Also known as INTERCUT
A formatting pattern for cutting back and forth between locations that are playing at the same time — classic phone calls, chases, or parallel climaxes.
On the page
Intercut
INTERCUT — PHONE CALL
INTERCUT headings (or an INTERCUT BETWEEN... note) tell the reader both sides stay live, so you can alternate cues without a full slugline on every exchange. Use that pattern for phone calls, chases, and parallel climaxes where simultaneity is the point of the sequence on the page.
End the intercut when one side ends or time jumps. Leaving an intercut "on" into unrelated scenes makes later sluglines ambiguous for breakdowns. When each side needs long private beats, separate scenes with clear headings often read better than forced ping-pong between two rooms.
Do not confuse intercut with montage. Montage compresses highlights; intercut keeps concurrent places alive in story time. If you only need a few quick images to show time passing, montage is cleaner. If both ends of a call continue reacting, intercut protects cause and effect clearly.
When simultaneity matters and the conversation or action ping-pongs quickly. If each side needs long private beats, separate scenes with clear sluglines often read better.
Not for every exchange once INTERCUT is established. Re-slug when a location truly changes, someone new enters, or you exit the intercut back into single-location scenes.
Use END INTERCUT or simply resume with a normal scene heading when one side drops out or time jumps. Clarity for the next reader beats a clever unlabeled drift.
Yes, but readability drops fast. Name the locations up front, keep exchanges short, and exit as soon as the parallel pressure resolves so the page does not become a traffic map.
