StudioBinder formats your scene heading for you so you can focus on telling your story. Scene headings, also known as sluglines, help organize your screenplay and guide production by specifying where and when each scene takes place. For example, using a heading like EXT. PARK – DAY ensures the scene is interpreted correctly by all departments during pre-production.
Scene heading elements
A scene heading consists of at least two elements: An interior or exterior designation (INT., EXT.) and a specific location or setting. If a scene is not part of a continuous sequence, the heading will also specify the time of day.
Note: INT. and EXT. are abbreviations thus, they should always end in a period. The one exception being when they are joined together as INT/EXT.
Scene numbers
Scene numbers are used to organize and reference scenes throughout your screenplay. You can enable scene numbers by highlighting your scene heading and clicking the Scene Setting icon at the top of the screenplay editor.
Note: You can also enable scene numbers by using either of the shortcuts below:
Press ⌥ + S on Mac
Press Alt + S on Windows
Modifiers
There will be circumstances where you will need to add modifiers to relay a passage of time, location etc. The following contain some commonly used modifiers:
Later
Later is used only when a scene takes place in the same location as the one before, just at a different time.
Note: A common mistake is to use "CONTINUOUS" as a time of day. This is redundant unless the master location changes. As we can assume that each successive scene is part of a continuous sequence.
Locale
This is to avoid any confusion for the reader. When adding a locale to a scene heading, it's only needed in the first instance. Once it has been established you do not need to re-establish each time.
Specific place
A specific room or place should be separated from the master setting using a slash. It would also be acceptable to separate them using a hyphen. However, a slash is preferable, as it keeps the elements grouped, making it easier to tell them apart.
Specific room
It is not necessary to repeat the master setting in an uninterrupted sequence. Continuing from the above example, if we follow a character from the living room of the apartment to the bathroom, the new scene heading would look like this: The time of day is optional when a new scene is a part of a continuous sequence that takes place all inside or outside.
Proper names
The proper name of an establishment or the name of a vehicle should be enclosed in quotations.
Tracking
When the camera follows a character from interior to exterior (or vice versa) in an uninterrupted shot, append the word "TRACKING" to the end of the scene heading. There should be no period before the slash of the prefix.
Traveling
When a scene takes place in a moving car, the word "TRAVELING" should be appended to the end of the scene heading, separated by a hyphen.
Time period
If the time period helps define the setting, it may be enclosed in parentheses as part of the master setting.
Now that you know how to format telephone calls in your screenplay, explore more manage your screenplay: