diff --git a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
index 60b9ccc..380a7f8 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 (defonce body-scroll-el (atom nil))   ; the vertical (tracks) scroll container
 (defonce playhead-el (atom nil))   ; the single full-height playhead overlay
 (defonce played-bar (atom nil))    ; [ann-id bar-idx] last auto-scrolled to during playback
+(defonce scrolled-on-load? (atom nil)) ; did we scroll to deep-linked playhead on load
 (defonce play      (atom nil))   ; {:ctx :segs :fps :idx} while playing, else nil
 (defonce active-insert! (atom nil))   ; the live content-editor's (insert! link) fn
 (declare commit-link!)
@@ -342,6 +343,10 @@
           (r/after-render
            (fn []
              (follow! fps zoom playhead)
+             ;; first load: if playhead was deep-linked (from query param), scroll to it once
+             (when (and (nil? @scrolled-on-load?) (> playhead 0) (seq segs))
+               (reset! scrolled-on-load? true)
+               (scroll-to-seg-track! segs playhead))
              ;; clip-following: only while the playhead is actually inside a bar of
              ;; an annotation that opts in (:meta :scroll-to) — scroll each of its
              ;; clips into view as the playhead crosses onto a new bar (discontinuity).
@@ -356,7 +361,8 @@
                (when (not= current-bar @played-bar)
                  (reset! played-bar current-bar)
                  (scroll-to-seg-track! segs playhead)))))
-          (reset! played-bar nil))
+          (do (reset! played-bar nil)
+              (reset! scrolled-on-load? nil)))
         (r/after-render #(position-playhead! fps zoom playhead))
         [:div.timeline {:class (when-not @tracks-open? "tracks-collapsed")}
          [:div.playhead.timeline-playhead {:ref (fn [n] (reset! playhead-el n))}