Slug line time of day description

I'm no screenwriter, but my understanding from hanging out on their boards is that you don't use times of day in the slugline. If it's essential to know the time of day or night, you find another way. There's a reason so many scenes start with an alarm clock--telling us it's morning.

Maryn, inexpert but earnest

Then again, you've got to remember you're writing a spec script that's intended for readers and perhaps execs, not director and film crew. So including MORNING or SUNSET or whatever fits, helps keep the reader informed (always a good thing). Once the script is sold, the prodco may change time-of-day stamps to the simpler DAY or NIGHT since this affects filming conditions, lighting set-up, etc. Right now, that's not your problem. Anything that lends extra clarity or helps the narrative along is permissible.

/opinion

-Derek

If it's day time write DAY if its night time write NIGHT.

It doesn't get more simple than that.

We don't follow characters through every second of their life, so I'm sure some moments would be at day and then the next at night....unless the story takes place within a certain time frame at day or night.

Derek is right. Most scriptwriters put the time indications so that the director of photography and his crew know what type of lighting a particular scene requires.

I am doing this because I didn't want an abrupt change from one scene being day and the next night. Not that much time passes. That's why I need the evening scene to bridge the time.

Click to expand...

Seaclusion,

Moving from DAY to NIGHT is really not a problem. In other words, don't worry about it. Screenplays and films are really just a succession of scenes that should flow logically from the one to the next, but whether it is DAY or NIGHT is not an issue. Most transition problems arise from lack of continuity of subject matter (plot), not time.

It is all right to use MORNING and AFTERNOON and MIDNIGHT and so forth in place of DAY or NIGHT. You should include some kind of time of day in the Scene Heading. The only exception is in an INT. (interior) scene that has no relation to DAY or NIGHT because it is inside with no windows and no references or relation to time of day. Even in that case, though, most writers include DAY or NIGHT as a storytelling element.

The problem with time elements like EVENING and EARLY MORNING is that you do not know if it is day or night. I would try to be fairly specific.

Slug lines should be all but invisible. They are not there to give the reader crucial information, especially in a spec script. If you do something to make them stand out, you probably have lost your reader.

That being said, anything that helps tell an awesome story is great. Good writers use the slug line as a tool in shaping the reader's expectations and emotions. If your story is awesome, creative use of screenplay convention will not kill you.

But the idea is to serve the story, not be technically correct. Why does it matter exactly how much time has passed between scenes? Is it essential to your story? If so, put it in the action prose. Many people who read lots of scripts don't read the slug lines. In fact, many Hollywood types only read the dialogue, so if it is that essential, have someone say it. Without making it too expository.

Think about how would you say it to someone if you were telling them the story in a bar? And put that in your script.

If it is critically important, this is how I do it.

INT. KITCHEN - DAY (EARLY MORNING)

Another note. Always put DAY or NIGHT in your script for interiors. Part of the reason for this is later, when they are shooting, sometimes they shoot DAY FOR NIGHT or NIGHT FOR DAY. In DAY FOR NIGHT means that they will be shooting in the daytime but the scene within the movie occurs at night. That means blacking out windows with black flags or curtains. Same with NIGHT FOR DAY. Lighting demands change. Obviously this is not a big concern in a spec script, but putting these things in helps maintain the continuity of the script.