Fade In Professional Screenwriting Software includes extensive tools for managing a screenplay through the rewriting, preproduction, and production processes.
Revisions
Screenplay revisions are color-coded. The shooting script upon which the initial preproduction breakdown is based is printed on white paper. Subsequent revisions during preproduction and/or production are customarily printed on, in order: blue, pink, yellow, green, goldenrod, buff, salmon, cherry, and tan. The first set of revisions are referred to as the "blue pages" the second as "pink pages", etc.
To change the revision level, go to Production > Revisions and select the desired revision color. The available revision names and colors can be modified for the current document, and saved/loaded for use in other documents.
To have any edits, deletions, additions, etc. applied automatically, make sure that Production > Revision Mode is on.
Any subsequent editing of the document will then result in that text being marked (with "*" by default) in the margin, and that page being flagged as the appropriate revision color. Depending on the setting of Preferences > User Interface > Revisions, the revised text may optionally appear in the appropriate color and/or the onscreen page color may optionally reflect the revision color.
Note that normally the "current revision" and the "document revision" are the same. (Under Revisions, the default is for the document revision to match the current revision level.) However, there may be times when it is desired to work on, for instance, Pink revisions while keeping the document as a Blue draft. In that case, the document revision can be specified as Blue, and the current revisions specified as Pink.
You can choose to show no revisions, only the current revision, all revisions, the page revision (i.e., only the highest revision on the current page), or selected revisions. For page revision and selected revisions, you can choose what revision colors from the full list are shown.
Revisions can be unmarked, in which case the changed text remains but it is no longer flagged as being revised. The "*" will be removed, and the revision page color will be reset to its previous value.
Locking Pages, Scenes, and Elements
Locking pages and scenes is also key to the preproduction process. Once the script has been broken down, it is necessary that page and scene numberings don't change, i.e., that "INT. CHARLIE'S OFFICE - NIGHT" is always scene number 124 on page 82, regardless of how many scenes or pages are inserted or deleted along the way.
(While scene locking is most common, other elements can be numbered and locked, as well, such as dialogue — commonly numbered for animation scripts, for instance.)
Page numbers are locked using Production > Lock Page Numbers. Scene or other element numbers are locked using Production > Lock Numbers. Scene numbers must be showing in order to lock them, using Production > Scene Numbering.
(Other element numbers must be showing in order to lock them, using Production > Additional Numbering > Element Numbering.
Once locked, numbering is frozen for all existing pages or scenes. Inserting, for instance, a new scene between 10 and 11 will number it 10A. Numbering can be re-locked to freeze that subsequently inserted 10A so that inserting a new scene between 10A and 11 will result in 10A1.
Locked page numbers, scene numbers, or other element numbers can be manually edited or automatically renumbered from a given number.
Numbering can use multiple numbering modes:
1AB - 1, 1A, 1AA, 1AB, 1B, 2, ...
The standard numbering scheme. Pages/elements added before locked pages/elements are always given an additional letter.1A2 - 1, 1A, 1A1, 1A2, 1B, 2, ...
Pages/elements added before locked pages/elements are given an additional alternating letter and number.AB2 - 1, A2, AA2, AB2, B2, 2, ...
Some production personnel prefer to put the added page/elements number before the original numerical page/elements number.BA2 - 1, A2, AA2, BA2, B2, 2, ...
Similar to AB1 numbering, except that subsequent additions are always made to the front of the page/elements number.XIV - I, I(A), I(B), II, III, IV, ...
Roman numeral numbering, with inserted pages being given (A), (B), etc.xiv - i, i(A), i(B), ii, iii, iv, ...
Lowercase Roman numerals, with inserted pages being given (A), (B), etc.
Tagging
Fade In allows the various components of a screenplay — cast, stunts, vehicles, props, camera, wardrobe, effects, and many more customizable categories — to be marked for easy identification, reference, and report generation.
Tagging can be done automatically or manually using Production > Tagging Window.
Once items in the screenplay have been categorized and tagged, reports from multiple perspectives may be generated using Production > Reports > Tagging Report to show the occurrence of each by scene and/or category.
Reports
The application has they ability to generate a number of different reports to aid in script breakdown, under Production > Reports.
Scene Report
A detailed breakdown of every scene in the script, giving the scene number,
scene heading, page number, length in eighths of a page, and number of dialogues
by character. The first time a speaking character appears in the report, that
character's name is formatted in bold italics.
Cast Report
A list of each character in the script giving the number of total dialogues,
words and lines (50 letters/line) speaking scenes, and total scenes for each.
The report can be sorted alphabetically or in script order.
Character Report
A breakdown of each character in the script with each scene they appear in
(speaking and, optionally, non-speaking).
The report can be sorted alphabetically or in script order.
Dialogue Report
Consolidates all the dialogue spoken by a specific character into a single report.
Gender Report
Provides various ways of gauging inclusivity by gender in terms of speaking roles, etc.
Location Report
A list of each location in the script, broken down into interior (INT.),
exterior (EXT.), etc. and listed by scene, giving the scene number and page number
for each.
Notes Report
A summary of notes in the document, giving the scene number and page number of each.
Synopsis Report
A summary of the script's synopsis content, broken down by scene number and page number.
Revisions Report
A summary of all document revisions by color, scene number, and page number.
Tagging Report
A detailed breakdown, from multiple perspectives, of tagged items and their
occurrence by scene.
Element Report
Creates a custom report of one or more selected element types.
Statistics Report
Presents some interesting and/or useful information about script and scene length,
Reports can be printed or saved as HTML or as .csv (comma-separated values) for import into other applications.