Script revision colors: the standard order and how they work

Script revision colors are a production system: once a shooting script is locked, each new round of changed pages is printed on a different color of paper, in a fixed order — white, blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon, cherry — so cast and crew can see at a glance which version they hold.

The system exists because a film in preparation cannot reprint a whole script every time a line changes. Departments have already marked up their copies; an actor has notes in the margin; the first assistant director has a schedule built on page counts. Colored pages let everyone swap in only what changed. This guide covers the order, the marks on a revised page, locked pages and A-pages, and why a writer with a spec script can leave the whole thing alone.

What is a shooting script?

A shooting script is the version of a screenplay prepared for production. The story is the same as the last draft; what changes is that the script now has to stay stable while dozens of people plan from it. Scene numbers are added and locked, pages are locked, and every later change is issued as revised pages in the next color rather than as a new draft.

• Scene numbers on both margins of every scene heading, locked so a deleted scene leaves its number behind ("OMITTED") and a new scene between 12 and 13 becomes 12A.
• Locked pages, so a long addition spills onto an A-page (page 41A) instead of moving every later page.
• Revision marks: a colored header with the date, and an asterisk in the right margin of each changed line.
• CONT'D and (MORE) where dialogue or a scene breaks across pages, so a reader never loses who is speaking.

A spec script — one written to sell — has none of this: no scene numbers, no camera directions beyond what the story needs, and no revision colors. Turn a script into a shooting script only once it is greenlit and in pre-production.

What is the standard order of script revision colors?

The standard script color order starts with the white draft and moves through blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon and cherry, one color per revision round. The order is a widely shared convention in American film and television rather than a law, and some productions adjust it, but most crews expect this sequence.

1. White — the first locked draft that goes out to the production.
2. Blue — the first round of revised pages.
3. Pink — the second round.
4. Yellow — the third.
5. Green — the fourth.
6. Goldenrod — the fifth.
7. Buff — the sixth.
8. Salmon — the seventh.
9. Cherry — the eighth.

A long shoot can run past cherry. Many productions then start the cycle again as second, or double, rounds: second blue, second pink, second yellow and so on. Others add extra colors such as tan or gray before repeating. The production office announces which scheme it uses, and everyone follows that one.

What a revised page looks like

A revised page carries three marks that tell a reader what changed and when.

• A header line naming the round and date, such as Blue Rev. 03/14, at the top of every page in that round.
• An asterisk (*) in the right margin beside every line that changed, so an actor can find their new line without rereading the scene.
• The same page number as before. A revised page replaces its old self one for one; it does not push the rest of the script down.

Only the changed pages go out. If a scene on page 47 loses two lines, the production sends a new page 47 in the current color, and everyone slots it into their binder in place of the old one. A full script that has been through five rounds can look like a striped fan of white, blue, pink, yellow and green pages — which is exactly the point.

Locked pages and A-pages

Locked pages keep page numbers fixed after the script goes into production, so that schedules, breakdowns and call sheets built on page 47 still point to the right material after every revision. Locking is what makes colored revision pages possible.

When new material pushes past the end of a locked page, the overflow goes onto an A-page. If page 12 grows, the extra text becomes page 12A, then 12B if needed, and page 13 stays page 13. When material is cut, the page stays in the script with less text on it, or two pages are combined and labeled with both numbers, such as 22-23.

Scene numbers lock the same way. A scene added between scenes 5 and 6 becomes 5A; a scene that is cut keeps its number with the word OMITTED, so scene 6 never quietly becomes scene 5. The scene headings guide explains how numbers sit at either end of a heading.

5A  EXT. QUARRY ROAD - DAWN  5A

Tessa's van stalls at the top of the hill. She
kicks the door open before it stops rolling.

6   OMITTED   6

In that sample a new scene slipped in as 5A, and the old scene 6 was cut but keeps its place in the numbering. A crew member holding a schedule for scene 7 still finds scene 7 where it always was.

How a revision round works in practice

A typical round runs the same way on most productions:

1. The writer makes changes in the locked script with revision marks switched on.
2. Changed lines are flagged with asterisks, and the round is named with the next color and the date.
3. The production prints or exports only the pages that changed, plus a cover sheet listing them.
4. Departments swap the new pages into their copies and note what moved.

Writers sometimes collect changes for a few days and send one round rather than three small ones, because each round costs everyone a little time. A round that changes one word on twenty pages is still twenty pages to swap.

When should spec writers ignore revision colors?

Spec writers should ignore revision colors entirely: a script written to sell or to enter a competition is not in production, so it has no locked pages, no colored rounds and no asterisks. Send a clean white draft every time.

Marks from a production system on a spec script tell a reader that it has been reworked many times, or that the writer does not know the difference between a selling draft and a shooting script. Scene numbers fall in the same category — leave them off until a production asks for them. Keep your own draft history in versions or file names instead, and send readers only the latest clean draft. The screenplay format guide covers what a spec page should look like.

Write it in Scenaloom

Scenaloom's editor has a Revision mode, and the PDF export offers Revision marks… with revision sets in the standard order: blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon, cherry, then Second blue, Second pink and onward. Changed lines get an asterisk in the right margin, and each page header shows the color and date, as in Blue Rev. followed by the date. Scene numbers can be locked (5A, 5B, OMITTED) and pages locked (12A, 12B); see the screenplay editor or start a script.