Also known as LATER · MOMENTS LATER · SAME · THAT NIGHT
Time-of-day alternatives on a scene heading that signal a jump (LATER, MOMENTS LATER, THAT NIGHT) or sameness (SAME) without inventing a clock time.
On the page
Later
INT. KITCHEN — MOMENTS LATER
LATER means story time advanced; MOMENTS LATER means barely. SAME keeps the prior time label when only location changed. These words live in the time slot of the slugline — after location — and they exist so readers and coordinators do not invent false DAY/NIGHT flips or continuous clocks.
Choose the most honest label. CONTINUOUS is wrong if ten minutes passed offscreen; LATER is vague if the joke is "three days later" and a SUPER would be clearer. Overusing MOMENTS LATER for every cut trains readers to ignore time language entirely.
Production uses these cues for continuity, costume, and lighting logic. Fuzzy time labels create fuzzy boards. When a sequence braids jumps, prefer specific supers or dated headings for the big leaps and save LATER for modest advances inside a chapter of the story.
CONTINUOUS means no time jump at all — the clock never stopped. MOMENTS LATER admits a tiny advance. If they walk straight through a door with no gap, CONTINUOUS is the truer label.
SAME means keep the previous scene's time. It is common when you change location but not the clock — for example, INT. HALLWAY - SAME after INT. OFFICE - DAY.
Yes when it helps — 3:17 A.M. can be a thriller tool. Use specificity when the exact time matters; use LATER when only the jump matters.
Usually no. Time of day belongs on the scene heading. Transitions (CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO:) handle optical joins, not the story clock.
