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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  Screenwriting Class  /  Can you jump out and back into a montage?
Posted by: FrankM, February 11th, 2024, 4:49pm
I have a feature script that starts with the protagonist as a little girl, and needs to time-jump her to a young woman for the rest of the story. Rather than a simple time jump, I want to add some context with a montage.

The thing that happens when she's 13 is more complex and is either three montage shots, or jumping out of the montage entirely then going back into it.

Is that something that would simply break the pacing for no good reason?

Name guide: Holly is the main character, Treva the adoptive mom, Warrick the adoptive dad.



EXT/INT. MONTAGE - GLENWOOD FARM/GLENWOOD VILLAGE - DAY

- Holly (6) shadows Treva gathering eggs as Warrick uses a horse-drawn plow in the fields nearby.
- Holly (7) plays a kick-the-ball game with several children about her age.
- Holly (8) sits on her bed at sunset, plays a simple flute.
- Holly (9) gets hopelessly tangled in a loom.
- Holly (10) works the bellows as Warrick pounds a red-hot horseshoe back into shape. He motions her over to take the hammer. She puts her hair in the bun that her Governess always had, then tucks her sprig of holly at the base of it.
- Holly (11) lays in her sickbed, resists whatever Treva is trying to feed her.
- Holly (12) has her hair in the bun again as she cooks eggs and bacon. Holly pushes them into the shape of a happy face, lets her hair drop to her shoulders before she serves the meal to a seated and very pregnant Treva.
- Holly (13) huddles with the entire village against a raging storm that takes out the dock and several river-side buildings.
- The whole village works at rebuilding, some milling logs and planks, some weaving rope, several beefy sweaty men and late-teen boys and little Holly smithing nails and bands, children bring food and drink.
- A knight in green-trimmed armor leads in a convoy of building supplies, relieving the townsfolk of some of the hardest rebuilding work.
- Holly (14) plays the flute in a small band at a rustic shindig. No one cares that half a dozen dogs are jumping amongst the dancing townsfolk. A little reddish-brown puppy jumps at Holly’s feet as she plays.
- Holly (15) pulls hard to get a new coulter knife in place for the plow. Once in position, she ties it in place with a rope her dog was holding in his mouth.
- Holly (16) looks affectionately at a similar-aged boy as they share a meal at the tables in the village square.
- Holly (17) is enraged and barely held back by several teens as that boy shares a meal with a different girl.
- Holly (18) finishes wrapping a splint to Warrick’s leg as Treva prevents an unseen child from coming into the room.



I could just have the huddle-against-the-storm stand alone, but I like the image of the village rebuilding and her unexpected contribution, then the kingdom's support of its battered villages. Worth it if just makes the montage quirky, not if it makes the montage confusing or off-putting.

Help.
Posted by: LC, February 11th, 2024, 6:42pm; Reply: 1
Hmm, try it out. I see no reason why not.

Maybe use a voice over to segue to the storm scene to give that more significance?

Edit: Best Montage scenes - UP, still brings tears to my eyes.
500 Days of Summer
The Worst Person in the World (time stands still scene) a variation on Montage.
Posted by: FrankM, February 12th, 2024, 12:24am; Reply: 2

Quoted from LC
Best Montage scenes - UP, still brings tears to my eyes.


I remember seeing that and thinking they couldn't have been any meaner to that guy if they shoved him in a wood chipper.  :'(
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