S# (scene number)
S# (씬 넘버)
한국어로 읽기S# is the scene-number heading in Korean scripts, e.g. 'S#12. Living room (N)': number, place and time on one line, the name the crew calls a scene by.
Also written as: 씬 넘버 · 씬 번호 · S#1 · scene heading · 씬 헤딩 · 장면 번호
Meaning
S# stands for Scene Number, the heading attached in Korean scripts every time the scene changes. The standard form is S#12. Living room (N) or S#12. A road – N: number, location and time (day D / night N / day-to-night D→N) on one line. It corresponds to the American INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT, but the Korean form drops the interior/exterior marker and leads with the number. A scene receives a new number whenever location or time changes.
Why it matters
S# is where a script becomes a production document. Shooting proceeds by location and actor availability rather than script order, so the directing team, camera team and cast need a name to call: "we're shooting scene 12." If numbers are missing or misaligned, the set stops. That is why scene numbers are not casually changed during rewrites; inserted scenes take branch numbers like S#12-1. For the writer, S# is also a ruler for structure. A sixty-minute episode runs roughly 40 to 70 scenes, and a bare scene list shows which locations are overloaded, whether there are too many night scenes, and how many scenes the lead sits out. Writers working in the Korean word processor HWP conventionally use its outline numbering to assign S# automatically.
Example
S#12. Yuri's studio apartment (N)
Yuri sits at her desk, the bankbook open in front of her. Deposits fill every line.
Her phone rings. No caller ID.
YURI (does not answer; just watches the screen) ...
The ringing stops. A moment later, a text alert. Yuri looks.
INSERT – phone screen: "Don't open that bankbook."
S#13. Same (N, moments later)
Yuri goes to the window and pulls the curtain aside. The alley across the street. Someone stands under the streetlight.
Even in the same place, elapsed time ("moments later") gets a new scene number. The location and time markers become line items on the shooting schedule as written.
Common mistakes
- Numbering by hand. Delete one scene and every number after it shifts. Use your editor's auto-numbering or a script tool.
- Splitting a scene at the same place and time. A character entering the room does not start a new scene. Only a change of location or time does.
- Omitting the time marker. Without (D)/(N), lighting and shooting cannot be planned. Always include it.