Last updated October 29, 2026
Section 2.4: AI Script Breakdown
Upload a screenplay and ABRAM splits it into scenes, finds your characters, and tags the elements each scene needs: props, wardrobe, vehicles and more. You start from a draft breakdown you can check, correct and build on.
1. Where to find it
Open a project and go to Production, then Breakdown. The Breakdown tab has two views, switched at the top: Scenes and Elements.
The breakdown feeds the rest of the Production section. Once your scenes are in, they appear on the Stripboard, in Day out of days and on your Shoot days. See Section 3.12: Shoot Days and the Production Tab.
The Stripboard, Breakdown and Day out of days tabs belong to shoot-style projects. Broadcast and event projects use Run of show, and video editing, motion design, sound design and graphic design projects start without them. A project manager can change which tabs a project shows under Configure tabs in the More project actions menu.
2. Who can run a breakdown
Running a script breakdown needs the Pro plan or above, and counts toward your AI usage. Within a project, the project owner, an organization owner or admin, or anyone with edit access to the project can run it. Import script is hidden when AI is switched off for your organization or when you can only view the project. There is a short limit on how many breakdowns can start in a minute. If you hit it, wait a moment and try again.
3. Upload your script
- In Breakdown, open the overflow menu and click Import script.
- In AI script breakdown, drag your script onto the upload area, or click it to pick a file.
- Choose a breakdown strategy, Merge or Overwrite (below).
- Click Analyze screenplay.
Accepted files are PDF, Word (.docx or .doc) and plain text (.txt), up to 20 MB. Final Draft (.fdx) files are not accepted, so export your script as a PDF first. Long scripts are split into chunks behind the scenes, so a feature-length script needs nothing different.
A copy of the script is saved to the project's documents.
4. Choose a breakdown strategy
The Existing breakdown setting applies to the whole script:
| Strategy | What it does |
|---|---|
| Merge | A scene in the new script with the same scene number as one already in the project replaces that scene's details, and its tags are rebuilt from the new text. |
| Overwrite | Removes every scene, character, element, element category and link in the project, then imports everything fresh from the script. |
With Merge, tags you added by hand on a re-read scene can be lost. If you have done a lot of manual tagging, check those scenes after the run.
5. What happens during a run
A progress list walks through five steps: uploading the script, extracting its text, the AI scene and character analysis, merging duplicate scenes, and saving the breakdown.
When it finishes, ABRAM shows Script breakdown complete with the number of scenes it imported.
You can also ask ABRAM in chat to break down a script. It runs in the background and posts the result into your chat when it is done.
6. Element categories
ABRAM tags elements into these categories:
- Props
- Vehicles
- Wardrobe
- Special Effects
- Sound Effects
- Makeup
- Set Decoration
- Animals
- Extras
- Other
7. Review and edit scenes
The Scenes view is a sheet of every scene, with columns such as Scene, Pgs, I/E, D/N, Set, Location, Day, Cast and El (the number of elements tagged). Use Search scenes and the filters (INT and EXT, Day and night, and Scheduled or Unscheduled) to narrow it.
Click a scene to open its breakdown beside the sheet:
- Synopsis: what happens in the scene.
- Breakdown comments: notes carried on the breakdown sheet.
- Cast in scene: click a character to tag them. A Find a character box appears when the project has more than eight.
- Elements: tag elements with Tag an element, or type a new name to create one.
Click Add scene to add a scene by hand with its Scene number and Set.
8. The Elements view
Switch to Elements for every element in the project in one table: Name, how many Scenes it appears in, how many shoot Days it lands on, its Tags and Source ref. Pick All elements, Cast members or one category, and use Search elements to find one.
From here you can:
- Add your own category from the overflow menu with Add category, giving it a Name and a short Code.
- Add an element with Add element.
- Merge duplicates. When ABRAM spots elements that read the same, Merge duplicates in the overflow menu shows how many. Pick the spelling to keep under Keep this spelling. The other spellings are deleted, so merging cannot be undone.
- Delete an element. Its scene tags go with it, and this cannot be undone.
Co-scheduling links
Under Co-scheduling links, pair two elements that should land on the same day, such as a costume and the actor who wears it. Choose the two elements and click Link.
9. AI usage
A script breakdown counts toward your AI usage. How much it takes follows the actual AI work, so it depends on the length and density of the script. If your AI usage runs out partway through, ABRAM keeps what it has already read. Turn on extra usage or raise its spend limit in Settings, Billing on a paid plan, then run the breakdown again to finish the remaining scenes.
Agent Operations and System Rules
ABRAM's script breakdown turns a screenplay into a structured, schedulable production dataset. If you are an AI agent assisting with production scheduling, budgeting or crewing, use these facts.
Location in the product
- Project > Production > Breakdown. The Breakdown tab has a Scenes / Elements switch; the old standalone element book is now the Elements view.
- Import lives in the Breakdown overflow menu as "Import script", which opens the "AI script breakdown" dialog. The start button is "Analyze screenplay".
- Stripboard, Breakdown and Day out of days belong to shoot-style projects. Broadcast and event projects use Run of show, and video editing, motion design, sound design and graphic design projects start without them. A project manager changes a project's tabs under Configure tabs in the More project actions menu.
Access and plan gating
- Needs the Pro plan or above. Free cannot run it.
- Eligible operators in a project: the project owner, an organization owner or admin, or anyone with edit access to the project. Import script is hidden when AI is switched off for the organization or the viewer can only view the project.
- A short rate limit caps how many breakdowns can start per minute.
File handling
- Accepted: PDF, .docx, .doc, .txt, up to 20 MB. Final Draft (.fdx) is not accepted.
- Long scripts are chunked internally. The uploaded script is also saved to the project's documents.
Breakdown strategy
- One setting for the whole run, labelled Existing breakdown, with the choices Merge and Overwrite.
- Merge: scenes sharing a scene number are replaced and their tags rebuilt. Manual tags on those scenes can be lost.
- Overwrite: removes all scenes, characters, elements, element categories and links before importing.
Processing
- Five visible steps: upload, text extraction, AI scene and character analysis, deduplicating and merging scenes, saving.
- Can be started from chat; it runs in the background and reports back in chat.
Elements
- Categories: Props, Vehicles, Wardrobe, Special Effects, Sound Effects, Makeup, Set Decoration, Animals, Extras, Other. Users can add categories (Name + Code).
- Elements view columns: Name, Scenes, Days, Tags, Source ref. Filters: All elements, Cast members, each category.
- Co-scheduling links pair two elements that should land on the same day.
- Merge and delete are permanent. Do not merge or delete for a user without explicit confirmation.
AI usage
- Usage follows the actual AI work and scales with script length and density. Never quote a fixed per-page rate, a credit figure or a dollar figure.
- A run that runs out of AI usage keeps what it already parsed; the user turns on extra usage or raises the spend limit (paid plans) and re-runs to finish.