Mark the boundaries, then write normally
Inside the dream, scene headings, action, and dialogue work exactly as they do anywhere else. What makes it read as a dream is a clear marker at each end and a dreamer the reader can name.
Establish who is dreaming, mark where the dream begins and ends, and show the return to waking life so a dream is never mistaken for the story's reality.
Direct answer
Establish whose dream it is — usually by showing the character asleep — then mark the start with DREAM SEQUENCE, either as its own action line or at the end of the scene heading, and write the dream in ordinary screenplay format. Close with END DREAM SEQUENCE and show the dreamer waking, so the reader knows exactly when reality resumes.
On the page
INT. MARA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Mara sleeps, the unopened letter on her chest.
DREAM SEQUENCE
EXT. HARBOR PIER - DAY
The ferry is already gone. The letter in Mara's hand is blank.
END DREAM SEQUENCE
INT. MARA'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Mara jolts awake.
Evidence weight
Inside the dream, scene headings, action, and dialogue work exactly as they do anywhere else. What makes it read as a dream is a clear marker at each end and a dreamer the reader can name.
Writers split on dreams meant to fool the reader. Marking the start gives the game away; withholding it risks a reader who feels cheated when the dreamer wakes. If you withhold the marker, make the waking moment unmistakable, and make sure the dream still earns its place in the story.
Not one rigid template
DREAM SEQUENCE and END DREAM SEQUENCE as their own action lines bracket a dream that runs across several scenes.
Adding the marker to the heading — EXT. HARBOR PIER - DREAM SEQUENCE - DAY — suits a dream that lasts one scene. The end still needs marking.
Some writers italicize the whole dream on top of the markers. It helps on the page, but italics can be lost when a file changes format, so they should never be the only signal.
Reader and handoff friction
Choose for the recipient
Keep dreams short unless they carry the story. Readers are wary of dreams used for a cheap scare or to state a theme, so clear markers let the scene be judged on what it does rather than on whether it confused them.
A dream is still a shot scene with its own location, cast, and time of day. Full scene headings inside it let the breakdown and schedule treat it like any other scene.
In Plot, write DREAM SEQUENCE and END DREAM SEQUENCE as Action lines and keep ordinary Scene Headings inside the dream. The dream's locations stay real scene headings, so they appear in the scene list and in a production breakdown like any other scene.
Asked next
Either works. A standalone action line brackets a dream that runs across several scenes; adding DREAM SEQUENCE to the heading suits a one-scene dream. Whichever you choose, mark where the dream ends.
Return to the dreamer's real location with a scene heading and show the waking in action — a jolt, a gasp, an alarm. END DREAM SEQUENCE before that heading makes the boundary unmistakable.
A flashback shows something that happened; a dream shows something imagined. The markers work the same way, but naming the device correctly tells the reader how to read the scene.
Flashback
A scene or sequence set in earlier story time. Scripts mark the shift with FLASHBACK (or similar) and return with BACK TO SCENE or a clear present-day slugline.
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.
Action
The descriptive prose of a screenplay — what the audience sees and hears, written in present tense. Also called description.
Browse the screenplay formatting reference
Complete, source-backed guides for common screenplay situations
Flashbacks
Make the time shift explicit in a scene heading or action cue, then clearly return to the present when the transition could otherwise be missed.
Montage
Signal the montage, organize its visual beats in action, and end it clearly when the reader might not otherwise know where ordinary scene flow resumes.
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.