John August

Search Results for: slugline

Intercutting

Formatting, QandA

questionmarkFollowing up on an [earlier question](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2004/avoid-cut-tos-in-a-busy-sequence#comments): Maybe I’m foolish for asking this.

For location changes I have been using scene headings, so that in a phone conversation I will have:

INT. MARIA’S KITCHEN – NIGHT

Maria paces the room, phone glued to her ear.

MARIA

I can’t believe you’d do that!

INT. SEAN’S KITCHEN – NIGHT

SEAN

Do what?

INT. MARIA’S KITCHEN – NIGHT

MARIA

That!

Is it correct to assume that by using slug lines, I could avoid the scene headings? If I were to do it that way, would I use a slug line that is essentially identical to my scene headings but without the “INT.”? or “EXT.”?

— Brock

This type of scene happens all the time. Think about [24](http://imdb.com/title/tt0285331/combined). If you put in a new slugline every time you changed speakers on a phone call, the script would be 180 pages.

Behold, the magic that is “INTERCUT.” Instead of your second “INT. MARIA’S KITCHEN”, just have a slug that says INTERCUT or INTERCUT MARIA / SEAN. Then you don’t have to keep doing the location sluglines. They’re really in one scene, even though it’s split between two places. It’s much easier for the reader to follow.

Your scene would end up looking like this:

INT. MARIA’S KITCHEN – NIGHT

Maria paces the room, phone glued to her ear.

MARIA

I can’t believe you’d do that!

INT. SEAN’S KITCHEN – NIGHT

SEAN

Do what?

INTERCUT MARIA/SEAN

MARIA

Mention my genital warts at a cocktail party!

SEAN

The guy was a doctor!

MARIA

He was a Ph. D! In philosophy!

SEAN

Rhetoric, actually.

MARIA

What’s the difference!

SEAN

There’s overlap, but rhetoric is a pretty narrow specialty.

Maria SLAMS DOWN the phone. We stay on her side of the scene. A beat, then she lets loose with a long-delayed, primal SCREAM.

The dog looks up at her with big, droopy eyes.

CUT TO:

EXT. SOMEWHERE ELSE – DAY

Next scene…

Formatting text shown on screen

Formatting, QandA

First, it was such a pleasure to meet you in Austin last year. Hope to see you next year, too. I had a question that I’ve never gotten a straight answer on.

How do you format it when you’re trying to show text being written on a computer monitor, specifically showing the exchange between two people in an internet chat room (a la “Closer”, but I haven’t found that script)? I’m guessing INSERT: COMPUTER SCREEN would be a start, but what’s after that? Would the same be used to show the text message on a cell phone?

— Derek

Your instincts are right. I might choose slightly different words, but the net result would be the same:

With a glance back over her shoulder to be certain no one’s looking, Sydney quickly types in the search parameters.

ON THE SCREEN

Bank records scroll past at unreadable clip, finally arriving at a single matched record:

CREDIT DAUPHINE, 204394753, BRUSSELS

ON SYDNEY

She GASPS, recognizing her former faux-employer.

SYDNEY

(sotto)

SD6.

I used a separate slugline (“ON SYDNEY”) to get us out of “ON THE SCREEN.” If you were crunched for space, you could probably omit it; it’s pretty clear in context.

I don’t often use “INSERT:” or “ANGLE ON:” in screenplays. They feel fussy, and rarely offer anything more than a single slugline in uppercase would.

And as far as a cell-phone screen, there’s really no difference:

Hearing a strange CHIRP, Chloe digs out her cell phone. She’s gotten a new text message.

ON THE SCREEN

WHRE U AT?

CHLOE

grimaces, frustrated. Starts to dial.

CHLOE

(to Ruth)

I swear, your brother could get lost in a closet.

Avoid CUT TO’s in a busy sequence

Charlie's Angels, Formatting, QandA

I’m piecing together a climax sequence that takes place in a park,
with dozens of cuts back and forth between four main characters as
they perform different activities at different locations within the
park. Is there an efficient way to format this without creating a new,
full slugline for each cut, and without using too many CUT TOs?

— Joseph
Uppsala, Sweden

Make friends with the slugline. That’s a single line, all in caps, which tells the reader that you’re focusing on something new. Here’s an example from [CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE](http://imdb.com/title/tt0305357/):

(Note: If the following text has bullet points, you need to clear your cache. On the Mac, hold down the command key while you press the Reload button on the toolbar.)

All eight "real" RACERS attack the course like modern-day charioteers, SLAMMING down each hill and SPRAYING dirt like shrapnel.

