• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Screenwriting.io

Screenwriting.io

Answering basic questions about screenwriting.

  • Answers
  • About
  • Ask
  • Index
Generic filters
Exact matches only

What is the best way to handle flashbacks or dream sequences in a screenplay?

Tagged: formatting, presentation, scene headings, screenplay, screenwriting, script, scriptwriting, structure, terms

If you want the viewer (and therefore the reader) to know that a scene is or is part of a flashback or dream sequence, add the tag in brackets after the header.

INT. TOM’S BEDROOM – DAY [FLASHBACK]

If you don’t want the viewer to be immediately aware, omit the tag.

This advice also applies to any other alternate world that could crop up in a screenplay. If your story is about a writer and we occasionally enter the world of the novel she is writing, append those scene headers with [NOVEL].

With all formatting advice, your goal is to be as clear as possible without interrupting the flow of the screenplay, keeping in mind that your reader is acting as your viewer. If you are unsure, try to remove yourself from the process, read what you’ve written as though you are a third party, and see if it makes sense.

More from johnaugust.com

  • Flashbacks and dreams
  • Keeping track of time
  • Can I go beyond DAY and NIGHT?
  • The Hollywood Standard

Answer Index

script scriptwriting screenwriting screenplay formatting terms film presentation structure business writing software TV WGA Final Draft guild characters length credits FDX FDR union scene headings dramatic theory outlines arbitration adaptations fountain pdf highland producers managers Celtx guru Movie Magic rights agents awards pitching short film festival iPhone iPad directors prelap

Primary Sidebar

Switching from Final Draft to Highland 2

Switching from Final Draft
to Highland 2 – Get the PDF

© 2025 Screenwriting.io — All Rights Reserved.

  • Answers
  • About
  • Ask
  • Index