Scene Management

Scene numbers are a fundamental part of production screenwriting. They give everyone on the production a shared reference point. When the director says "we're shooting Scene 14," everyone knows exactly which scene that is.

Scene numbers

Open the command palette (Cmd+K) and run Number scenes to number every scene heading in order: 1, 2, 3. Clear scene numbers removes them again. A scene number appears in both the left and right margins of its scene heading, matching the industry-standard layout.

In a formatted script, it looks like this:

> 14    INT. DETECTIVE'S OFFICE - NIGHT    14

Scene navigator

The left panel includes a scene list that shows every scene in your script. Click any scene to jump directly to it. This is especially useful in longer scripts where scrolling to find a specific scene would take too long.

Each row shows the scene's position in the script and its heading, so you can see the structure of your script at a glance. The info button on a row opens the scene's properties, including its scene number, starting page and length.

OMITTED scenes

When a scene is cut from the script during production, don't delete it. Instead, mark it as OMITTED: put your cursor on the scene heading and run Omit scene from the command palette. This preserves the scene number so all other scene numbers stay the same.

In the script, an omitted scene appears like this:

> 14    OMITTED    14

Omitting replaces the heading's text and nothing else, so delete the scene's action and dialogue beneath it yourself. Restore omitted scene makes the heading editable again; type the heading back in.

This is essential during production. If you simply deleted Scene 14, then Scene 15 would become Scene 14, and every reference that cast and crew have to scene numbers would be wrong. Marking it OMITTED keeps everything aligned.

Scene numbering during revisions

In production, scene numbers are locked and never change, even if scenes are added, moved, or removed. This is an industry rule.

If you need to add a new scene between Scene 14 and Scene 15 during revisions, it becomes Scene A14 (some productions use 14A). The existing Scene 15 stays as Scene 15.

Premiere does not letter new scenes for you. Number scenes always renumbers every heading in order, so once numbers have gone out, running it again would shift every scene after the one you added. A heading you add after numbering has no number. Lettered scene numbers such as A14 or 14A that come in with an imported Fountain or Final Draft file are kept as they are.

When to add scene numbers

Scene numbers are typically added when a script is "locked" for production. During the drafting and development process, most writers leave scene numbers off. Add them when your script is ready to go to the production team.

Best practices

Don't renumber scenes during production. Once numbers are assigned and distributed, they're permanent. In Premiere, that means not running Number scenes again.
Use OMITTED instead of deleting. It takes one command and prevents confusion across every department.
A-scenes are normal. Adding scenes between existing numbers happens on every production. The letter prefix is the standard solution.