Head a car scene with INT. and the vehicle, use INT/EXT. or I/E. when it plays inside and out, or split it into two headings when production needs them.
Direct answer
For a scene played inside a car, a plain INT. heading that names the vehicle is enough: INT. ELI'S HATCHBACK - NIGHT. When the scene moves between the road and the seats, INT/EXT. (also written INT./EXT. or I/E.) tells the reader the camera works on both sides. Add MOVING if the motion matters. Some guides prefer two headings instead, EXT. for the car on the road and INT. for the people inside, because production schedules each as its own setup.
On the page
INT/EXT. ELI'S HATCHBACK - MOVING - NIGHT
Headlights sweep a coast road. Inside, Mara grips the dashboard as the guardrail flickers past her window.
MARA
Slow down.
ELI
Not yet.
He takes the next bend faster.
Evidence weight
Name the car in the heading the way you would name a room. The Academy Nicholl format guide heads its car scene INT. BLUE CAMARO - DAY and lets the action say it is moving; INT/EXT. or I/E. is the common choice when the scene plays both inside and outside the car.
Final Draft's August 2026 guide to scene headings asks for separate exterior and interior headings, so production knows which setup each shot needs. Many writers keep the slash for exactly this case, because one heading lets the camera move between the seats and the road without breaking the scene into fragments. For a spec, either reads clearly. For a production draft, follow the breakdown the production office is working from.
Not one rigid template
INT. and the vehicle when every moment happens in the seats. The action can say the car is moving; the heading does not have to.
INT/EXT., INT./EXT. or I/E. when the scene cuts between the passengers and the car on the road. Readers treat the three spellings as the same thing.
Final Draft's current guidance splits the scene: EXT. CAR for the car on the road, then INT. CAR - SAME for the people inside, because production cannot break a combined heading down for scheduling, location scouting or set builds.
MOVING, DRIVING or TRAVELING after the vehicle tells the reader and the schedule that the car is under way. No one word is standard; pick one and keep it.
Reader and handoff friction
Choose for the recipient
In a spec, choose the heading that makes the scene easiest to picture and stay consistent: INT. for a conversation in the seats, INT/EXT. for a chase that cuts between the road and the driver.
Production schedules the car on the road and the actors inside as separate setups, so a production draft may split an INT/EXT. scene into separate headings. Make that change with the production office's breakdown in hand, and keep scene numbers stable when you do.
In Plot, start a line with INT., EXT., INT/EXT. or I/E. followed by a space and it becomes a Scene Heading. Plot suggests the vehicles and places you have already used, then the time of day after the dash. The production breakdown marks each scene INT, EXT or both, so the setups a car scene needs show up when you plan the shoot.
Asked next
INT. when everything happens inside the car, EXT. when we watch the car from outside, and INT/EXT. or I/E. when the scene cuts between the two. The car itself is the location, so name it in the heading.
I/E is short for interior/exterior, the same as INT/EXT. or INT./EXT. It tells the reader a scene plays both inside and outside a location, most often a moving car, without a new heading at every cut.
Add MOVING, DRIVING or TRAVELING after the vehicle in the heading, or say it in the first action line. Pick one word and use it for every moving vehicle in the script.
Not under an INT/EXT. heading, which already covers both sides. With a plain INT. heading, a cut to the car on the road is a new EXT. scene, or an action line if the moment is brief.
Scene heading (slugline)
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.
Continuous
A time-of-day marker on a scene heading meaning the action picks up immediately from the prior scene, with no time jump. Often abbreviated CONT. in production drafts.
Script breakdown
The production process of tagging a locked (or near-locked) script for cast, locations, props, vehicles, SFX, and other elements so schedules and budgets can be built.
Browse the screenplay formatting reference
Rendered examples and accepted variations for common screenplay situations
Phone calls & 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.
Continuous action & time jumps
Use CONTINUOUS for unbroken movement into a new location, SAME for simultaneous time, and a plain action beat or new time label for an actual jump forward.
Scene numbers & production
How to add, keep and hide scene numbers in Final Draft, when a script needs them, and how A/B scenes and OMITTED keep production references stable.
