SPLITTING THE SCREEN

By David Trottier

You’ve seen the split screen used in several films. For example, 500 Days of Summer had a charming split screen sequence in which the protagonist goes to a party, and we view his "expectation" vs. "reality." Maybe you recall its use in Jackie Brown, Wall Street, Down with Love, and other movies. How do you write a split screen in a spec?

Naturally, there is more than one way to format a split screen, and each way is simple and makes sense. Let’s use Kill Bill as an example. I’ll present four methods, all of which are correct.

Method #1
You can format the split screen device like a special heading (like the MONTAGE, FLASHBACK, or INTERCUT). What follows is an example of the INTERCUT, which is a special heading.

INTERCUT - HOSPITAL ROOM/HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

In the hospital room, the bride lies in unblinking comatose sleep.

Elle, in a nurse’s uniform, strides down the hospital corridor carrying a syringe on a tray.

Now, what if you want the INTERCUT to be a SPLIT SCREEN so that we see both things happening at the same time? Simply replace the word INTERCUT with SPLIT SCREEN.

SPLIT SCREEN - HOSPITAL ROOM/HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

Notice how the location is identified in each paragraph of action description above. You don’t want to lose the reader.

Method #2
What if you want to be clearer about the two locations to enhance the read? In that case, use secondary scene headings. In doing so, you can use the same SPLIT SCREEN scene heading as in Method #1, or you can use SPLIT SCREEN as the sole item in the scene heading, since it is also a technical direction. Thus, we have the following:

SPLIT SCREEN

HOSPITAL ROOM

The bride likes in unblinking comatose sleep.

HOSPITAL CORRIDOR

Elle, in a nurse’s uniform, strides down carrying a syringe on a tray.

Method #3
What if you want to be clearer about what’s on the left and what’s on the right? Simply indicate parenthetically which location is left and which is right. For example, begin as follows:

SPLIT SCREEN

HOSPITAL ROOM (ON LEFT)

Method #4
What if you are writing a shooting script, or simply do not want to use secondary scene headings in your spec. Then replace the secondary scene headings with master scene headings. For example:

SPLIT SCREEN

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM

In the actual shooting script, Tarantino created two columns for the split screen, left and right. That’s a fifth method, but the formatting may be difficult.

Which method should you use? Use the method that is most consistent with what you want the split screen scene to accomplish. And keep writing!