How do you format a montage in a

screenplay?
There is no hard and fast rule for how to format montages in screenplays. As with all
formatting, the goal is to express whats happening on screen as clearly and simply
as possible, without breaking up the flow of the screenplay or taking your reader out
of the script.
The following are a few montage formatting options. Any of them are okay, but a
screenplay should pick a style and stick to it.
Montage in a single location
If the montage arises from a scene already in progress, slug MONTAGE, then list the
elements of the montage either as separate action lines, or as a bulleted list.
When the montage is complete, slug either BACK TO SCENE, or END OF
MONTAGE:
INT. TRIS R US GYM DAY
Sal walks in and sees the place is a mess. Noel isnt far behind.
SAL
Day one, we clean.
NOEL
Sort of like a Wax on, wax off thing?
SAL
Ummm...yeah. Lets go with that.
MONTAGE
-Noel drags a medium-sized weight. Sal walks by in the background, easily carrying
three of them.
-Noel carries a bench-press bar, losing his balance. A few feet away, Sal bends over
to examine the bench, ducking just in time to avoid Noels flailing bar. Neither notice.
-Without looking, Sal tosses medicine balls to Noel, who jumps out of the way like
theyre dodgeballs.

-Sal drags a treadmill across the gym. Noel attempts to do the same, but cant budge
it; his feet move as if hes walking, but he goes nowhere.
BACK TO SCENE
Sal stands in the newly-reorganized gym, proud.
SAL
That wasnt so bad.
Noel tries to answer, but cant catch his breath.

Montage in a new location

If the montage takes place in a different location than the previous scene, add
MONTAGE to the scene header for the new scene. When the montage is finished,
indicate END OF MONTAGE:
INT. BREAKFAST, BRUNCH, AND BEYOND EVENING
Andrew and Sadie sprint down the supermarket isle, collecting ingredients.
Lee runs to them, flour in hand.
LEE
Lets make magic happen.
INT. LEES KITCHEN NIGHT MONTAGE
-Andrew smashes a pumpkin.
-Lee preps the oven.
-Sadie mixes a bowl of flour, egg, and other ingredients.
-Lee and Sadie are elbows-deep in the bowl, kneading.
-Andrew tosses the pumpkin mush across the room; Lee catches it in another bowl.
-Sadie puts it in the oven.
-Andrew takes it out of the oven.
END OF MONTAGE

Lee cuts Sadie a piece, and she eats it off his fork.
SADIE
Delish.

Montage in multiple locations

If the montage takes place in multiple locations, you can handle it a few ways. One
simple way is to slug MONTAGE VARIOUS, and then bullet or letter your list of
montage elements, starting each with a slug line:
INT. BARBAGS HOME OFFICE NIGHT
The printer finishes as Professor Barbag gets ready for bed. Whatevers printing is
coming out face down.
He walks over to the desk to turn off the light, and just before he does, he picks up
the paper. He looks at it, smiles.
Lights out.
MONTAGE VARIOUS
A) INT. THE CLASSROOM DAY Barbag sketches a diagram on the whiteboard.
Students copy it down.
B) INT. HOME DEPOT DAY Sandra and Eli buy tools.
C) EXT. THE FIELD DAY Vince and his Crew steal bolts off the benches.
Groundskeeper Wilhelm chases them away.
D) EXT. CONSTRUCTION YARD DAY Phil and Marco buy scrap metal.
E) INT. THE CLASSROOM EVENING As the sun goes down, Barbag and the
class build.
END OF MONTAGE
EXT. THE QUAD THE NEXT MORNING
Professor Barbag runs through The Quad carrying a paper sack full of bagels. Hes
panting.
Some screenwriters are less specific about locations in montages, and dont
approximate scene headers:

MONTAGE LANCE AND THE ORPHAN DRAGON GROW UP

A) Dragons Den Young Lance hop-scotches while the newly orphaned infant
dragon searches for her deceased mother.
B) Mountainside Twelve-year-old Lance takes the baby dragon out of the cave for
the first time. Her eyes adjust as she takes in the sight.
C) Beach Teenage Lance jogs along the water as the young dragon practices
flying, stumbling like a kite in a thunderstorm.
D) Woods Eighteen-year-old Lance runs along side the gliding teenager, and he
hops on. The dragon flaps her wings, and they take off.
E) Outside the Cave Adult Lance is cutting a serving of meat off a freshly-killed
cow. He whistles as he puts the cut on the fire. Responding to the whistle, the
dragon pokes her full-sized head out of the cave. She devours the rest of the cow in
one bite, smiling as she does.
END OF MONTAGE
A third method for handling multiple locations is to slug each one as its own short
scene. Its often the best choice, particularly if more than one thing happens in each
scenelet.
With this method, you may choose to not even indicate MONTAGE, as the short
scene descriptions may make it obvious.

