Screenwriting : Using TRANSITIONS in the same scene location by Gen Vardo

No -leave the transitions out - let the Director/Editor do their jobs. Why not just use a sub header like 'LATER'?

"Some action." Seems a bit vague to me. Maybe something like: "The place is bustling." or something else. Don't state that time has passed in the action line. Instead, something like "LATER" in the slugline would be better.

Agree with Doug on this. Think show not tell. Onward and upward.

'some action' was just for this question.

Thanks again everyone, really appreciate all the advice. LATER it is.

Gen Vardo Ohhhh... oops... Okay, I misunderstood. Sorry! :D

Evelyne Gauthier Don't feel silly. I was confused for a moment and partly because - literally - people have submitted scripts to me with that as the action.

It is confusing as I left the dialogue bit in.

Love that you've read that in peoples screenplays :)

Hi!

The word CONTINUOUS is used in sluglines to indicate ongoing action. If you have a chase scene or a character walking through a home, you'd put the word CONTINUOUS in the slugline, to indicate ongoing action. It can be in the same location but a different room, or it can be in a different location (character walking through a door still speaking or running, for example.)

It's not CONT'D, which is always automatically inserted by your preferred writing software when a scene or dialogue is continued on the next page, like if your character within a scene continues to talk, without other characters talking, then you use the CONT'D after their name. If their dialogue extends into two pages or more, you use MORE to connote that the thought is not finished. BUT nowadays, a screenwriter technically NEVER has to write CONT'D anymore, unless you're using a typewriter, lol.

That's one thing.

You can add CONTINUOUS to your scene heading, if the action and/or pace is going from one room to another, without any time having passed, for example. Shows like 24 or The West Wing, for example, have tons of CONTINUOUS, as characters go quickly from one room to another without ever stopping to talk.

INT. RED APPLE CLOTHING, CONTINUOUS – DAY

Now the transition is optional but is very fine, but it should be justified on the RIGHT. I kindly disagree with the 'let the director do his job' on this one, as it is also a writer's job to pace the drama and time with transitions and other style effects. After all, transitions are part of every writing software for a reason, they help the reader transit in time and space, thus pacing his emotions ;) BUT where I agree is it has to be justified. One transition here and there is fine, but a CUT TO or DISSOLVE TO between every scene would be annoying, and I'd personally stop reading such a script. Use transition when they actually bring something to the action, as a part of your story, or when it has style value, for example a violent nightmare being interrupted by the alarm clock with CUT TO or SMASH CUT TO, to create a jump scare, or the round shape of the moon dissolving into a matching top shot of a glass of whiskey, to create a stylistic graphic signature...

You can then add LATER or THE NEXT DAY to your next scene heading, if it is set in the SAME location AND some time passed.

INT. RED APPLE CLOTHING, LATER – DAY

INT. RED APPLE CLOTHING, THE NEXT DAY – DAY

As a rule of thumb, a location has a unique TIME or SPACE factor. If either TIME or SPACE changes, then is considered ANOTHER scene, thus a new slugline.

Let me know if you have questions. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much Lewis, really appreciate the detailed reply. That completely clears that all up for me. Do you write blogs?

If its the same location but later that day you write the same scene heading but add "Later" to indicate some time has passed.

Gen Vardo you are welcome, and no, I don't write blogs, I'm too busy, and I have to pick my poisons. I teach screenwriting in a film school in Paris, and I've created my own screenwriting e-learning 100% online platform. Ewan Dunbar you are right, I have also mentioned this in my lengthy reply, maybe it was not clear :)

Ewan - whenever you write a new scene header, you are implying a new camera set-up which costs time/$. In this example, he does not suggest any new camera set-up; 'LATER' is the scene header. As the Director, I might fiddle with the lighting a bit for 'mood', but I don't have to move stuff around. That's not to say that I can't move the camera within the scene if I want.

I hear all over that FADE IN at the beginning & FADE OUT at the end are a no-no. Apparently just unnecessary.

I honestly can't fathom why anyone obsesses over this or why in their mind there is a rule.

I'd love there to be no rules. My first drafts came out naturally, I wrote for a year before reading a screenplay, I just looked up the format.

The spec script market is just rough. I've seen all kinds of interviews online with people warning about the finer points in formatting. I get it that they receive a ton of query letters/screenplays each day and don't want to waste their time. Still so cruel though, yet totally worth it.

So until I'm in a position to find financing for my own films, I'm gonna just try for representation, hoping they read all of my screenplay(s) before dismissing me and going on to the next one.

Gen Vardo that's the spirit!

I used to obsess over transitions. Then I was taught that its not important. As a screenwriter, you only have to change the scene. The director will determine how the scenes will transition.