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Outline the story above the timeline

You can lay out the structure of a screenplay in outlines — lanes above the page strip where each story beat covers the pages you plan for it. Use the top lane for big moments such as acts, and the lanes below for the beats inside them.

The outline lanes above the page strip, with story beats placed in Outline 2.
The outline lanes above the page strip, with story beats placed in Outline 2.

A screenplay starts with two lanes, Outline 1 and Outline 2. The page strip below the lanes shows 120 pages, the length of a feature script, so you can lay out beats for pages you haven't written yet. Pages after the end of the script are dimmed, and the vertical line marks where you are in the script. If the script or a beat runs past page 120, the page strip grows to show it.

Place a beat in an outline

  1. Click at the top right of the editor, then click the Beats tab.
  2. Drag a beat from the list onto a lane.

The beat covers half a page where you drop it. If that space is taken, the beat moves to the nearest free space in the lane. A beat can appear once in each screenplay's outlines; dragging a beat that's already placed moves it.

To place a beat without dragging, click Add to outline under the beat in the Beats tab. The beat goes after the last beat in the bottom lane.

Set where a beat starts and ends

  • Drag the left edge of the beat to change where it starts, or the right edge to change where it ends.

Beats snap to eighths of a page, and the shortest beat is an eighth of a page. Beats in the same lane don't overlap, so an edge stops at the next beat.

Move a beat

  • Move it along the lane: Drag the beat left or right.
  • Move it to another lane: Drag the beat up or down.

A beat is the parent of the beats in the lanes below that start inside it. When you move it along its lane, its child beats move with it.

You can also select a beat and use the keyboard: press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow key to move it by an eighth of a page (add Shift to move it by a page), press Option-Left Arrow or Option-Right Arrow (Alt on Windows) to move its end, or press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key to move it to another lane.

Preview, edit, or remove a beat

  • Preview a beat: Click the beat to see its title, description, and pages.
  • Edit a beat: Click the beat, then click Edit beat. Changes appear everywhere the beat is used, including whiteboards.
  • Go to a beat's pages: Double-click the beat, or click it and then click Go to page.
  • Remove a beat from the outline: Click the beat (or Control-click it), click Remove, then click Remove to confirm. The beat stays in the Beats tab and on whiteboards.

Add, rename, or delete a lane

  • Add a lane: Click Add outline below the lane names.
  • Rename a lane: Double-click the lane name, or click next to it and choose Rename. Enter a name, then press Return.
  • Delete a lane: Click next to the lane name, choose Delete outline, then click Delete outline to confirm. The lane's beats are taken out of the outline, not deleted.

To hide the outlines, choose View > Show outlines. This only changes what you see.

See also