Using the Shot List

EnsembleWriter keeps a shot list alongside your screenplay. Every scene heading in the script becomes a scene on the list, and you build the shots under it: shot size, angle, movement, lens, who is in frame, and an overhead plan of where the camera and actors stand. When it is ready, export it for the shoot. If you have never made one, start with Shot List Example, which walks through one scene, or grab the shot list template.

What is a Shot List?

A shot list is a document used in film and video production that catalogs every camera setup needed to shoot a scene. It typically includes the shot type (wide, close-up, etc.), camera angle, movement, characters in frame, and any special equipment or notes.

In EnsembleWriter the list is organized by the scenes of your script, so it stays next to the pages it was planned from. Each shot holds its camera details, a story purpose, production notes, and an overhead plan of where the camera and the characters stand.

Starting a Shot List

Open a screenplay and click the Shot List button (camera icon) in the left sidebar. The shot list needs a free account, since it is saved on the server so your crew can work on it with you. If the list has no shots yet, you will see two options:

• + Blank shot: sets up one scene per scene heading in your script and adds a single empty shot, for building the list yourself from the first shot.
• Generate from script: drafts a first pass for every scene, with shots and blocking, from your pages and any character biographies you have written. You can give it a direction first, such as "more handheld, fewer inserts". Treat it as something to react to: keep what works, rewrite what does not, delete the rest.

A drafted list fills in scene by scene, and you can start editing the scenes that have arrived.

Understanding the Workspace

The shot list workspace has three columns:

• Scenes (left): every scene with its shot count, total shooting time and one dot per shot in its priority colour (red Critical, amber Important, grey Optional). Click a scene to focus on it, or All scenes to see everything. The filter box above searches titles, descriptions, characters and scene headings. + Add scene adds one at the end; double-click a scene's name in the main view to rename it.
• Shots (centre), in one of two views:
  • Table: one row per shot with its code (1A, 1B...), a blocking thumbnail, title and description, type, movement, angle, characters, time and priority. Scenes collapse, and rows drag to reorder, within a scene or into another.
  • Cards: each shot as its blocking diagram with the essentials beneath.
• Detail panel (right): appears when you select a shot, with every field, the full blocking diagram and the box for describing a change. The arrows at the top step through shots across scene boundaries.

Editing Shots

Select a shot to edit it in the detail panel:

• Title, description and story purpose: what we see, and why the shot exists.
• Camera: shot type, angle, movement, framing, lens and equipment.
• Production: priority (Critical, Important, Optional), setup complexity, estimated minutes, characters and props.
• Notes: lighting, audio, continuity and VFX notes, each added only when a shot needs one.

Duplicate copies the shot in place, which is the fastest way to build a reverse or a coverage pair. Delete removes it and moves you to the next one. Every change saves as you make it; there is no save button.

Blocking Diagrams

Each shot has an overhead plan of the set. It shows the camera, the lens's field of view as a blue wedge (a 24mm is wide, an 85mm narrow), each character as a coloured disc with a tick pointing toward the camera, and an optional set piece such as a desk or a car.

In the detail panel the plan is interactive: drag the camera or a character to move them, and drag the ring on the camera's aim line to turn it. Characters named on the shot but not yet placed appear under the diagram as + Name chips. Reset returns to the automatic layout. Moving anything counts as editing the shot by hand.

Describing a Change

Sometimes it is quicker to say what you want than to change five fields. At the bottom of the detail panel, describe the change, or pick a quick prompt such as "Make it handheld" or "Suggest a lens", and press Apply (or Cmd/Ctrl+Enter). Only what you asked about changes. The rest of the shot stays as you had it, including where you placed people, unless the change is about them.

Drafting a Scene Again

Regenerate in the header drafts a new pass over every scene, or only the scene you are on, which is useful after a rewrite. Shots you have edited or added by hand are kept by default and the new shots go after them; uncheck that option to replace everything. You can give the new pass a direction too.

Working Together

Everyone invited to a script works on the same shot list. Edits appear for the others within a moment of being made, and two people changing different shots, or different fields of the same shot, keep both changes.

Exporting

Click Export in the header and choose a format:

• PDF: print-ready, one scene per page, each shot beside its blocking diagram.
• CSV: one row per shot, for Excel, Google Sheets or scheduling software.
• Call sheet: a compact PDF table grouped by scene with running times per scene and for the day.

You can export every scene, only the current one, or only the Critical and Important shots, and choose whether to include the blocking diagrams, story purpose, department notes and scene totals.

The shot list, blocking included, also travels inside the project's .ensemble file, so importing that file elsewhere brings it back as it was.

Free vs Pro

Free accounts are limited to five shots total across all scenes. The pill in the header shows how many you have used. On a shared script the limit follows the owner's plan, so everyone working on a Pro writer's script has the full list.

Pro accounts have unlimited shots, with no limit on drafting, editing or export.

Upgrade to Pro from your account settings or from Upgrade in the shot list's header. See Pricing for details.