Do you need to..

You don't need to include CUT TO: which has fallen out of fashion lately, tho' some screenwriters still use it, so don't be surprised if you still see it in produced scripts. When you think about it, every new scene heading is technically a CUT TO:

A casual thought just while we're here... and maybe you typed those lines as a quick sample, but just in case they're real... we've met James and the Girls in the script already, yeah? Then there's no need to cap their names again, capping only happens when characters are intro'd (the first time we meet them). Also, instead of saying "James and the Girls are in James's apartment" which gives the impression they're standing still, give them something to do, e.g. and just for fun's sake, "James unlocks the door and invites the Girls into his clean, modern, giant plasma TV bachelor's pad. They look around, curious."

Or not. Your choice.

-Derek

CUT TO should nowadays be restricted to when you really want to draw the reader's attention to a major dramatic switch. It is a selling tool not a formatting tool. Just my opinion.

I don't use cut to's. If I have a really fast scene that changes locations, like within a house then I'll have something like:

INT. FRONT ROOM - NIGHT

Janice storms in, the door bashes against the wall.

JANICE
Mario! You are so dead.

She stalks through the house.

KITCHEN

Mario licks some peanut butter off a spoon and looks up as Janice forces her way in.

Mario grins at her.

MARIO
I guess you got it.

JANICE
Delivered today in front of the whole office!



And in your type of scene I see no point to do the cut to. Like Dave said, they should be highly restricted.

ChristopherMcgurn said:

Ok, thanks, oh and thank you for the tip on the capped names i didnt know that, im really new to writing scripts. Really helped me out a lot there, thanks.

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My suggestion then is study some produced scripts. You can find a bunch on simplyscripts.com they are some of the best tools for getting the formatting down.

And welcome to the boards, by the way.

No problem.

Something to watch out for on the scripts though are some are transcripts. The best ones to get are spec scripts as that is what we are writing. If they have camera directions they are shooting scripts and so forth. So keep that in mind when you run into scripts with extraneous information.

CUT TO:

As many people have said this has fallen out of favor. Also, as previously stated, it's up to you as to whether you wan to use it or not. My motto: "If you have a doubt, leave it out." Man, I sound like Johnny Cochran.

However, it was wisely stated that even with this format falling out of favor, it is useful if you really want to draw the reader's attention to something. Go to a script site like Drew's Script-o-rama or Joblo.com and find Shane Black's script for 'Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang." Aside from the incredibly easy read and the typical Shane Black hyper-cool style, he is a wizard at using CUT TOs to really slap you in the face with an important scene change.

Have fun with your writing.

Hi

and welcome to the boards.
I hope that you feel comfortable here and learn alot.

Yes, anytime you change location or situations a CUT TO is implied so you don't need to include it.

I will use them from time to time in a situation where several things are happening at once and I need to jump back forth between them because I'm actually, well, cutting back and forth.

Shane Black's script for 'Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.

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Just read most of it. WOW! he just - like - writes it! So easy it's like he couldn't care less. Very cool!