Hey everyone,

I’m not sure what is the best way to signify a change in location that suits my spy thriller.

The film moves around a lot from London, France, etc.

It’s hard-wired in my head to go General to Specific and usually I’d do this…
INT. CANNES - HOTEL ROOM - DAY
EXT. FRENCH RIVERA - OCEAN - DAY
EXT. NICE - BEACH - DAY

But on this occasion.
I’ve done this…
INT. MONTE CARLO CASINO, MONACO - NIGHT
INT. HOTEL ROOM, CANNES - DAY
EXT. OCEAN, FRENCH RIVERA - DAY
EXT. BEACH, NICE - DAY
As far as I know it’s acceptable to do this and to be honest - as long as we know where we are - it doesn’t really matter.

The thing is... I'm worried it's too inconsistent.

Every so often I’ll go..
EXT. BRITISH FIELD
EXT. PARISIAN TAILOR.

Or if I’ve established where we are…
EXT. RESTAURANT, CANNES - DAY
I’ll drop the location from other headings.
INT. HOTEL ROOM
INT. BAR.

And finally, I’m still doing general specific
INT. HOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

Basically I’m trying to make it flow/digestible/be clear without getting you lost.
I also don’t want to do superimposes or anything.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

I’ve never written a script moving from country to country.  If I did I’d use your first example.

Hmm.

Well Nice is a city in the French Rivera. Would it make more sense to...

EXT. BEACH, NICE - DAY

We move around with years too - so I've reserved brackets for years and flashbacks.

I suppose as long as you know where the hell we are ha

Not that I've read a huge corpus of produced scripts, but I only recall seeing the general-to-specific format. The exception would be a "City, State" or "City, Country" pair which kinda counts as one element in the general-to-specific progression.

My suggestion would be

EXT. NICE - BEACH - DAY

EXT. LONDON - BUSY STREET - DAY

EXT. HOBOKEN, NJ - COUNTRY ROAD - NIGHT

but more important than any specific format is consistency and whether the reader knows where he or she is in any given scene. You're supposed to repeat the location exactly whenever you come back to the same spot, so apparently, it's not Kosher to call it NICE - BEACH the first time then BEACH the next time.

Thanks Frank.

I think I'll go with your suggestion.

Going general to specific and vice versa looks unbelievably messy. And yeah. I absolutely do not want to confuse the reader - especially with something that jumps around a lot.

Lastly. I'm sure I read somewhere it's general to specific for a reason.

I read a script recently that did...
INT. CAFE, GREENWICH VILLAGE - DAY
INT. AGENCY, MIDTOWN - DAY

And... The Constant Gardener. Cast Away. The Good Shepherd.
All do...
INT. BAR, LONDON or whatever.

This is okay, right?

EXT. ST. JEANNET - VILLA
EXT. RESTAURANT
EXT. BAR

EXT. CANNES - HOTEL - DAY
RESTAURANT

EXT. FRENCH RIVERA, NICE - OCEAN - DAY
SAILBOAT

How about if you know where someone's house is?

Once I've established...
EXT. ST. JEANNET - BRAD'S VILLA

Every time I go back do I have to mention St. Jennet??

It's a horrible problem but I switch between two resorts and I don't want to keep putting Cannes or St Jennet at the top if we're visiting someone's bedroom.

I�d just use a SUPER for each countty change

So have:

EXT. BEACH - DAY

action blah blah

SUPER - NICE FRANCE or FRENCH RIVIERA

You’ve established to the reader where it is. If the scenes change to Monaco then do the same

INT. CASINO - NIGHT

action etc

SUPER - MONTE CARLO MONACO

Quoted from stevie I�d just use a SUPER for each countty change So have: EXT. BEACH - DAY action blah blah SUPER - NICE FRANCE or FRENCH RIVIERA You’ve established to the reader where it is. If the scenes change to Monaco then do the same INT. CASINO - NIGHT action etc SUPER - MONTE CARLO MONACO

This is essentially the method I'm using in my 7WC script, and it works unless your story is going to revisiting the cities haphazardly (parallel storylines). If stuff happens in Nice, then happens in Monaco, then happens in Zurich, etc. you only really need to identify the city when there's a jump.

Thanks guys.

Well my big problem is that I flick back and forth a lot -- and a lot of these places are like 20 minutes away from each other.

I kind of figured because I have an establishing shot (the first time)..
EXT. EZE - DAY
FRANCIS VILLA

EXT. ST. JEANNET - DAY
BRAD VILLA

I should be okay.

I'd hate to have a horrible header like...
EXT. ST- JEANNET - BRAD'S VILLA - BEDROOM - DAY
Every scene...

But yeah. I don't want to dumb it down for the reader.

Oh cool. FrankM, does your script jump around countries/cities?

Quoted from The Dark Horse Oh cool. FrankM, does your script jump around countries/cities?

There are basically four distinct stories being told in flashback (look at the 7WC format for why). Each flashback is introduced with a SUPER explaining the city, state and year.

Most locations within a flashback are simple since they're understood to follow the SUPER.

EXT. OPEN MARKETPLACE - DAY

INT. LIZ'S APARTMENT - DAY

INT. SUBWAY PLATFORM - NIGHT

For the more complex locations, it goes from general to specific.

INT. MASTERS HOUSE - LIBRARY - DAY

INT. CHURCH - RECTORY - DAY

INT. FANCY RESTAURANT - POWDER ROOM - DAY

SUPER is better because viewers can not see scene headings.

Quoted from DustinBowcot SUPER is better because viewers can not see scene headings.

Yup.