Leave scene numbers out of an ordinary spec unless requested; add and preserve them when a production needs stable references for breakdowns, schedules, and revisions.
Direct answer
A submission or reading draft normally does not need scene numbers. Number scenes when the draft enters a production workflow or a recipient explicitly requests them. After numbering and page lock, preserve existing identities: inserted scenes take suffixes and removed scenes remain accounted for rather than forcing every downstream department onto new references.
On the page
Mara opens the blue box.
Footsteps climb toward her.
Evidence weight
Schedules, call sheets, breakdowns, sides, and department notes refer to scene and page identities. Once those references circulate, preserving them prevents a revision from making every related document ambiguous.
Some writers number private drafts for navigation, and some episodic or commissioned templates require numbers earlier. That local convenience is different from locking an issued production script; follow the receiving workflow and do not infer production status from a software toggle alone.
Not one rigid template
Unless a recipient asks for numbers, keep the reading copy clean. Scene numbers and locked-page artifacts imply a production state that most submission readers do not need.
A shooting script conventionally repeats each scene number to the left and right of its scene heading. That makes the reference visible from either side of a printed or annotated page.
New scenes commonly receive suffixes between existing numbers. Deleted production scenes remain marked OMITTED so collaborators know the number was intentionally removed rather than accidentally missing.
Reader and handoff friction
Choose for the recipient
Export an unnumbered PDF unless the current brief, fellowship, studio, or classroom assignment explicitly requests a numbered draft. Remove production revision artifacts that the recipient did not ask to review.
Coordinate numbering, page lock, A-pages, omitted scenes, revision sets, and issue dates with the script coordinator or production office. Software can preserve identifiers; it cannot decide when a draft has officially been issued.
Plot supports the writing and review workflow, but it does not replace a script coordinator's issuance process. Keep an unnumbered writing line and a save point before handing off through FDX when a production controls scene numbering, page lock, revision sets, and issue dates.
Browse the screenplay formatting reference
Complete, source-backed guides for common screenplay situations
Title pages & anonymity
Keep a normal master title page with authorship and contact information, but create a separate anonymous PDF whenever the current submission rules require it.
Montage
Signal the montage, organize its visual beats in action, and end it clearly when the reader might not otherwise know where ordinary scene flow resumes.
Flashbacks
Make the time shift explicit in a scene heading or action cue, then clearly return to the present when the transition could otherwise be missed.
