So minority opinion but I really like using CUT TO. I use it when I want a transition to be more sudden, but not as abrupt or jarring as SMASH TO. No one in the industry has ever complained about it in my writing before. It's a personal choice and I think as long as I don't use it on every page like Goldman, it's okay.
-- my work has taken this journey from spec script (or commissioned script) to production draft and fundamentally, the only difference is that,
1) you need to replace all of those mini-slugs with real slug lines and make sure that all of the slug lines for a given location read the same. That is, things like:
BOB'S HOUSE, IN BOB'S HOUSE, A SUBURBAN HOUSE and THE HOUSE -- all referring to the same place, you've got to replace with just a single slug line, otherwise the automatic software gets confused and lists them all as separate locations.
So when you do this you are replacing all the mini slugs that would normally read like this:
KITCHEN
into this:
INT. MARK'S HOUSE -- KITCHEN -- DAY
or are you just leaving:
KITCHEN
--but are putting it in the "Scene heading" option in Final Draft (or whatever program you're using)?
-- my work has taken this journey from spec script (or commissioned script) to production draft and fundamentally, the only difference is that,
1) you need to replace all of those mini-slugs with real slug lines and make sure that all of the slug lines for a given location read the same. That is, things like:
BOB'S HOUSE, IN BOB'S HOUSE, A SUBURBAN HOUSE and THE HOUSE -- all referring to the same place, you've got to replace with just a single slug line, otherwise the automatic software gets confused and lists them all as separate locations.
Thank you, NMS, for posting this. These two things are some of my pet peeves. You have worked as a professional screenwriter, and I have not.
"The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.
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