Ninety-nine percent of the time, “DAY” or “NIGHT” will suffice. If it’s important, and not self-evident, that it’s pouring rain and the year is 1912, find a way to present that information via action or dialogue in a filmable way. SANTA MONICA PIER – 1912 - POURING RAIN – DAY) Remember that the audience will never see your slug lines. (Obviously, it’s far more efficient to shoot all scenes taking place in the same location at the same time.) Be kind to your readers by labeling scene locations in a consistent manner.Īvoid presenting extraneous information in your slug lines. After your screenplay is sold, it will be broken down by location and time (day or night) for budget and scheduling purposes. Once you’ve labeled a location as JOE’S BAR AND GRILL, it should not mutate into JOE’S RESTAURANT, and then later, THE BAR AND GRILL ON 8TH STREET. BIG ED’S GREASY SPOON DINER”, being both descriptive and specific, are far more visual in the impact they have on the reader.īe consistent in your description of scene locations. RESTAURANT”, is a poor slug line in that it’s neither specific enough, nor descriptive enough. Scene locations should be specific and descriptive. If you find yourself in a situation where you’re inter-cutting rapidly between an INT and an EXT location, chances are you’re usurping the job of the director by writing HOW your story should be filmed rather than simply telling your story in a compelling fashion. If the action of a scene shifts from INT to EXT, or EXT to INT, write a new slug line. It’s generally considered poor form to use INT/EXT in combination in a slug line. If the scene takes place outdoors, and not in something, label it EXT. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, I recommend that if the action takes place IN something (a building, a car, a spaceship, etc.) label the scene INT. In truth, some of your INT scenes may be shot outdoors and some of your EXT scenes shot indoors against a blue screen. Whether a scene is INT or EXT is to some degree relative. The physical location or name of the set where the action of the scene takes place. Hence, the reason for this article.Įvery time the “where” or the “when” of your story changes, it’s expected that you’ll reorient the reader as to location and time of day with a new slug line. Over the years, I’ve found that new writers frequently have confusions and misunderstandings on the subject, despite having read a basic book or two on the craft aspects of screenwriting. Scene headings or slug lines, as they are commonly called, are a widely accepted convention of “spec” or “master scene” screenplay form. This article covers the basics of writing industry accepted screenplay slug lines. Over the years, I’ve found that new screenwriters frequently have confusions and misunderstandings on the proper way to write slug lines, also known as master scene headings.

Screenplay format slugline