diff --git a/movie_editor/frontend/overlay_ui.js b/movie_editor/frontend/overlay_ui.js
index 73f040e2..1845b5cb 100644
--- a/movie_editor/frontend/overlay_ui.js
+++ b/movie_editor/frontend/overlay_ui.js
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
     return sel;
   }
 
-  function openModal({ title, subtitle, widthClass, onClose }) {
+  function openModal({ title, subtitle, widthClass, onClose, sticky }) {
     const overlay = document.createElement("div");
     overlay.className = "modal-overlay ov-modal-overlay";
     const box = document.createElement("div");
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@
       if (onClose) onClose();
     };
     closeBtn.onclick = close;
-    overlay.addEventListener("click", (e) => { if (e.target === overlay) close(); });
+    if (!sticky) overlay.addEventListener("click", (e) => { if (e.target === overlay) close(); });
     document.body.append(overlay);
     return { overlay, body, foot, close };
   }
diff --git a/movie_editor/frontend/reactive_focus.js b/movie_editor/frontend/reactive_focus.js
index d277eda7..42ea3d15 100644
--- a/movie_editor/frontend/reactive_focus.js
+++ b/movie_editor/frontend/reactive_focus.js
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@
         title: "Reactive focus",
         subtitle: "",
         widthClass: "ov-modal-wide",
+        sticky: true,      // a stray click must not cancel the run; only × / Cancel / a step does
         onClose: () => { if (!done) { done = true; resolve(null); } },
       });
       const show = () => {
@@ -138,9 +139,10 @@
     const wantMoves = !!(rf.camera_moves && rf.reactive_focus && chance(rf.camera_moves_chance, 0.7) > 0);
     const wantViews = !!(rf.shot_views && rf.reactive_focus && chance(rf.shot_view_chance, 0.4) > 0);
     if (!wantMoves && !wantViews) return true;
-    let scenes;
+    let scenes, seen = {};
     try {
-      scenes = (await window.MovieEditorAPI.focusOptions(project.id, sceneIds)).scenes || [];
+      seen = await window.MovieEditorAPI.focusOptions(project.id, sceneIds);
+      scenes = seen.scenes || [];
     } catch (e) {
       console.warn("[FunPack] reactive focus: could not list targets —", e.message);
       window.Store.get().notice = `Reactive focus was skipped: ${e.message}`;
@@ -157,7 +159,15 @@
       const todo = pending(scenes, savedViews, "views", (s) => !s.already && s.candidates.length);
       if (todo.length) steps.push({ kind: "views", title: "Views", page: viewsPage(todo) });
     }
-    if (!steps.length) return true;
+    if (!steps.length) {
+      // Say why nothing was asked, or "no modal" is indistinguishable from "broken".
+      const why = !seen.with_shot_marks
+        ? `no [Shot N] found in the ${seen.texts == null ? "" : seen.texts + " "}scene text(s) sent to generation`
+        : scenes.length ? "every shot is already decided or already has a camera move/view"
+          : "no shot has a target or view to offer";
+      window.Store.get().notice = `Reactive focus: nothing to ask — ${why}.`;
+      return true;
+    }
     const res = await ask(steps);
     if (!res) return false;
     const patch = {}, learn = { decisions: [], views: [] };
diff --git a/movie_editor/server.py b/movie_editor/server.py
index e25d5390..6b75b26a 100644
--- a/movie_editor/server.py
+++ b/movie_editor/server.py
@@ -3129,13 +3129,14 @@ if web is not None and PromptServer is not None:
                 if shots or views:
                     out.append({"index": i, "preview": " ".join(text.split())[:80],
                                 "shots": shots, "views": views})
-            return out
+            marked = sum(1 for t in texts if "[shot" in t.lower())
+            return out, {"texts": len(texts), "with_shot_marks": marked}
 
         try:
-            scenes = await asyncio.to_thread(_build)
+            scenes, seen = await asyncio.to_thread(_build)
         except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001
             return web.json_response({"detail": f"Could not list camera targets: {e}"}, status=500)
-        return web.json_response({"scenes": scenes})
+        return web.json_response({"scenes": scenes, **seen})
 
     @routes.post(UI_PREFIX + "/api/focus/learn")
     async def _focus_learn(req):