Windows tutorials › Story and Beat Board
Story and Beat BoardGive scenes a story day on the Timeline
Group screenplay scenes by the day they happen in the story and add time notes.
Before you start
- The project has a screenplay with scenes.
Steps
Click Timeline in a project with no screenplay.
The page says No screenplay scenes yet. Story days belong to screenplay scenes. Build a screenplay from the Beat Board or write one first. Beat Board cards never need a story day. A Build Screenplay button is offered.
Open Timeline in a project with a screenplay.
A line names the draft and the scene count, for example Second Draft · 36 scenes. Scene numbers come from the screenplay order. Each scene row has a tick box, its number, its heading and a time note box.
Tick one or more scenes.
The button at the top right now counts them: Assign Story Day (3).
Click Assign Story Day.
The dialog says how many scenes are selected. Story Day takes a number or a label: For example 1, 2, 3, or a label such as Flashback. Clear Story Day takes the day away. Cancel closes the dialog.
Type 1 and click Assign.
The scenes move into the group DAY 1.
Read the message at the bottom.
It says Assigned Story Day 1 with Undo. The scenes now sit under DAY 1 with their count, and the rest stay under UNASSIGNED, a group with a note that this is fine because story days are optional.
Click the time note box of a scene and type, for example Night, after the last bus.
A time note describes when in the day the scene happens, for example for continuity.
Look at the grouped Timeline.
Scenes are grouped under DAY 1, DAY 2 and any labels such as FLASHBACK, with UNASSIGNED at the end.
What you get
Your scenes are grouped by story day, with time notes where you added them.
Watch out for
- Story days are optional. Leave scenes unassigned if time continuity does not matter to you.
- The Timeline lists screenplay scenes, not Beat Board cards. Build a screenplay first if it is empty.