Simultaneous action in different scenes

If you need to tell the story this way then I don't see the problem.

Maybe once you establish the two locations with scene headings you can cut back and forth between them with mini-slugs, e.g.

INT. OFFICE - DAY

Stuff happens.

EXT. STREET - DAY

Other stuff happens.

OFFICE

More stuff happens.

STREET

More other stuff happens.

OFFICE

Yet more stuff happens.

etc. giving the impression of simultaneous action in both locations, especially if the action is short. Just an idea.

-Derek

I was just reading one of the Watchmen scripts which recently popped up online. There's a sequence where it intercuts between two scenes at the same time. It basically just indicated an intercut, then used mini-slugs to signify the jumping back and forth.

I would say, though, that if you're going to intercut two scenes, there should be something which ties them together so as to make it more than just a stylistic choice. John Woo uses this technique a lot; in his film A Better Tomorrow II he intercuts a major character dying while his wife gives birth to their child in a hospital. The irony is a might too obvious, sure, but it works.

sinister said:

In the event where I have 2 scenes that are happening simultaneously, and I want to cut between each for effect purposes, should I lay that out in the screenplay or is that more of a directorial function? I guess my real question is, would it be viewed as overstepping my boundaries as the screenwriter or am i supposed to do it in the first place?

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I agree with dpaterso. Tell the story how you see it.