I have a character — let’s call him Evan — leans out an open kitchen window. I want it to be a POV shot, so everything on the screen is outside the window. Do I have to put the action of what’s going on, outside, under a new scene heading (EXT. FRONT YARD – DAY), or do I stay INT. KITCHEN and just throw in an EVAN’s POV:?
— Ryan
Los Angeles, CA
You can do either. The reader will understand that we’re looking outside. The main advantage to creating the EXT. scene header is that it reminds production that they need to secure an appropriate location. If the kitchen is a set built on a soundstage, they’ll need to find a corresponding exterior.
Here’s how I would write that scene:
Evan is three spoonfuls into his muesli when he hears an EXPLOSION outside. Racing to the window...
EXT. KITCHEN WINDOW / FRONT YARD – DAY
...Evan leans out to see his Toyota Yaris flipped over on the front lawn, engulfed in flames.
I didn’t stress that the shot is from Evan’s point of view. It rarely matters, unless the audience needs to understand that one character in a scene can see something that another one can’t.