Do you know when to use Same or Continuous in your scene headings (aka slug lines)? No? Well here's a quick example.
INT. DIANA'S ROOM, SIERRA & JACK'S HOUSE - DAY DIANA But Dad! He's just a friend. JACK He was in your room at ten at night. DIANA So? JACK Half-naked. You are grounded. Jack turns and exits. Diana follows. INT. HALLWAY/LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS DIANA That is so unfair! Jack does an abrupt about face. His daughter slides to a stop. JACK I don't give a shit about unfair. So, use CONTINUOUS when the next scene takes place immediately following but in a different location. The preceding example was super simple and crafted on the fly. It works for going from INT. to EXT. and vice versa. Be careful not to overuse it or use it in the wrong way. If you have a scene you want to take place at the same time as another like this: INT. DIANA'S ROOM, SIERRA & JACK'S HOUSE - NIGHT The room is dark. A lump is in the bed. Bobby slips in through the window and crawls into the bed. The light CLICKS on. Bobby SCREAMS. He's facing Jack. Jack grabs Bobby and pins him in a headlock. EXT. DIANA'S ROOM, SIERRA & JACK'S HOUSE - SAME Krieger lets go of Bobby's feet. He waits. Light spills out of the window. There's a SCREAM and some SCUFFLING. Krieger slips away. Again, super simple scene. SAME is not CONTINUOUS. Great for stories like procedural cop shows. If you watch them... take a look at the "investigation" part. They split up to question and they are usually at the "same" time in different locations. Take care not to confuse the two! Let's quickly add on exiting and entering a room. It's not always advantageous to show your characters doing that. (Which cuts down on the use of CONTINUOUS.) Take a look at your script. Does the part that's CONTINUOUS move the story along? If not, fix it so you can cut down on the number of CONTINUOUS slug lines you have. I hope you've found this helpful!
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These posts were from the Writers Room in the Legion M Forum. "Screenwriting 101" is written by Nikki Ackerman. Don't know what Legion M is? It's the world's first fan-owned entertainment company. Want to know more? Visit Legion M at legionm.com Archives
January 2021
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