Also known as OMITTED
A scene removed after lock that keeps its number in the continuum, often marked OMITTED, so later scene numbers and department references do not reshuffle.
On the page
16 OMITTED
17 INT. GARAGE - NIGHT
Once a script is locked, deleting a scene silently and renumbering everything after it breaks call sheets, lined scripts, and sides that already cite "scene 42." Marking the number OMITTED retires the content while preserving the map. The hole is intentional paperwork so the crew's references stay stable overnight.
OMITTED is a production lock tool, not a creative flex for early drafts. In development, cut scenes and renumber freely while the story is still moving. Inventing OMITTED rows in a sales spec to look "official" usually confuses readers who only wanted a clean continuous story without fake prep apparatus.
A-scenes and omitted scenes solve opposite insert/delete problems on a locked book: lettered numbers insert; OMITTED holds a retired slot. Writers should take omission instructions from the production numbering owner. If a cut returns later, production may restore content under a new lettered number rather than silently recycling the old slot.
Because schedules, sides, and lined scripts already point at the old numbers. OMITTED preserves those references while retiring the content.
No. It means the scene is out of the shooting continuum. The number stays as a placeholder so the locked map does not collapse.
Generally no. Specs should read as a clean continuous draft. OMITTED belongs to locked production numbering, not early sales formatting.
OMITTED retires a scene number; A-pages insert pagination between locked page numbers. Both protect references instead of renumbering the whole book.
