Hello,

My name's Harry. I'm new to this website. I have a couple questions. I'm writing a screenplay (an action movie kinda), and I was wondering what I should do about slug-lines and subheadings for a car driving.

Thing is, it constantly moves in and out of the car; it's very frenetic. What should I do? How do I show that it's both interior and exterior, at the director's discretion?

I was recently told by a Producer, I'm new also, to put

INT/EXT AUTO

That was pretty simple, for me.

Others may have better suggestions. Good Luck

I was thinking about that -- but I'm not really sure. I asked other people, and they said, no.

Hi Harry,

I don't think it's possible to advise without a bit more information on the scene.

You don't want to direct. On the other hand you have to get your vision across or what's the point?

If you have a cop pulling over a car and getting shot by the driver, I'd stick with the POV character as far as you can, even to the point of having Action which cannot be seen from that POV (EXT - The driver, unseen by the cop, eases a gun from his pocket...) (INT - The cop, unseen by the driver, releases the fastening on his holster and grips his gun...) just so it reads well.

On the other hand, if you use an INT but then want to show the cop left struggling, use another slug (EXT - as the car screeches away, the cop crawls towards his vehicle...)

Or show the incident from an EXT POV but then switch to an INT of the car if there is a passenger screaming at the driver.

Personally (personal paranoia, that is), I'd shy away from INT./EXT. for the reason that I don't know how the reader will react to them. Some will be very liberal with their use, some will have their own ideas (only if a scene moves from and INT to an EXT or v.v., say) You can usually avoid them.

And like a lot of things, it depends where you intend to send it. Hollywood readers seem to have a reputation for binning anything they possibly can, the BBC will read pretty much anything which is legible (first 10 pages, anyway) of the 10,000 unsolicited scripts they get every year as long as it doesn't break their 'don't write for existing series' rule.

Piecework v. increasing hourly rate depending on what you spot.

So, what's the scene, then?

:-)

Ian