Writing a script#
The Production Book is where a project's writing lives. It opens as the Script tab of the canvas — a paper page inside the dark workspace, because a script is prose you read and re-read for hours rather than something you look at.
A script here is structured data, not a document. Scenes are records, beats inside them are typed, and the entities a scene involves are real links into your production bible. That is what lets later stages — the board, the shots, the continuity check — read a script instead of parsing one.
Scripts#
A project can hold several scripts: drafts, alternates, a version for a different cut. Each one carries a title, a logline, a genre and a tone, plus a kind that names its production format — screenplay, commercial, live selling, music video, brand content, social short, event hosting or immersive.
Scenes and beats#
Scenes are ordered. Each has a heading, an optional summary, and a list of beats — the typed elements the scene is made of:
- Action — what happens.
- Dialogue — what someone says, carrying the character's name.
- Transition — how the scene leaves.
Beats are validated on every save, so a malformed beat never becomes part of a stored script. A dialogue beat without a character is refused, and so is a character name on a beat that is not dialogue.
Scene numbers come from scene order. There is no separate number to maintain: reorder the scenes and the numbering follows. Ordering moves by explicit up and down controls rather than by dragging.
A scene can also reference the entities that appear in it, linked to your project's bible entries rather than retyped per script.
Locking a script#
A script is either a draft or locked. Locking says the content is a commitment that later stages build on, and a locked script refuses edits to its scenes and beats with a reason the editor shows you.
Unlocking exists and is recorded. Locking again is how you re-commit after a change. Locking asks for confirmation, naming what it is about to lock and how many scenes are involved; deleting a scene asks too, because content is destroyed. Everything else — heading, summary and beat edits — simply saves.
When two people (or you and CODA) write at once#
Every edit carries the version of the script it was based on. If the script moved underneath you, the write is refused and you are shown the current version with one action: reload.
The editor does not attempt to merge, and does not pretend to have merged. Losing a sentence you thought was saved is worse than being asked to reload.
What CODA can and cannot do#
CODA, the built-in creative assistant, can work on the script with you from the chat rail. It can create a script, read the current one back, edit the title and other metadata, add a scene, and edit an existing scene. Its edits go through exactly the same validation and the same version check as yours, and each one appears in the conversation as an activity line, so you can see what it did and not only what it said.
CODA cannot lock, unlock, or delete. A lock is a commitment later stages build on, and a deletion destroys content — both stay yours, made in the editor. Ask CODA to lock a script and it will say so and point you at the editor rather than failing quietly.
CODA also takes at most three actions in a single reply. If it is still working at that point, the turn ends with a visible note rather than continuing silently.