Esther Luttrell's Tools of the ScreenWriting Trade
Slug Lines: Interior Scenes
Reach for the stars! Go for the moon! to add text.
How to Move From One Room to Another
- and Indicate It In Your Slug Line
Let's pretend you're writing a scene that takes place inside a house. It's night. Your hero, George Macon, is entering his living room from the outside. Something's very wrong; he has to find out what! He races toward the sound of water running in the bathroom, then hurries across the hall and into the housekeeper's bedroom where he finds a missing woman's purse on the bureau.
Here's how all of that would look, written into your screenplay:
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INT. MACON HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
George enters the house at a dead run, hurrying toward the sound of running water coming from
THE BATHROOM
The door is open. George slams to a stop on the threshold. Water pours from an open faucet, flooding everything. He races in, shuts off the water, springs across
THE HALLWAY
and into
THE HOUSEKEEPER'S BEDROOM
where he looks around frantically. Then he spots it: the housekeeper's purse on her bureau. No way would Sara leave it without it. His worst fears were coming true.
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Your initial Slug Line has provided vital information to four crew members . The First Assistant Director knows this is going to be an INT. (interior) scene. The Location Manager has gone out and found someone who will
"I always write a good first
line, but I have trouble in writing the others." Moliere - French Dramatist
let them use a home in which to shoot. If it isn't to be shot "practical" (on location), then the sets will be built on a sound stage, but for our purposes here let's pretend it's shot practical. It will be referred to on a Daily Call Sheet (the cast and crew's information sheet, issued to them daily) as the "Macon House". The Set Decorator can from the Slug Line that he's to arrive ahead of the crew to "dress" the living room for the first shot. Finally, the Lighting Technician knows to set lamps to create shadows and so forth, indicating Night.
Referring back to the page called "Slug Lines", I explained how you can proof your Slug Line to make certain it is always letter perfect. Using that method, here is how you will proof the Slug Lines in the above scene:
In the narrative, the writer has told the Director that the actor playing George needs to come into the house and race straight toward the bathroom. Each time you, the writer, change location (going from the living room to the bathroom is a change of location) in your script, you need a new Slug Line. So, what new information do you have for the First Assistant Director? Since he's the one who will be putting together the shooting schedule, he needs to know which scenes are to be INT (interior). This scene starts inside the Macon house, so everyone is already INT. when the scene progresses into the bathroom. You don't have any new information for the First A.D. The cast and crew can't get any more interior without getting into the woodwork.
The second piece of information in your Slug Line is for the Location Manager. You ask yourself if there is any new information the Location Manager needs in order for this scene to be shot in the bathroom. The answer is "no". The Location Manager has already secured the "Macon House". They are there. He needs no new information from the writer, in order for them to shoot the bathroom scene.
The third piece of information in your Slug Line is for the Set Decorator. Ask yourself if the Set Dec needs to know anything new in order for this scene to be shot in the bathroom. The answer is "yes". The Set Dec needs to know to get the bathroom ready for filming.
The fourth piece of information is for the Lighting Tech, but that person has already been informed that this scene is set at night. So there's no new information needed for the Lighting Tech.
Since ONLY the Set Decorator needs information in this new location, all you will need for a Slug Line are the words THE BATHROOM.
Once George has turned off the water, he now has been instructed by the writer to go out into the hall. New area to be filmed. New Slug Line required. But, again, there's no one who needs new information except the Set Decorator.
And so it goes, right on to the housekeeper's bedroom.
So long as you shoot continuously (in other words, the camera follows the actor, without stopping), and so long as it remains "night", you need only give new information to the Set Decorator.
Slug Lines consisting of one or two words, such as what you see in the scene we're using an example, are called Short Slugs.
Now, let's try a variation on that scene.
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INT. JOHNSON HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAY
Sam is at the head of the table. He passes a bowl of vegetables to Tommy who nearly drops it.
SAMWhat what yer don' there, kid!Tommy's face turns red.
TOMMYSorry, Dad.The others at the table stare at their food, afraid to speak.
INT. JOHNSON HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
Sam's asleep in the recliner, snoring lightly. Jeannie tiptoes to him, lifts the television remote from atop his ample belly, and clicks off the evening news. She casts him a weary glance as she turns out the light and leaves the room.
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We're still in the Johnson house and the scenes follow, one after the other. Why do we need a full Slug Line for the living room? Why wouldn't a Short Slug work?
Go over the Slug Line proving system: Does the First Assistant Director need to have new information in each of the Slug Lines? You bet. A day shoot is often filmed weeks ahead of, or behind, night shoots, even if it's in the same location. Or maybe they shot the day scene at the dining room table on a sound stage set on Tuesday, but they plan to film several night scenes at the "Johnson House" on Friday. In any case, the scenes are totally independent of one another. The First Assistant Director, Location Manager, Set Decorator, and Lighting Tech need a full Slug Line for each of those scenes.
In that second Slug Line you have told the Location Manager that he needs to make sure they can get into the home they are using as the Johnson House, for night filming. You've told the Sec Decorator to get the living room ready for filming before the crew arrives, and you've informed the Lighting Technician that this will be a night scene.
In order to shoot this second scene an entirely new Slug Line is required of you, the writer.
Had it remained a "day" scene, and the family had simply gotten up from the lunch table and walked into the living room, the words LIVING ROOM would have become your entire Slug Line - because the filming would have been continuous.
Click on the page titled "Slug Lines" before moving on to this page.
