The scene is an important building block when creating a screenplay. It is used to beat out a script before sitting down for the first draft. Every scene has a certain purpose, it has a protagonist with a goal, it ideally has a three-act-structure of its own. This is all very fine when put on index cards, but when you’re actually putting the scenes to paper, suddenly different rules apply: A new scene starts when the place or the time change.
But in the script’s outline, in the story’s structure, no such boundaries exist. We have people going outside while continuing a dialogue, or even changing time and talking on as if no time has passed at all (a strangeness that is rightfully ridiculed). The story scene doesn’t end here, but the scene on paper has to in order to reflect shooting realities (different locations shot out of order).
To clean this mess up I propose the following terminology:
- Script scene:
The technical scene as required in a script. A new scene starts when the place or the time change. - Story scene:
The scene as building block of the story. This is what you put on your index cards.