Script Annotations & Comments

Your script is where every production decision starts — and now you can mark it up without printing a page or opening a second app. The Script tab supports annotations: highlight, underline, and strike through any line, in color, grouped into layers you can show or hide.

Paired with it: comments. Select a line, leave a note, and your team can reply, resolve, and reopen the thread — anchored to the exact spot on the page.

The point isn't another markup tool. It's markup that lives in the same place you already break down, schedule, and budget — so your notes travel with the project instead of a stack of PDFs.

Highlight, underline, and strike through — in color

Three tools cover everyday markup: Highlight, Underline, and Strikethrough. Pick one from the toolbar above the script, choose a color for highlights and underlines (or set a custom one), and select the text you want to mark. Strikethrough needs no color. To clear marks fast, grab the eraser and drag across anything you want gone.

Everything has a keyboard shortcut — H, U, S for the three marks, E for the eraser, V to switch back to select — so marking up a page never breaks your reading flow. And because annotations sit on top of the script, they never touch the text itself or your breakdown tags. When you actually need to change a line, edit the script text directly; when you just want to flag it, annotate.

Layers keep every pass separate

Every mark lives on a layer — a named, colored set you can show or hide in one click. Keep the director's notes on one layer, continuity flags on another, and your own reminders on a third, then toggle any of them off to read the clean page. You can expand a layer to show or hide marks by type, too.

Layers are also how markup stays sane on a team. A Private layer is visible only to you. Any other layer is shared with collaborators who have annotation access, so several people can keep parallel sets of notes on the same script without stepping on each other. Deleting a layer clears every mark on it, so Filmustage asks you to confirm first.

Comments turn a mark into a conversation

Comments attach a discussion to a specific part of the script. Select the text, pick the Comment tool (shortcut C), type your note — up to 500 characters — and save. The thread appears in the Comments panel on the right, where anyone with access can reply. Resolve a thread once it's handled, and reopen it later if the conversation isn't actually done.

Comments are part of Team Access — they're built for teams reviewing a script together, so feedback lives on the page instead of scattered across email and chat. If you just need to message a teammate without pointing at a line, that's what Team Chat is for.

Notes that stay with the project

Because annotations live on the Script tab, they stay attached to the project — not to a printout or a separate app. Open the project on any machine and the marked-up page is there, layers and all.

That's the practical difference from marking up a PDF: the highlights sit next to the breakdown, the schedule, and the budget for the same script, and they cost nothing to use — annotations don't spend Dude Coins. Marks apply to the scene you have open, so you build up notes scene by scene as you work through the script.

What it costs

Script annotations are free on every plan, including Free. Highlights, underlines, strikethroughs, and private layers cost nothing and use no Dude Coins. Shared layers and comments — the collaboration side — require Team Access.

The bottom line

Annotations and comments close a small but constant gap in pre-production: the notes you used to scribble on a printed script now live on the script itself, in color, organized, and shared with the people who need them — in the same tool where the script already gets broken down and scheduled.

Open a project, go to the Script tab, and start highlighting. If you're working with a team, turn on comments and keep the whole review on the page.

FAQ

Do script annotations cost Dude Coins?

No. Highlighting, underlining, strikethrough, the eraser, and layers don't use Dude Coins. You can mark up as much as you want at no cost.

Are annotations available on the Free plan?

Yes — annotations work on every plan, including Free, and that includes private layers. Shared (team) layers and comments require Team Access.

Can my teammates see my private notes?

No. A Private layer is visible only to you. Only layers that aren't marked private are shared, and only with collaborators who have annotation access to the project.

Do annotations change my script or breakdown?

No. Marks sit on top of the script. Your script text and your breakdown tags stay exactly as they were.