Hey,

 Say when you have a flashback/fantasy/dream sequence that extends for awhile and you don't want to let your "reader" know it's actual flashback...blah...blah sequences, do you when you come back to "reality" put something within the heading, ie: CONTINUOUS? Or do you simply have to add/imply by using something that it was only a blah...blah...blah?

Thanks to anyone who replies.

-ONEY

In regarding to formatting, you treat the flashback as if it was another scene.  In regards to the storytelling part you have to convey that it was a flashback.

My script, The Burnout, has several flashbacks in it.


Phil

Formatwise, you would end a flashback this way:

END FLASHBACK

However, I think I know what you mean by not telling the audience it is a flashback. This would be akin to Raising Cain where the movie went from reality to fantasy and didn't tell you which it was doing. In this case, you just tell the story how it would be shown to the audience. Give the reader the same information the theatregoing audience would have. You risk losing people because I'll admit that Raising Cain was a little confusing until it all came together at the end, but it's your story.

One way to do this so that those who pay attention would get it and those that weren't won't is to format your headings during the flashback like this:

EXT. BATTLEFIELD - NIGHT - FLASHBACK

INT. HOUSE - DAY - FLASHBACK

Normally here is where you would write: END FLASHBACK, but if you skip it...

INT. HOUSE - DAY

Of course, you risk getting the feedback that you forgot your end flashback tag...

With The Burnout, I also number the flashbacks as I had five of them and used one twice (with some 'embellishing').

Instead of writing 'end of flashback' the next header included the word 'present' in it (I think).


Phil

George and Dogglebe,

Thank you guys for the suggestions, now I have an idea

Ok, I am not sure how to do this. I have a series of scenes which hop back and forth in time. Not time travel, just that one minute one scene will show the character aged 10, then 28, then back to 10 again. Are these flashbacks or scenes in their own right?

Would you put the year in the header part like this -

INT - GARDEN - 1986 -- DAY

OR, would you have to describe how the character looks each time you jump timezones to let the viewer know that it's a different year now?

I just have a few characters in these scenes, do I have to describe their ages and visuals each time for the reader, or can I rely on the date being put in the header bit?

Lemme know if this made sense or not, I'm struggling with this and it seems to be adding a lot of narrative each time by having to repeatedly describe everyone!!

Cheers,
Andy

They're flashbacks, Andy (you cheeky monkey).  Your slugline is correct.  When your characters enter the scene, introduce them as if it's your first time.  Use upper case letter and include their age in parenthesis afterwards.

INT.  GARDEN.  1986. -DAY

JOHN SMITH (15) enter the garden, dressed in his Sunday best.

If you're going to have several flashblacks, you may want to number them.

INT.  GARDEN.  1986. -DAY (FLASHBACK 1)

I use several flashbacks in The Burnout.  Two of the flashbacks are actually the same flashback from a different viewpoint.


Phil

Thank you, kind sir  

My script starts in the past but it's a flashback!!

Should I just write it as a normal scene in the past and then later, when we leap back again, make that the flashback?

This did my head in when I was writing my script for college... It started in the past, jumped forward to modern day and then bounced back and forth in time... I almost wept trying to put it together... I'll be finding out on Thursday if I've succeeded...

Ian, that's exactly what I'm stuck on. Now I wish I approached this script differently, but I'm a bit too burnt out now to do a new re-write.

I started the scene as a regular scene, in 1986, then jumped forward to 2005 and then when I went back to 1986 I made that flashback 1 - then I went back to 2005 and went back again to 1991 as flashback 2. I think that makes sense!!

I hope so, I'm so confused now. I hope you got on ok too by the way, let us know hon  

I will do... I spoke to the lecturer about how to format flasbacks in screenplays and he advised something different from your slugline example above, so now I'm confused again...

There is no one correct way to format a script, but as long as it's relatively the same as the others (and consistent), then it's okay.

How did your teacher say it should be?


Phil

Well, he pretty much advised to leave anything out of the slugline that wasn't the usual int/ext - place - night/day

Everything else was to be bunged into the description... He said to just be as honest as possible as to when the scene was to take place... The structure of mine was pretty complex as I placed a lot of scenes out of order and this did my head in when trying to figure out how to present this, I'm not too sure I did it too well... He's giving me feedback on Thursday so I'll find out what he says then...

I don´t use timezones in sluglines. In my opinion, every information you put on your script should be able to be noticed by both: the reader, and the audience (for those lucky bastards who have their scripts produced).

So, when you put "1986" in your slugline, the reader knows which year is, right. But what about the audience? Unless you use a SUPER, the audience won´t be able to tell the year in which the scene takes place. Therefore, I think the timezone in the slugline is not needed. The audience will only be able to know which year is because of how you write dialogue and action (i.e. your main character is younger, one of your characters takes a look at a calendar, etc)

The same with flashbacks. When you watch a movie, you don´t have anyone telling you that this or that scene is a flashback. You just know it because of how the story flows. Therefore, I think the reader of the script should not be told in sluglines wether the scene below is a flashback or not. If the script is well written, the reader would gather it´s a flashback.