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Question on how to write a car chase.

H

harmonica44

I have written one and here's the format from a sample:

EVERSMAN

Is speeding up with an officer in a squad car. He gets on his radio to the helicopter sharpshooter.

INTERCUT BETWEEN EVERSMAN AND SHARPSHOOTER

EVERSMAN
Be ready to take a clean shot if you have. Be ready, over.

SHARPSHOOTER
Copy that.

HENDERSON AND GARRAND

hear it through the radio --

Is this good, or do I have to write it differently? I sent the script to a proofreader, but she hasn't gotten back to me on the intercutting format itself. Can I use the characters names, as scene headings, when it comes to intercutting between different police cars, on different streets, or do I have to use something else?

I'm also writing a shootout in my new script, which takes place on people shooting at each other from different rooftops. Can I use their names, as scene headings, to intercut between the rooftops they are on? Some older scripts do this, but I was told it's out of practice. Or should I just put INTERCUT BETWEEN ALL ROOFTOPS, once all the rooftops are established, then just write it all without scene headings?
 
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I think it was mentioned in another thread (it really would make it easier if all your script-writing questions were together), but the format of -

CHARACTER

Action.
Click to expand...

- is very unusual and something I've never seen done before. The character's name should only appear on one line like that if it's before their dialogue.

I'm not entirely sure it's necessary to mention the intercutting in the script. It's not like you're going between events - the two characters are communicating with each other, and it seems just as superfluous as if you'd written INTERCUT in a regular dialogue scene.

Having said that, if this a script you're planning to direct and shoot yourself, clarity may be more important to you than sticking to conventions.
 
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I've seen it done that way on SHOOTING SCRIPTS. The best examples would be the Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum Shooting scripts... there's so much action in completely different locations intercut together that they occasionally do this.
 
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Yeah in that other thread I was talking about a different type of action scene, but I guess I could have posted it there. Okay, so how would I intercut in a spec script I wanna sell? Do I write it without using slug lines, even though the scenes are changing from different rooftops, and different streets?
 
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