Sides are the per-day script packets you hand to cast and crew on set — only the scenes scheduled for that shooting day, printed exactly as they read in the screenplay. The Sides view lives in the Scheduling tab, next to the Stripboard, Calendar, and DOOD.
Sides pull straight from your shooting schedule, so a packet always reflects the latest day breaks and scene order. You build each day's packet, mark what gets filmed, and export a print-ready PDF.
Where to find Sides
On the ribbon, select Scheduling, then select Sides. The dropdown label changes to Sides once the view is open.
Sides needs a schedule to work from. If the project has no day breaks yet, Filmustage shows a prompt to open the Stripboard and build one first.
The workspace
Sides opens as a three-part layout: the shooting-day rail on the left, the scene editor in the center, and the notes panel on the right.
The center works in two modes, switched with the Edit / Preview toggle:
Edit — work one scene at a time to cross out lines and set its shot status.
Preview — read the whole packet exactly as the PDF prints, sectioned by shooting day.
Build the packet
The left rail lists every shooting day with its scenes. A scene checkbox includes or excludes that scene; the count at the top reads N of M scenes in packet.
Two scope controls sit above the day list:
Sort scenes — order scenes inside each day by Schedule (shoot order) or Script (ascending scene number). Day sections always stay in calendar order.
Multi-day — off by default, so the packet is the one active day. Toggle it on to add day checkboxes and bundle several shooting days into one packet, each in its own section.
When the project has more than one shooting unit, a unit picker scopes the packet to a single unit or the main crew.
Smart Highlight
Smart Highlight spotlights the scenes that matter for a department or a cast member. Select Highlight by… and pick filters from four groups: Categories (tag categories such as Cast, Props, Set Dressing), Cast, Locations, and Scene type (INT/EXT and MOS).
With two or more filters active, Match filters sets the logic: All matches scenes that meet every filter, Any matches scenes that meet at least one. The status line shows N of M highlighted, and Reset clears every filter.
Note: Highlighting never removes scenes. Non-matching scenes dim but stay in the packet — unless you turn on Show only matches, which drops them from the packet and lists them in an appendix instead.
Cross out lines
On the Cross-out tab, click any line to mark it as not filmed on the active day. Cross-out is non-destructive: struck lines still print in the sides, greyed and with a line-through, so the actor keeps the full scene context.
A scene with crossed-out lines shows an orange 1 skip badge in the rail — the number of lines struck for that day. Because cross-out is saved per day, the same scene can show a different skip count under a different shooting day.
Track shot status
The Shot status tab turns Sides into an on-set tracker for the script supervisor. Set a status for the scene — Not shot, Shot, Partial, Held, or Omitted — and add continuity notes and take references. The status shows as a colored chip in the rail next to the scene.
Shot status feeds the export: a Partial scene carries its continuity into the next day's sides, and Skip scenes already shot leaves finished scenes out of the next packet. Every change autosaves.
Notes
The right panel holds one notes field with a Sides note / Scene note toggle. Sides note is the per-day note for that scene and prints in the packet by default; Scene note is the scene's own note, shared with the Script and Summary tabs. The selected source is the one rendered in the PDF.
Export and verify
Select Export, then Generate Sides PDF. Three options sit in the same menu:
Include cover page — add a cover sheet to the packet.
Add QR code on every page — stamp each page with a QR code.
Skip scenes already shot — leave out scenes marked Shot.
If the schedule changes after you export, Sides shows an Outdated export badge — select it to regenerate the packet with the current scenes.
Tip: The QR code on each printed page opens a status page that tells the crew whether the sides still match the current schedule — Up to date or Outdated — so no one shoots from a stale packet.
Step by step
🗂 Build a daily sides packet
Pick the shooting day, choose the scenes, and set the order.✂️ Cross out lines in sides
Strike the lines that aren't filmed that day.🖍 Highlight scenes in sides
Spotlight scenes by cast, location, tag category, or scene type.🎬 Track shot status on set
Log status, continuity notes, and takes per scene.📤 Export sides and verify with QR
Generate the PDF and verify it on set with a QR code.
Plans
Sides feature requires a Director's Cut plan.