Why Split a Scene?
There are several situations where shooting a scene in two separate blocks makes sense:
- A long scene straddles the lunch break and you need to shoot the first half before eating
- A company move happens partway through a scene, with the exterior portion shooting at one location and the interior at another
- An AD wants to front-load easier pages of a scene early in the day and tackle the more complex pages after the cast has warmed up
- The schedule engine automatically splits a scene that straddles the 6-hour lunch deadline when the 'Split long scenes for lunch' option is enabled during import
How to Split a Scene
To split a scene manually on the CS Front tab:
- Right-click any scene row in the scene schedule to open the context menu
- Choose 'Split Scene' from the context menu
- The scene is immediately split into two linked rows: Pt1 and Pt2
- Pages are divided evenly: Pt1 gets the ceiling half, Pt2 gets the remainder
What Gets Split
When you split a scene, here is exactly what each half inherits:
| Field | Pt1 (Original) | Pt2 (Continuation) |
|---|---|---|
| Scene Number | Unchanged (e.g. 14) | Unchanged (same as Pt1) |
| Description | Unchanged | Appended with " - CONT'D" |
| Pages | Ceiling half of total (e.g. 1 3/8 of 2 4/8) | Remainder (e.g. 1 1/8 of 2 4/8) |
| INT/EXT | Inherited | Inherited |
| Day/Night | Inherited | Inherited |
| Location | Inherited | Inherited |
| Cast | Inherited | Inherited |
| Split Group ID | Shared UUID | Same shared UUID |
| Split Original Pages | Total before split | Total before split |
Visual Annotations
Split scenes carry distinct visual markers so you can instantly see which rows are linked:
- Scene number cell: a small 'Pt1' or 'Pt2' label appears in the bottom-right corner of the cell in a muted color
- Pages cell: a small chain-link icon (Link2) appears in the bottom-right corner of the cell, indicating the page count is part of a linked pair
- Both annotations appear identically in the CS Front scene schedule and the Advance Schedule. The linked pair travels through every view together.
Splitting a Scene
Use the interactive demo below to see splitting in action. Right-click any row, split it, then use the +/− controls to redistribute pages between the two halves.
| # | Set / Description | I/E | D/N | Pgs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | INT POLICE STATION – INTERROGATION Detective Morgan reads the file again. | INT | D | 2 4/8 |
| 22 | EXT ROOFTOP – ESCAPE SEQUENCE Simone scales the fire escape fast. | EXT | N | 3 2/8 |
| 31 | INT DINER – CONFRONTATION Morgan and Simone order coffee, say nothing. | INT | D | 1 6/8 |
| 45 | EXT PARKING LOT – STANDOFF Simone blocks the exit with her car. | EXT | N | 2 0/8 |
Redistributing Pages
After splitting, you can adjust where the page boundary falls without losing the linkage. Simply edit the page count on either half and the partner automatically adjusts to keep the total constant. For example, if Scene 22 (3 2/8 pages total) is split into Pt1: 1 5/8 and Pt2: 1 5/8, and you change Pt1 to 2 0/8, Pt2 automatically becomes 1 2/8. The total always stays at 3 2/8.
PR Scene Chips
Production Report scene chips on the PR Front tab reflect the split. Instead of a single chip labeled '22', you will see two chips: '22·Pt1' and '22·Pt2'. Each chip inherits the same color as the original scene (based on INT/EXT and Day/Night). The ·Pt1 and ·Pt2 suffixes make it immediately clear which portion of the scene was covered in which segment of the day.
Splitting for Lunch
The most common use of scene splitting is accommodating lunch. The import-time schedule engine can split a straddling scene automatically. See Auto-Draft Schedule Engine for full details. When this happens, the LUNCH banner is inserted between Pt1 and Pt2 automatically. The result in the scene schedule looks like: Scene 45 Pt1 → LUNCH BREAK → Scene 45 Pt2. You can also accomplish this manually by splitting a scene first, then inserting a LUNCH banner between the two halves.