CUT TO: FLASHBACK

INT. SMITH HOUSE, KITCEN - AFTERNOON

Jason sits eating dinner etc etc

                                                  CUT TO: PRESENT TIME

Or is there a better way I could be doing this?

If you can avoid it, I think you should do so.

There are also other films (I realize my example of Heroes may not be accurate because, well, it’s not over and done in 2 hours) like AI, or Titanic (those are the classics) that make use of time-shifting back and forth quite well.

Again, you’d notice that these films make the time shift most prominent in terms of setting: AI - The world has froze over, with Haley Joel’s character stuck under the frozen sea; Titanic - Most obviously, the ship has sunk, and the story is being told from inside a submarine, which did not look as cool and compact back in the 1920s. Again, you’d notice the great time differences. Usually time shifts that span 11 months aren’t major to the plotline, it could perhaps be something of an epilogue (like in Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) or even if they’re flashforwards, there’s usually a sort of abrupt and immense elevation in time period to make the time shift seem longer (like how the Lost arc spans over a few months, but it seems so much more to us. I should stop using TV examples in this post.)

The story really has to jump, sometimes a lot (like what Donovan and John said) but at the same time there should be an indication of it in the SETTING. For example, in Heroes (was the episode Five Years Gone?) there was this part where NYC is already blown up, Hiro’s all grown up and emo cos his best friend died, etc etc. That’s the jump we’re talking about, which is cool and captivating. But 11 months (unlike 5 years in Heroes) isn’t a lot to jump with. And that could make the logical leap boring.

At the same time, Paula’s right too. The reason why we’re not that out of sync with that Heroes episode is because there were enough clues THROUGHOUT the ENTIRE SEASON that already prepped us, the audience, for the leap, i.e. what would happen if NYC went kaboom, if Claire died, if no one managed to save the world at all. It became sort of an ALTERNATIVE, presenting us the COULD-HAVE in the storyline all this time, which is why we didn’t get lost. The earlier events in said script need to foreshadow the jump that will happen later on.

Unless something important to the story happened in those 11 months that we must SEE, then I say jump ahead with the speed of Mercury!

And putting [Present Day] in the slugline upon returning from the flashback, even if it’s later than when we left–technically it’s still Present Day–should be enough for readers…this is where some sort of visual cue (like the pregnancy in Lars) or story element will help tip the audience that some time has passed since we packed up and left for Flashbackville…

I’ve discovered your blog through another one from a spanish screenwriter, Daniel Castro (http://guionistaenchamberi.blogspot.com/), in which he translated your distribution experience with The Nines (it hasn’t been released yet in Spain).

I’m one of the writers of the spanish movie website Las Horas Perdidas (www.lashorasperdidas.com), and it would be great to make an interview to you. I haven’t seen your movie yet but I remember that i was interested on it during past years Sundance Festival, when some websites where focusing on it.

I hope it will be released here in Spain, but if don’t, it also would be great to make that intervew to you. I have been reading your blog today and it’s fool of good ideas, great advices and a lot of wood and specific tricks for moviemaking and writting. I’ve studied in a film school in Madrid and I appreciate this things.

I have a mental note to look at doing something similar when I need it. Anything that the viewer knows takes a long period of time to make, build or produce and feature it in progress at certain moments. Or even jump straight to the finished article if you need a quick jump forward in time.

Are there instances you’ve encountered where you are attempting to add info to the slugline that causes it to be too long for one line?

For example, if the location itself took up lots of space and, along with INT and NIGHT, the slugline already stretched across the page…then you add PRESENT DAY, and part of the slug moves to the next line so it reads:

INT. HUDSUCKER STATE PENITENTIARY — NIGHT [PRESENT DAY]

Or something along those lines, you see what I mean. On one hand, it isn’t a huge deal to have the slug run over onto another line, but it eats up page space and looks clunky. I would argue most times this won’t be an issue, but when it is, it should be fixed. OR, is it better to have it run over in order to keep the slug line info intact for easier breakdown, etc… ?