There is one more aspect I feel I should mention because when I had no idea what I was doing as director, I really got confused with this matter. It also pertains to the producer because it is typically part of the pre-production, but a lot of folks that make short films don’t know or ignore this matter.
Numbering scenes can be a complicated matter. It is mostly the domain of the script supervisor once shooting occurs, but in pre-production it is the line producer’s job or (also called the UPM or Unit Production Manager).
Unfortunately, you probably won’t have one of those on a short film (unless your short film has a bigger budget) so you, as the producer, are going to be doing the pre-production numbers.
It gets a little complicated with feature films, but on a short it shouldn’t be so bad.
The simplified version of pre-production numbering:
Go through the script and give a number for each scene. Starting with “1” for the first scene and going in order until the end of the script. Don’t skip numbers. Don’t do any wacky numbering with letters.
That was easy, right?
All crew and cast should get the same script with the same numbers.
If numbers change (because you add/delete scenes or whatever), make sure everyone has the updated script numbers.
The director then takes these numbers and makes a shot list using these numbers.
During production, the script supervisor uses these numbers to make the shot numbers, which are often different than the pre-production numbers. Shot numbers can be a complex topic, too. The finer points of numbering shots is often debated in script supervisor chat rooms because there is much debate about proper protocol.
That’s not something you have to worry about because the un-official script supervisor (like if the editor steps in to write down the preferred takes) will do the best he can so that he understands what he’s written, and if you get someone who is actually a trained script supervisor they will be glad that you knew enough to actually number the script during pre-production (a lot of short film producers don’t know to do this.)
