what software must not invent
Eighths are the industry unit for scene length on a formatted page. A half-page scene is 4/8. They let a room talk duration without pretending the page is a stopwatch. The learn guide on breaking down a screenplay walks the unit, CONTINUOUS inheritance, and the writer habits that later break a board.
Software should report what is on the page:
- INT/EXT and location as written, grouped when the location string matches.
- Production time, with CONTINUOUS / LATER / SAME inheriting the previous scene’s light.
- Authored numbers, including A-pages, when the draft already has them.
- Speaking and cued characters — not every name mentioned in action.
It should not invent a horse from a joke, merge two differently spelled diners, or grade whether the night exterior is “cinematic.” Those are human calls. The screenplay analyzer is the sibling tool for descriptive draft statistics; it also refuses to score the script.
When to stop coloring the board
Do not break down a moving spec. If locations still rename themselves and scene numbers are still floating, keep writing. Breakdown belongs to production after a draft is headed toward a shoot — the same moment locked pages and omitted scenes start to matter.
When the page is stable enough that a board would not be fiction, run the inventory, walk the strips, and export CSVs for a coordinator. Then stop. No private browser tool replaces StudioBinder, Movie Magic, or a 1st AD. The win is a trustworthy first pass attached to the same structured draft you will later export as FDX or PDF — not a second copy of the script that exists only to be colored.