Returning to scene

clonedbeef said:

I am wondering what is the appropriate way to open the return to a scene

INT. OFFICE - DAY

Joe and Frank face one another in a foreboding silence.

CUTAWAY - OUTSIDE OFFICE

A swat team prepare themselves for a raid.

RETURN TO SCENE:

Joe and Frank remain facing one another.

JOE
Are you ready?


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It is that last part I am unclear on, do I cut straight away to Joe's line or do I have to reintroduce the physical positions of the characters in the scene? The whole "remain" thing seems awkward, I seem to have had to use it a few times and I don't really like the way it looks.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you haven't established the exterior location before, it needs its own official slug line:

EXT. THE STREET OUTSIDE THE OFFICE - DAY

A SWAT TEAM is preparing to raid the office.

(note that a swat team, consisting of people intro'd for the first time, needs to be CAPPED).

This is not considered to be a CUTAWAY. In fact, using this term, like INSERT, has generally fallen out of vogue so you're just better off not using it.

Having established the second exterior location, what's frequently done, especially if you're going to move back and forth between the two places, is to use what's known as a "mini-slug"

just write:

IN THE OFFICE

-- and go on from there.

And if you go back to the street, just write:

THE STREET OUTSIDE

Ultimately, if the script sells and gets greenlit, one of the things you end up doing is going back and changing all of those mini-slugs to full slug lines, just as you have to go back and conform all of those slightly different slug lines, where you describe the same location in slightly different ways, (for instance, JOE'S HOUSE, IN JOE'S HOUSE, THE HOUSE, etc.) so that they all slug the same locations in exactly the same way.

But that's then. For the purposes of a spec draft, you don't have to worry about any of that. Your goal is to craft a simple and easy-to-read document.

NMS

I typically use INT/EXT when camera placement changes, but not subject so much. Like shooting a scene when one person is in the car, and the other is outside. Like looking through a window in a house.


For the scene you are describing - I'd stay with NMS suggestion. First establish one location with a full slugline, INT. OFFICE - DAY then the other with a full slug line -EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF BUILDING - DAY - then jump quickly between the two with mini-slugs "OFFICE" and "STREET" for example.

clonedbeef said:

I was under the impression jumping to mini-slug lines could only be done if all the intended mini-slug line locations were previously setup on one full slug line.

From what I understand now, as long as both locations are established on individual full slug lines you can jump between them using mini-slugs with no issue?

Click to expand...

That's correct. Establish the interior in a full slugline. Then establish the exterior in a full slug line, then you can go back and forth with mini-slugs.

The INT/EXT form is generally only used when you have a *contiguous* scene between interior and exterior locations -- for instance a moving car where things are happening continuously both inside the car and outside on the highway.

Or you have a barbecue scene where things are happening in a kitchen that opens through full length windows onto the back yard and people are coming and going continuously from the interior of the kitchen to the exterior back yard.

But that doesn't seem to be the case here. You have two separate locations, one interior, the other exterior and you're simply cutting back and forth between the two.

NMS

Use NMS's rules and you won't go far wrong

clonedbeef said:

What about continual flashbacks?

INT. APARTMENT - DAY

Suzanne and Dianne sit across the table from one another.

Suzanne
I knew he wouldn't survive much longer.

CUT TO:

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Suzanne sits at Lou's bedside -- Lou has bags under his eyes but other than that he appears healthy.

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT - DAY (BACK TO PRESENT)

Suzanne stirs cream into her coffee.

Suzanne
He looked worse and worse everyday.

CUT TO:

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Suzanne is at Lou's bedside, she appears tired and Lou looks thin and weak.

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Or is there a way mini-slugs can expedite this process too, after establishing both situations? Like:

APARTMENT (BACK TO PRESENT) -

HOSPITAL ROOM (FLASHBACK) -

Click to expand...

Yes, once you've established the different locations (including their different locations in time) if you're going to move back and forth between then, you can use mini-slugs.

It can work even if it were the same location and going back and forth between different times.

THE APARTMENT (PRESENT)

THE APARTMENT (EARLIER THAT EVENING)

Etc.

So long as you use full slug lines the first time you introduce the two different "locations" in time.

Oh -- and don't use "CUT to:"

NMS