Screenplay Flashback

Screenplay Flashback

Today we’re going to tackle the screenplay flashback, its three different types and how to use them in your script.

Unfortunately, aspiring writers are constantly told by screenwriting “gurus” to never employ certain devices in their scripts. Nine times out of ten, this is just dumb advice.

One of the most popular refrains you may have heard is “never use a screenplay flashback.” In fact, flashbacks can greatly enhance your script—if you know how to use them properly.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at how flashbacks can be used to great effect in your screenplay so you can prove all the naysayers wrong.

Overall benefits of employing a flashback in a screenplay.

♦  Through flashbacks in a script, an audience can relive a character’s past rather than just hearing them talk about it.

♦  A script flashback can take us right inside a character’s mind.

♦  It can work equally well in all forms of genres.

♦  Screenplay flashbacks are set apart from other forms of storytelling. They are concerned with memories and the impact of the past on the present.

♦  Normally, stories are designed to make the audience wonder what will happen, but a screenplay flashback can make us wonder what has happened.

♦  They are particularly useful when the story in the past is more important than the one in present. In The Usual Suspects, the story in the present is truncated and skeletal, as opposed to the flashback sequences.

A screenplay flashback MUST have a purpose. 

The reason why many gurus say it’s best not to use flashbacks in your screenplay, is because many writers abuse the technique and employ them unecessarily.

It’s important to remember that in order to justify the use of a screenplay flashback, it needs to fulfill a specific purpose.

Below are the three main categories of screenplay flashback used by professional screenwriters. If you have a flashback in your script, but it’s not in one of the categories below, then it may need to be cut.

Screenplay flashback #1: the brief but urgent reminder. 

This is a device to make a character’s dilemma in the present more urgent by flashing back briefly to their past actions.

Script flashbacks of this kind only tell fragments of the story and they tell them out of sequence. Often just to show their state of mind at that moment.

Here are a couple of examples:

♦  A suspect in detective film is being interrogated by the cops and tells his/her version of what happened, and we see what happened in flashback.

♦  In Crimes and Misdemeanors, Judah remembers his affair with the woman he’s just had killed by his hitman brother.

Screenplay flashback #2: the life-changing incident. 

Another device used for showing a characters’ state of mind in a particular moment. This usually plays out like this:

One ominous, incomplete screenplay flashback occurs incrementally throughout the film. Then, at the climax the truth is revealed in its shocking entirety. The mysteries and motives of the protagonist are finally laid bare.

This kind of script flashback appears at moments of trauma for the protagonist, i.e. in Catch 22, Jacob’s Ladder, Once Upon a Time in the West.

Script flashback #3: the autobiographical voice-over. 

Here a character, usually the protagonist, becomes the narrator and initiates a flashback narrative about their life.

This can be especially effective in comedy and drama genres as it enables the viewer to really get inside the protagonist’s head. We can then see things purely from their perspective.

It’s been used in countless films, from The End Of The Affair to There’s Something About Mary.

Conclusion. 

Of course, there is much more to constructing a flashback-driven film such as The Usual Suspects or Citizen Kane. You need to make sure your plot points intersect at key moments in both the past and the present, for example.

But we’ve covered the three basic forms of screenplay flashback narrative that you should consider first.

Before embarking on a script, decide if it would benefit from the use of a screenplay flashback or two. Maybe an Urgent Illustration, a Life-Changing Incident or Autobiographical device?

Check which will best serve your writing purpose. Will they make the story in the past more interesting than in present? Or will they embellish and give flavor to the one in the present?

Overall, make sure each script flashback has a solid reason for being there. It should never just be there for the sake of it. In other words, don’t listen to everything the so-called gurus say.

Here is an example of formatting a transition to a flashback and a flashback scene: INT. SAIGON HOTEL ROOM – DAY (1983) Kim gets up from the sofa. Crosses the room to the window. Gazes down at people walking along the street. She stares at a mother and a young girl about her own age.                                                                                                        FLASHBACK TO: INT. SAIGON HOSPITAL – DAY (1981) Kim's mother is in a hospital bed. Kim is holding her hand, squeezing hard.                                                 KIM                           Mother, mother open your eyes. Kim drops her mother's lifeless hand. She stares with unbelieving eyes. A voice calls her name, "Kim! Kim!" BACK TO PRESENT Kim turns away from the window. Steve is calling her name.                                                 STEVE                           Kim! Kim! Are you okay?                                                 KIM                           Yes.                                                 STEVE                           You seemed far away when I called you. In the above example, the present-time scene transitions into a flashback. Kim gazes out the window and sees a mother and daughter who evoke a memory of her own mother. The words, FLASHBACK TO (all caps), appear at the right of the page, indicating that the next scene is a flashback. The flashback scene itself is formatted like any other scene. In this example, it is set in a Saigon hospital. We see Kim's memory of her dying mother. So the audience learns what happened to Kim's mother and how it affected her. Notice how the flashback transitions back to the present-time scene. Kim hears a voice calling her name, calling her back to the present. The words, BACK TO PRESENT (all caps), appear on the left side of the page, indicating that we are leaving the flashback and returning to the present time. The transition is smooth because we see Kim turn away from the window where her memory was first evoked in a flashback. She turns away because a voice distracts her from her memory and makes her focus on the present time. By reading screenplays with flashbacks, you'll learn how to transition into and out of them and when to use them effectively. They shouldn't be used indiscriminately. It's best to show action in present time and use flashback scenes only to give the audience information it can't get from present-time action. To write a flashback scene, ask yourself several questions: 1.) What does the audience need to know about the protagonist's past that cannot be shown       in a present-time scene? 2.) Where does the flashback take place? Describe the geographic location. 3.) When does the flashback memory take place? Pinpoint the time period. Did the event       take place in the character's childhood, several months ago, or many years ago? 4.) Who are the other characters in the flashback and why are they important? 5.) How is the character's memory evoked as a flashback? This is known as the transition       into the flashback. Does a place, sound, picture, or present event trigger a memory?      How does the character return (transition) to the present from his memory, or flashback?      Does someone call his name, telephone him, tap him on the shoulder?