Some OFFICIALS try to stop Dylan, but she ROARS onto the course.

IN THE STANDS

Alex sloughs off her cotton candy and runs along the lowest walkway, trying to keep Dylan in sight.

ON THE SIDELINE

Natalie grabs an available bike and helmet, ready to join in the race.

ON THE COURSE

The pack is nearing the first turn. Emmers has the lead, with the Man in Black moving up quickly. Boxed in between two other racers, the Man suddenly

KICKS

one guy out of his way. The unsuspecting cyclist crashes in the dirt. This is no ordinary race.

At the fence, Stern YELLS into his wrist-mike:

STERN

Carter! Kalakana! Get up here now!

THE MAN IN BLACK

reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling out an antique revolver. As he closes the gap on Emmers, he starts to take aim. With both cycles heading up and down hills, it's difficult to get a line-of-sight, but their jumps are finally synchronized.

Sometimes, even those single sluglines can be too much, so you might consider embedding them into paragraphs.

Also from Full Throttle:

As the truck falls, we move into SUPER-SLOW MOTION. There’s a lot to cover:

IN THE CAB, we watch as the truck’s nose tips straight down to the floor of the canyon one thousand feet below. Keeping her cool, Dylan grabs the glowing tube and climbs out her door.

IN THE BACK, Alex RIPS open a nylon duffel bag. She pulls out an armful of silk. Clinging to the truck wall, Natalie KICKS loose the wheel chucks. The mysterious fan unit floats freely in the truck.

ON THE DAM, the men watch as the truck falls. The angels may have escaped their reach, but they won’t escape their death. The ARTILLERIST aims the rocket launcher.

IN THE BACK, Alex lets the silk fly. It WHIPS out of her hands, unfurling as a small parachute. Natalie pulls a ripcord, which starts up the massive fan blades.

Dylan climbs into the cargo area.

Meanwhile, the small parachute begins to pull out a much larger canopy, a massive rectangular wing of fabric.

ON THE DAM, the artillerist has a bead on the falling truck. He squeezes the trigger, launching a WHISTLING RPG.

IN THE TRUCK, the angels grab onto handholds near the fan unit. They see the missile coming.

THE CANOPY extends to full berth, yanking taught a web of cables. The whole fan assembly flies out the back of the truck just moments before

THE RPG HITS.

The truck EXPLODES in a fireball that continues to fall towards the canyon floor. We LOOK UP to see

THE CANOPY, where the angels dangle from the crossbars of the suspended fan unit. We get our first good look at the vehicle, a type of ultra-light aircraft that resembles an Everglades swamp boat gone aerial.

ON THE DAM, the men watch with furious awe as the strange craft begins to fly up from the base of the canyon, catching the rising drafts. It’s heading into the sunset.

However you choose to do it, remember that you’re writing for the reader, not the director. You want to create the action sequence that feels most exciting on the page, even if the sequence of events isn’t exactly how you ultimately think a director will stage it.

Formatting a montage sequence

Formatting, QandA

I was just wondering what is the actual format to cite a montage? Is it similar to:

EXT. MONTAGE – DAY

There are so many images coming from so many different places, how does one cite such a thing as a montage? Thanks for your time and help.

–Mike
North Carolina, USA

A montage is a collection of very short scenes, sometimes only a single shot each, designed to show a series of actions over time. Depending on the needs of the sequence, there are a few different options for how to write a montage in screenplay form.

The easiest example is when all the action is taking place in one location. For instance, say you have a character trying on clothes — the infamous Changing Room Montage. It might read something like this:

INT. CHANGING ROOM – DAY

Holly enters with a massive armload of clothes. Kyle’s eyes bulge. Holly pulls the curtain shut.

MONTAGE

Holly emerges, dressed in different outfits, each more elaborate than the last. Kyle watches in horror and dismay, checking his watch as the madness continues.

And when it’s time to finish, a single line of “END MONTAGE” lets the reader know you’re going back to normal time.

When a montage moves between multiple locations, the situation gets a little more difficult. Often the best choice is to not even say “MONTAGE” and just let it be a series of short scenes — just a slugline and a sentence or two of description. The reader will correctly intuit that there’s a montage occurring.

If all the locations in the sequence fall within one larger location, the most economical choice may be to just change the slugline:

INT. MARY’S HOUSE – VARIOUS ROOMS

MONTAGE as Mary chases after the dog, trying to put in the eyedrops. Every time she has him cornered, he manages to escape, ducking under the coffee table or vaulting over the bed.

My advice is to pick the simplest version that gets the point across. You may find that you’re using two or three different formats in a single script, depending on the needs of each sequence.