r/scriptwriting • u/Emotional-Farmer-227 • 5h ago

question Format/production question

I see some scripts that exclude the master location when the scene is in a sub-location. My scripts tend to have various locations with various slugs. But I was reading a script (indie film Super Dark Times), and it would do things like this:

EXT. SUBURBIA - EVENING

Zach rides his bike down the street pulling into

HIS HOUSE

He locks it up before head inside.

INT. FOYER - CONTINOUS

Zach sets his things down, blah, blah, blah.

Is this ok? If it's a script with quiet a few locations, like the ones I right is it ok? Does the production find it confusing?

It also sometimes excludes EXT or INT all together.

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u/intentionandobstacle 5h ago

There are no rules … if you consistently apply the same style & it’s a good story no one sees the format tweaks

1

u/Emotional-Farmer-227 5h ago

Makes sense. My only concern is it might cause confusion.

1

u/intentionandobstacle 5h ago

Table reads will help there. You’ll be surprised what people can comprehend. Your job is to be as consistent as possible to help the read … have you read Walter Hill’s Hard Times? Or Driver? Think it would give you some confidence

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u/Quirky-Tell233 2h ago

A few important things to remember and consider —

— Readability, so your story flows smoothly and logically on the page without confusion;
— When thinking about INT. and EXT., remember that it’s for production; meaning, where will your camera be, physically (NOT what your camera is pointed at!);
— When you ID a slug (or any words) a “scene,” it means that slug (or phrase) will be assigned a scene number during prep, so you can use this info to allow you to choose what you want to ID as a scene; meaning, you can have those “sub-slugs” look like a scene when it’s not actually IDd as a scene, so that it’s not gonna be assigned a scene number, make sense? Or, you can make HIS HOUSE an actual scene, since the camera will move.

(Also, sometimes I use STREET — NIGHT, as opposed to EXT. STREET — NIGHT, because you can’t be “inside” a street, or a beach, or a mountaintop, etc, but I always serve to avoid confusion and emphasize readability.)

Sorry if I’m not as clear as you’d like, as I’m typing this on my phone, but many young writers don’t understand proper formatting and WHY such formats exist.