Ask the Expert: All About Flashbacks

QUESTION:

Are there any special format rules for writing a flashback?

ANSWER:

Since the FLASHBACK is often abused by developing writers, make sure that your use of it pays off dramatically. In terms of formatting, there are numerous correct methods. The overriding principle is to be clear.

Method 1

In the example below, we label the flashback like we would a montage.

FLASHBACK – TRAIN ACCIDENT

Barry sees the train speeding toward him and leaps from the tracks, but his foot catches on a rail tie.

BACK TO PRESENT DAY

The above method is designed for short flashbacks that happen within a scene. For longer flashbacks, consider one of the following methods.

Method 2

FLASHBACK – EXT. TRAIN TRACKS – DAY

Method 3

EXT. TRAIN TRACKS - DAY - FLASHBACK

Or

EXT. TRAIN TRACKS - DAY (FLASHBACK)

If you use either of the above notations, then the next scene heading would follow the same pattern and look like this.

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY – BACK TO PRESENT DAY

Or

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY (BACK TO PRESENT DAY)

You can also use either of the above BACK TO PRESENT DAY notations for Method 2 as well.

If you wish, you may shorten the extension, as follows:

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY - PRESENT DAY

Or

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY (PRESENT DAY)

Alternate flashback endings for Methods 2 and 3

At the end of a flashback, you can use one of the following alternative methods to end the flashback.

END OF FLASHBACK

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

It would also be correct to place the phrase END OF FLASHBACK flush to the right margin followed by a period, as follows:

END OF FLASHBACK.

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Flashbacks longer than one scene

If a flashback is more than one scene in length, you will use Method 2 or 3 for your first flashback scene heading. Subsequent scene headings will be written as normal scene headings without the word FLASHBACK. The reader will assume that each scene that follows that first flashback scene is part of the flashback until he sees END OF FLASHBACK or BACK TO PRESENT DAY in some form. Here’s an example.

EXT. TRAIN TRACKS – DAY – FLASHBACK

Barry sees the train speeding toward him and leaps from the tracks, but his foot catches on a rail tie.

INT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Barry lies on a gurney. A doctor pulls a sheet over his head.

INT. OFFICE – DAY – BACK TO PRESENT DAY

Or:

INT. OFFICE – DAY – PRESENT DAY

If you wish, it’s perfectly correct to label each scene heading in a flashback sequence. For example:

EXT. TRAIN TRACKS – DAY – FLASHBACK

Barry sees the train speeding toward him and leaps from the tracks, but his foot catches on a rail tie.

INT. HOSPITAL – DAY – FLASHBACK CONT’D

Barry lies on a gurney. A doctor pulls a sheet over his head.

INT. OFFICE – DAY – PRESENT DAY

Method 4

An alternative method is to label the entire flashback comprised of more than one scene as a flashback sequence.

BEGIN FLASHBACK SEQUENCE

EXT. TRAIN TRACKS - DAY

And then write out all the scenes in sequence, just as you would normally write scenes, and then end the sequence with this:

END OF FLASHBACK SEQUENCE

INT. OFFICE – DAY

How to format a flashback Like a Pro Screenwriter

Written by K.D.Wilson  in Formating Help

Screenwriting format is not hard to master; it has a few rules and a few guidelines. If you’re starting like I was years ago, you have a lot of questions about how to do specific things. But in this post, we are going to talk about Flashbacks and how to use them in the screenplay.

How to write a flashback in a screenplay? You write a flashback in a screenplay bt writing “BEGIN FLASHBACK:” in the top left corner of the page. You finish a flashback by writing “END FLASHBACK.”

Now like with everything in screenplay formatting there are rules that I refer to as mostly guidelines when doing this. Let’s explore them to make sure you’re using flashbacks correctly.

Table of Contents

·         Rules of formatting a flashback

·         Formating Differnt Types of flashbacks

·         How to write good flashbacks?

·         Why even use flashbacks?

