Scene heading

A scene heading (a slug line, in the trade) opens every scene. It says three things, in capitals: whether the scene is inside or outside, where it happens, and when.

INT. RIVERSIDE DINER - NIGHT

Rain against the window. Maya slides into the booth.

Writing one in Calmly Script

Start the line with INT. or EXT., in capitals, and it becomes a scene heading as you type. There is nothing to choose: the app recognises the opener. Then press Enter↩ and the next line is action, which is what follows a heading in a screenplay.

These openers are recognised: INT., EXT., EST., INT./EXT., INT/EXT, I./E. and I/E. They need something after them (a full stop, a space, a slash or a dash with a space), so a word that only begins like one, such as Interior or Establish, stays what it is.

Below, a heading is typed on an empty page and Enter starts the action under it; then a line typed with a full stop in front becomes a heading too (more on that in the next section).

Any line can be a heading

A heading that does not begin with INT. or EXT. (a dream, a montage, a place with no inside or outside) is chosen, not typed:

• Format › Scene heading, or Ctrl+1⌘1.
• TabTab on the line, until it is a heading. See Enter and Tab.

Either way, Calmly Script writes a full stop in front of the line, dimmed. That full stop is how a Fountain file says “this line is a scene heading” when the words alone do not, so the line is still a heading the next time the file is opened, in Calmly Script or in any other Fountain app. You can also type the full stop yourself:

.THE DREAM

Everything is blue.

An ellipsis is not a heading: ...and then stays action, because the full stop that forces a heading cannot be followed by another one. Nor is a line inside a speech: under a character, .45 calibre is still something they say.

Scene numbers

A number between two # at the end of the heading is the scene’s number. It prints in both margins, where a production reads it, and never pushes a long heading onto a second line.

EXT. PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS #12A#

The neon sign flickers out.

To have every scene numbered without typing a number, turn on Settings › Printing › Number the scenes. The numbers go on the printed page, in the Preview and in the Word and Final Draft files, never into your .fountain. A number you typed is kept, and the count goes on from it: after 12, or 12A, comes 13.

How it prints

In a screenplay a heading prints in capitals, at the left margin of the text, with two blank lines above it. A heading you typed in capitals prints exactly as you typed it, so the small c of EXT. McCARREN AIRPORT stays. A heading never ends a page on its own: when it would be the last line of a page, it moves to the next one with the first line of its scene.