Sumber : http://screenwriting.io/how-do-you-format-a-montage-in-a-screenplay/

Formatting a montage
sequence
I was just wondering what is the actual format to cite a montage? Is it similar to:
EXT. MONTAGE DAY
There are so many images coming from so many different places, how does one cite
such a thing as a montage? Thanks for your time and help.

Mike
North Carolina, USA
A montage is a collection of very short scenes, sometimes only a single shot each,
designed to show a series of actions over time. Depending on the needs of the
sequence, there are a few different options for how to write a montage in screenplay
form.
The easiest example is when all the action is taking place in one location. For
instance, say you have a character trying on clothes the infamous Changing
Room Montage. It might read something like this:
INT. CHANGING ROOM DAY
Holly enters with a massive armload of clothes. Kyles eyes
bulge. Holly pulls the curtain shut.
MONTAGE
Holly emerges, dressed in different outfits, each more
elaborate than the last. Kyle watches in horror and dismay,
checking his watch as the madness continues.
And when its time to finish, a single line of END MONTAGE lets the reader know
youre going back to normal time.
When a montage moves between multiple locations, the situation gets a little more
difficult. Often the best choice is to not even say MONTAGE and just let it be a
series of short scenes just a slugline and a sentence or two of description. The
reader will correctly intuit that theres a montage occurring.
If all the locations in the sequence fall within one larger location, the most
economical choice may be to just change the slugline:
INT. MARYS HOUSE VARIOUS ROOMS
MONTAGE as Mary chases after the dog, trying to put in the
eyedrops. Every time she has him cornered, he manages to
escape, ducking under the coffee table or vaulting over the
bed.
My advice is to pick the simplest version that gets the point across. You may find that
youre using two or three different formats in a single script, depending on the needs
of each sequence.

Formatting an interview
montage
Im writing a scene where my character is going on a series of interviews, but
instead of writing out each individual interview, I want to do a montage of sorts,
where different questions come from different interviewers.
The problem is I dont know how to format it. Do I clearly mark it as a montage and
just give each interviewer a different name, or do I have to go through and put each
interview question under a different slug line?
Trent
Iowa

Your instinct is correct. This is a classic montage, and is simple to do on the

page. If youre staying in one location or a series of similar locations you dont
need individual sluglines.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM / A IS A INDUSTRIES DAY [EARLIER]
MONTAGE: Randy meets with a series of INTERVIEWERS, beginning with
WALTHAM GROEPNIK (50).
GROEPNIK
Consider an anthill.
RANDY
Okay.
GROEPNIK
Is it rational for the ants to work only for the benefit of the collective? Can an ant
even be considered rational?
A beat. Randy blinks. Concentrates.
RANDY
What color are the ants?
CUT TO:

VIVIAN LAKELAND (25) is darkly seductive, but icy.

LAKELAND
What is your greatest weakness?
RANDY
I guess Im late sometimes. I oversleep.
LAKELAND
Why would you admit to weakness?
CUT TO:
TREVOR KNIGHT (30) was probably a high school football star until he left the field
mid-game, never to return.
KNIGHT
Would you say youre a team player?
RANDY
Sure.
Knight makes a note on his form.
RANDY
Wait, no. No.
But Knight keeps writing.
RANDY
Yes?
QUICK CUTS:
GROEPNIK
If knowledge is the awareness of reality, how could you be aware of something
unreal?
LAKELAND
(lighting cigarette)

Why do you bore me?

KNIGHT
What is the largest criminal organization in the world?
Randy thinks for a long moment.
RANDY
The Girl Scouts?
Knight smiles. Nods.

For production, the AD would likely break these out as a series of scenes (e.g. A24,
B24, C24) on the board, but it can stay the same on the page.
If your character is going out for a series of interviews in different locations
Company A, Company B and Company C youre generally better off using
sluglines the first time each of these is introduced. Once youve set up all of them,
use INTERCUT (just once) to signal the reader that youll be cutting back and forth.