# Slugline

Source: https://storiara.com/glossary/slugline
Last updated: 2026-09-14
Author: Nick Harty, Storiara

> A slugline is any all-caps heading line in a screenplay. The master slugline (the scene heading) gives INT. or EXT., location, and time, and starts a new scene. Secondary sluglines, such as HALLWAY, LATER, or BACK TO SCENE, mark a change of area or time inside the same scene.

## Master and secondary sluglines

Here is a scene with one master slugline and two secondary ones:

```
18  INT. HENDERSON HOUSE - FOYER - NIGHT

    Cole lets himself in with a spare key. Silence.

    STAIRWAY

    He climbs, testing each step.

    MASTER BEDROOM

    The bed is made. A suitcase lies open on it, empty.
```

For a writer, STAIRWAY and MASTER BEDROOM are shorthand for "we followed him upstairs." For the person doing the [script breakdown](https://storiara.com/glossary/script-breakdown), they're a question. Is this one set or three? If the foyer is a stage build and the bedroom is a real house across town, this "scene" is two shoot days apart, and it needs two [breakdown sheets](https://storiara.com/glossary/breakdown-sheet).

## How ADs handle secondary sluglines

The usual approach is to keep one scene number and split the breakdown only when the pieces can't shoot together. So scene 18 might become:

| Sheet | Scene | Set | D/N | Pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 18 (pt) | HENDERSON HOUSE, FOYER / STAIRWAY | N | 2/8 |
| 32 | 18 (pt) | HENDERSON HOUSE, MASTER BEDROOM | N | 1/8 |

"pt" means part. Splitting a scene's page count means dividing the eighths between the pieces, and they have to add up to the scene's total. See [page eighths](https://storiara.com/glossary/page-eighths). If a production decides the parts deserve their own numbers before the script is locked, the writer's assistant can renumber them as 18, 18A, and 18B or as fresh scene numbers.

## Other slugline types

Writers use a few more capitalized lines that affect the breakdown:

- LATER or MOMENTS LATER: same place, time jump. Check whether the jump changes day to night or calls for a wardrobe change.
- BACK TO SCENE: return from an insert or POV. Nothing new for the breakdown, usually.
- INSERT - THE LETTER: a close shot of an object. The object is a [hero prop](https://storiara.com/glossary/hero-prop) and may be shot by a second unit.
- INTERCUT or INTERCUT PHONE CONVERSATION: two locations alternating. Each location needs its own sheet, and the cast in each place may never share a set.

A phone intercut is a common place for mistakes, because it reads like one scene and often gets one [scene number](https://storiara.com/glossary/scene-number), yet it shoots at two locations on different days.

## Slugline versus scene heading

In most conversations they're the same thing. The [scene heading](https://storiara.com/glossary/scene-heading) page covers the three parts of a master heading and how to normalize set names. Scene parsers such as the one in [script analysis](https://storiara.com/feature/script-analysis) split scenes on master headings, so check intercuts and big secondary moves by hand after import.

## Frequently asked questions

### Where does the word slugline come from?

It comes from newspaper typesetting, where a slug was a short line of type used as a label. Screenwriters picked up the term for the capitalized lines that label each scene.

### Does a secondary slugline get its own scene number?

Usually not. Most production drafts number only master scene headings. Some productions number secondary headings too when the action moves far enough that it could be shot on a different day, so check with the 1st AD before numbering.

### Can a slugline be just one word?

A secondary slugline can. Inside a scene set in a house, writing KITCHEN on its own line is enough to tell the reader we moved rooms without restating INT. and the time of day.