Two Calls: an intercut screenplay example

What intercutting is

Intercutting is cutting back and forth between two or more locations to show events happening at the same time, most often the two ends of a phone call. In a screenplay, the INTERCUT direction tells the reader that once both places are established, the scene can move between them without a new scene heading for every line.

Cross cutting is the editing term for the same idea, often used for parallel action that isn't a single conversation.

How to format an intercut screenplay scene and phone calls

Establish each location with its own scene heading and a line of action, then add the intercut line. Two Calls opens in a hospital corridor with Ama watching a door marked ISOLATION, cuts to Tom at a motorway payphone, then writes INTERCUT - AMA AND TOM. From there the dialogue runs as one scene, and action ("A black car turns into the car park") sits wherever it happens. The guide to scene headings covers the setup lines.

INT. RECORD SHOP - DAY

LENA (30s) answers the shop phone.

INT. TAXI - MOVING - DAY

OMAR (30s) holds his phone low.

INTERCUT - LENA AND OMAR

LENA
You're late.

OMAR
I'm outside. Don't look up.

If we only see one end of the call, don't intercut: keep a single scene heading and add (V.O.) to the unseen caller's cue, as in After the Flood. When the call ends, a new scene heading returns us to one place. In Scenaloom, type the INTERCUT line as a scene heading element; the formatting docs list every element.

When to cut back and forth

Cut to whichever end of the call holds the reaction. Two Calls stays with Tom when he hears she asked for him, then asked not to call him ("Tom closes his eyes"), and returns to Ama for the final image: the monitor quickening behind glass. Each side holds its own threat, the black car for Tom and the patient for Ama. That is what earns the intercut.

Common intercut mistakes

• Skipping the setup. Without both scene headings first, readers can't place the second voice.
• Writing a new heading for every line. That is exactly what INTERCUT avoids, and it inflates the page count.
• Intercutting two people who only talk. If neither place adds anything, show one end and use (V.O.) for the other.

Try it

1. Write a phone call where each speaker is somewhere that threatens them differently.
2. Establish both places with a heading and one action line each, then add INTERCUT.
3. Give each location one visual event that interrupts the talk. Open Two Calls as your own project in the screenplay editor and replace the black car with your own interruption.