Rules of formatting a flashback

1.) Using the term “FLASHBACK:” is a part of the scene heading in a screenplay. Just as if you were describing an “INSERT SHOT” or and “INTERCUT” So most of the time its followed up with a proper scene heading. for example

BEGIN FLASHBACK:

INT. JOHNS APARTMENT – NIGHT

2.) There are different ways to write a flashback in a screenplay. Yes, the way I described earlier is the way I see a lot of screenwriters use it, but there are more. All these methods are great ways to format flashbacks in Final draft.

EXT. HOUSE – DAY – FLASHBACK

EXT. HOUSE – DAY (FLASHBACK)

FLASHBACK – EXT. GARDEN – DAY

Then alternatively you can write “BACK TO SCENE” or “BACK TO PRESENT DAY” to indicate to the reader that the flashback is over. Whichever way you choose to format a flashback use it that way every time within the same screenplay.

An example of this is in the film “The Butterfly Effect” a film of nothing but flashbacks the screenwriter used the word “FLASH!” every time there was a flashback.

This isn’t the forms we talked about, but the reader will understand it all the same. Again, there are just guidelines, do what you wish.

Ashton Kutcher “The butterfly Effect”

3.) This tip might be a no brainer but always capitalize. Capitalization in screenplay alerts the reader of important changes in location, characters, sounds, etc. So make sure flashbacks are capitalized as well.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Formating Differnt Types of flashbacks

How to format a montage flashback or a series of flashbacks?

This would go great if you had a situation where a character recalls a bunch of scenes from the past. Even if some have dialogue and some don’t. This is where the character puts the pieces together to reveal something that isn’t yet noticeable. For this you can use the terms:

SERIES OF SHOTS

SERIES OF FLASHBACKS

QUICK MEMORY FLASHES

MONTAGE

Proper slug line headings would be best not to confuse the reader. This one line in front of your flashback series would service to get the point across that you will be jumping to different points. An example where this is used is here:

MONTAGE – JOHNS SERIES OF FLASHBACKS

BACK TO PRESENT DAY

If your flashback consists of more than one scene, you can write “BEGIN FLASHBACK SEQUENCE” to let the reader know they’re in for a wild ride.

How to start a screenplay with a flashback?

You don’t. You don’t ever do this. You can’t start a screenplay with a flashback without establishing something to flashback too. It’s impossible if you do this it shows the literary agent or a producer that you’re a novice writer. They will stop reading and never call you back ever again. I know this from experience.

There is a way to open scenes with flashbacks. You start the scene, don’t write the words “FLASHBACK:” Once you’re done with your scene, you then write a new scene heading with the words “2 YEARS LATER“ or “A FEW DAYS LATER.” whatever it might be. This will indicate to the reader that they were in the past. Another way of doing this is to add dates to your scene headings.

Now there is an exception to this rule. Watch the film Memento and then read the screenplay. If you can do what Christopher Nolen did in that film, by all means, let it rip.

Memento Poster

How to write a flashback within a flashback?

This is where things can get complicated. I’ve read a limited number of scripts that need this type of Inception. Get it. Here is how to accomplish this very quickly. Use a Super or a superimposition. If you already know about supers use that as your flashback title before applying the term “FLASHBACK:” For example:

SUPER: “3 Years Earlier”

INT. RICKS SUPERMARKET – DAY

Jason walks through the door sees Carrie carrying the black book bag

BEGIN FLASHBACK:

How to write good flashbacks?

1.)Find the trigger for the flashback.
Usually, a flashback doesn’t just randomly occur they happen because of a moment or object was seen by the character launches his memory back in time.

2.) Find the trigger to return.
Something has to snap the character out of it. Think of a door slamming or someone screaming.

3.) Keep it short.
Flashbacks rarely are an entire scene unless you’re in a time-traveling movie or your writing inception 2. There is no need to have your flashback last that long.

4.) Make it advance the story.
There is no need for a flashback if it doesn’t push the story forward. Not just ahead but make it leap forward in a big way if not the audience gets bored. They will ask what the point of this is?

5.) Rarely use them.
Using flashbacks too much can have an adverse effect on your movie if your movie is mostly flashbacks your not advancing the narrative of the story.

Why even use flashbacks?

This is the question every writer must ask themselves before using flashbacks.

·         Is your screenplay a period piece?

·         Can you tell the story without it?

Think about the answers before you start using them to wildly. I don’t use them. I follow David Mamet and his philosophy on writing. You can do what you want to do, but I like the story to progress. If I have to flashback to a moment in time to get the audience to remember something they should have when I showed it the first time that taxes the audience. The audience isn’t stupid as a collective there smarter than you think.

When to use it?

I like the montage flashbacks personally sometimes if something is not clear three quick shots can put together something in the audiences head about what the character is figuring out. Aaron Sorkin famously said in his masterclass “there should be someone in the film that knows just as little as the audience does.” So if that person is your main character when they figure out something, your audience should have the same revelation. So sometimes a quick flashback will keep everyone on the same playing field.

When not to use it?

If you’re afraid you might lose your reader, so you supplement this with a flashback this is a bad Idea. Your screenplay should be understandable if not, don’t try to patch it with a flashback fix the reason why its confusing in the first place. The reader will notice this and think of you as a lousy writer.

Your now a flashback GOD.

BEGIN FLASHBACK: