sluglines for telephone call

[Uranium City]

If I want to write a telephone conversation that jumps from each phone's location with each line of dialog, do I need a new slugline each time? Or is there better way to indicate this type of phone call?

i.e. is this correct:

INT. DAY - PAUL'S LIVING ROOM

PAUL
Hi, Stu. Did I wake you?

INT. DAY - STU'S LIVING ROOM

STU
Nope, I'm awake. What's up?

INT. DAY - PAUL'S LIVING ROOM

PAUL
Just wondering if you could answer something.

INT. DAY - STU'S LIVING ROOM
STU
What is it?

etc.

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

If I want to write a telephone conversation that jumps from each phone's location with each line of dialog, do I need a new slugline each time? Or is there better way to indicate this type of phone call?

i.e. is this correct:

INT. DAY - PAUL'S LIVING ROOM

PAUL
Hi, Stu. Did I wake you?

INT. DAY - STU'S LIVING ROOM

STU
Nope, I'm awake. What's up?

INT. DAY - PAUL'S LIVING ROOM

PAUL
Just wondering if you could answer something.

INT. DAY - STU'S LIVING ROOM
STU
What is it?

etc.

You've got part of it... You start out that way and then use INTERCUT...

Like this...

INT. DAY - PAUL'S LIVING ROOM

PAUL
Hi, Stu. Did I wake you?

INT. DAY - STU'S LIVING ROOM

STU
Nope, I'm awake. What's up?

INTERCUT PAUL/STU

PAUL
Just wondering if you could
answer something.

STU
What is it?

INT. NEW LOCATION SLUG - DAY

--A new location slug after the call ends... You could also use a transition before the new slug... Something like CUT TO: or DISSOLVE TO: but it's not necessary.

--You could also use:

INTERCUT BETWEEN PAUL AND STU
INTERCUT PAUL AND STU

They all work...

filmy

 

[margo macabee]

Oh crap do I have to rewrite my calls?
How incorrect is this example then?

INTER-CUT PAUL'S LIVING ROOM/STU'S BEDROOM -DAY
-PAUL'S action line here, dials phone-
-STU'S action line here, picks up phone-

PAUL
(into phone)
Are you up?

STU
(into phone)
Hell, no!

PAUL
Too bad for your girlfriend!

STU
Your mom never was a complainer.


-end example-


I think you answered this already, I might need it re-worded to make sure.

I haven't had an inter-cut phone call begin in the middle of a scene yet.

Would it be best to make a whole new slugline for an inter-cut scene even though I'm still in the same room/time/character with one side of the phone call?

And afterwards, if I'm staying in a location(Paul's) directly after the phone call and not going back to the other location(Stu's), would it be proper to have a new slugline or would an action line within that scene showing us they both hang up the phone then followed by Paul's dialoge be proper?

I hope this isn't concidered thread stealing. I try to only ask when and what I think it might answer something else for the OP.

Thanks in advance,


Margo

 

[Uranium City]

thanks, filmy and margo. i'd appreciate the answers to your questions, too, margo, so don't worry about thread stealing! hell, your example dialog was much better than mine!

 

[barnaclelapse]

Ohhhhhh...okay.

I get it now.

I always wondered about that.

God, my screenplays are so wretchedly formatted.

 

[VPTurner]

The slugline I used awhile back I actually grabbed from a produced shooting script, and it simply said:

INTERCUT THE PHONE CALL

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Most of the time you see it DIFFERENT from the example I gave is because someone pretty much figured out their own way to do it.

It's easier for everyone in the chain of custody with a job to do if you use two sluglines to establish both locations FIRST and then use INTERCUT. Otherwise, one of the locations COULD get missed or construed as one location as in Margo's example.

Why?

Because a lot of people in this business tend to rush through their jobs... LOL.

My example is just the most preferred way... I've seen it done more ways than you can imagine.

filmy

 

[margo macabee]

Most of the time you see it DIFFERENT from the example I gave is because someone pretty much figured out their own way to do it.

It's easier for everyone in the chain of custody with a job to do if you use two sluglines to establish both locations FIRST and then use INTERCUT. Otherwise, one of the locations COULD get missed or construed as one location as in Margo's example.

Why?

Because a lot of people in this business tend to rush through their jobs... LOL.

My example is just the most preferred way... I've seen it done more ways than you can imagine.

filmy

I am totally doing it your way.

I think (as Will V. pointed out to me) I have read a few shooting scripts and not the original screenplays. SO I'm figuring out my formatting is slightly off base. It's close, damn close. But I want to do it the 'preferred' way. I want my 2 screenplays to sell...
As few obstacles between what I wrote and the mind of the reader, the better. I don't want them to have to go back to a scene and wonder what I'm talking about. Not that I think they'd 'go back' to a scene, anyway. If a reader has to 'go back' to grasp something, I'll lay money they'd merely shut it and toss it.

Thanks again,

Margo

 

[margo macabee]

Great flow!

Oh, filmy!

That reads SOOOO much better. Much clearer and makes more sense. It doesn't eat up as much space as I thought either. Thanx much.

Oh and I used the example INTER-CUT BETWEEN PHILLIP AND CANDY. It seems to be a bit more dominant and noticeable on the page. I was worried it might slip by a pair of eyes; it doesn't now.


Margo

 

[Unknown Screenwriter]

Cool...

filmy