# 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. Also known as INTERCUT **On the page** ``` INTERCUT — PHONE CALL ``` ## In practice 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. ## See it formatted - [How to format phone calls and intercut conversations](https://www.inkwell.software/resources/screenplay-formatting/phone-calls-and-intercut): Establish what the audience sees and hears, then use clear scene headings or an INTERCUT instruction so a phone conversation stays easy to picture. ## Common questions ### When should I use intercut instead of separate scenes? 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. ### Do I need a new slugline for every cut in an intercut? 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. ### How do I end an intercut cleanly? 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. ### Can an intercut include more than two locations? 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. ## Related terms - [Montage](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/montage): A run of short beats or shots in quick succession — often under a MONTAGE heading — used to compress time or braid parallel action. - [Scene heading (slugline)](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/scene-heading): The line that opens a scene: interior or exterior, location, and time of day — for example, INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT. It orients the reader and anchors production breakdowns. - [Dialogue](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/dialogue): Spoken lines under a character cue. In Plot, a dialogue pass proposes changes, mostly to the spoken lines, that you accept or reject one at a time. - [Off-screen (O.S.)](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/off-screen): A character who belongs in the scene’s space but is not visible in the shot — calling from another room, speaking just out of frame. Marked as (O.S.) on the cue. --- Canonical page: