Home Help Centre Script Breakdowns Importing A Script

Importing A Script For Breakdown

Import into Script Breakdown to turn a screenplay into the scenes and requirements used by production planning. This workflow includes a review step before the imported screenplay is built.

Before You Begin

Open the intended production and make sure you can import breakdown scripts. You need a CinePlatform writer document or a valid Final Draft FDX file.

Select The Source

  1. Open Script Breakdown.
  2. Select Import Script, or Import Your First Script if the production has no scenes.
  3. Under Import from CinePlatform Writer, choose the document and select Import Script; alternatively choose a file under Import from Final Draft FDX and select Import Script there.
  4. Review the Scenes Detected screen.

For a PDF, first use the writer's PDF import, correct the resulting writing there, then return to Import from CinePlatform Writer. The breakdown import page provides Open Script Writing for this route.

Review The Detected Information

  1. Check Revision Number, Revision Colour and Revision Name.
  2. Under Scenes, check each Scene Detected, TYPE, TIME, DESCRIPTOR and DAY/NIGHT.
  3. Choose what happens to each scene: Create New Scene, Match To An Existing Scene when available, or Do Not Import This Scene.
  4. Under Locations, decide whether to create, match or omit each location. Check Final Location Name, including original, new or custom-name choices.
  5. Under Characters, create, match or omit each character and check Final Name.
  6. Select Build Screenplay only after completing the required choices.
  7. Review the scene list in Script Breakdown.

Import Another Draft

When an existing breakdown is present, matching choices let you associate incoming material with existing records. Inspect those matches carefully to avoid duplicate locations and characters. Clear Existing Breakdown Data explicitly starts afresh; use it only when you intend to discard the existing breakdown data and have read its confirmation.

Troubleshooting

The file importer accepts Final Draft FDX, not an older Final Draft binary file renamed to .fdx. If import reports an invalid file, export a genuine FDX from your writing application. Different heading conventions can produce incorrect locations or times; fix them in the detection review or use Repair Script afterwards.