Screenplay Transitions: CUT TO, FADE IN, DISSOLVE TO, SMASH CUT and When to Use Them

Screenplay transitions are the right-aligned, capitalised instructions such as CUT TO:, DISSOLVE TO: and SMASH CUT TO: that tell the reader how one scene becomes the next. A spec script needs only FADE IN: at the start and FADE OUT. at the end; every scene heading already implies a cut, so the others are used sparingly and only when the transition itself is a story beat.

Updated 2026-09-22 · About 7 sections · 6 answered questions

What screenplay transitions are and where they go

A transition is an editing instruction. It sits on its own line, in capitals, ending in a colon, and it is aligned to the right of the page, about 6 inches from the left edge in standard screenplay margins. Every scene heading already implies a straight cut, so a transition exists to say the cut is something other than straight, or to make the reader feel the edit.

FADE IN:

EXT. RESERVOIR - DAWN

Mist on the water. A car roof, just breaking the surface.

                                                    CUT TO:

INT. MARA'S APARTMENT - DAY

Mara asleep on the couch, still in her coat.

Two things to see in that excerpt. FADE IN: is the exception to the right-margin rule; it sits at the left action margin because it opens the script rather than joining two scenes. And the CUT TO: is doing nothing the slugline beneath it was not already doing. That is the central fact about transitions in a spec: most of them are redundant, and readers count them.

Table of screenplay transitions: meaning and spec-script use

Transition	Meaning	In a spec script
`FADE IN:`	The film begins; the image fades up from black.	Yes, once, on the first line.
`FADE OUT.`	The image fades to black; the film ends.	Yes, once, on the last line.
`FADE TO BLACK.`	Fade to black mid-script, usually an act break or a passage of time.	Sparingly; TV act breaks and deliberate silences.
`CUT TO:`	A straight cut to the next scene.	Rarely. The next slugline is already a cut.
`SMASH CUT TO:`	An abrupt, jarring cut, often from quiet to loud or calm to chaos.	Occasionally, when the jolt is the point.
`DISSOLVE TO:`	One image blends into the next; signals time passing or memory.	Rarely. Directorial; use only if the dissolve is a beat.
`MATCH CUT TO:`	A cut in which a shape, movement or sound in one shot lines up with the next.	Occasionally, when the match is written into both scenes.
`TIME CUT:`	Same location, a short jump forward in time.	Acceptable; `LATER` in the slugline does the same job.
`JUMP CUT TO:`	A cut within a continuous shot that skips time visibly.	Rarely; editorial style.
`INTERCUT:` / `INTERCUT WITH:`	Alternate between two established locations without new headings.	Yes, for phone calls and parallel action.
`WIPE TO:` / `IRIS OUT.`	Stylised optical transitions.	No, unless the film is a pastiche of a period that used them.
`FLASHBACK TO:` / `BACK TO PRESENT:`	Move into and out of a flashback.	Yes, as one of the accepted flashback markers.
`CONTINUED:`	Page-break marker in shooting scripts.	No. Production only.

The right-hand column is the one that matters. A spec script is read for story; a shooting script is read for logistics. Transitions belong overwhelmingly to the second. The ones a spec keeps are the ones that carry meaning a reader could not get from the sluglines alone.

FADE IN: at the start and FADE OUT. THE END at the finish

FADE IN: is the first line of almost every screenplay. It goes at the left margin, in caps, with a colon, followed by a blank line and the first scene heading. It is the only transition that sits on the left, and the only one that is expected rather than tolerated. A script that opens straight on a slugline is not wrong, but the missing FADE IN: is noticed.

The close mirrors it. After the last action line, FADE OUT. sits at the right margin, with a full stop rather than a colon, because nothing follows it. Two lines below, THE END is centred.

Mara sets the phone face down on the table and does not
look at it again.

                                                  FADE OUT.


                          THE END

The punctuation is not a style choice. Transitions that lead somewhere end in a colon (CUT TO:); transitions that end the picture or a sequence end in a full stop (FADE OUT., FADE TO BLACK.). Software gets this right when it recognises the element, and Zen Writer positions a transition at the right margin the moment it recognises the trailing colon.

CUT TO:, SMASH CUT TO: and MATCH CUT TO: in practice

CUT TO: is the one to delete. Older scripts used it after every scene; modern spec format does not, because every slugline is a cut. Keep it only when the white space between two scenes needs to feel like a hard edit, for instance to punctuate a joke or end an argument, and even then once or twice in a script is plenty.

SMASH CUT TO: is CUT TO: with violence. It earns its place when the contrast between the two scenes is the beat: a whispered I'll never leave smash-cut to a door slamming. Write the contrast into both scenes so it works without the label; the label just tells the reader you did it on purpose.

                      BEN
            Nothing is going to happen to her.

                                              SMASH CUT TO:

EXT. RESERVOIR - DAY

A crane hauls the car out of the water. Divers step back.

MATCH CUT TO: is the one transition a reader will thank you for, if the match is real. A hand closing a coffin lid; match cut to the same hand closing a laptop. The two images must be on the page, one at the end of the first scene and one at the start of the second, so the reader can see the rhyme. A match cut with nothing to match is a director's note pretending to be a story beat.

TIME CUT: and DISSOLVE TO: both mean time has passed. The first is honest and plain; the second describes how the film should show it, which is not your job in a spec. In both cases LATER or MOMENTS LATER in the next scene heading usually says the same thing with no transition at all.

INTERCUT and the transitions that structure a sequence

A few transitions do structural work rather than describing an edit, and these are the ones a spec uses freely.

INTERCUT establishes that two locations already introduced will alternate without new sluglines. It is essential for a phone call between two locations and for parallel action such as a chase seen from both cars. It can sit at the right margin as INTERCUT WITH: or at the left as a heading line, INTERCUT - MARA'S APARTMENT / BEN'S CAR. Either is read identically.

FLASHBACK TO: and BACK TO PRESENT: are one of three accepted ways to mark a flashback; the slugline suffix (FLASHBACK) is more common, but the transition form is correct and readers know it. DREAM SEQUENCE: and END DREAM: work the same way.

A montage does not need transitions between its beats; the dash list is the cutting. If the montage is a series of dissolves, say so in the header line rather than writing DISSOLVE TO: a dozen times.

FADE TO BLACK. mid-script is the television act break. In a pilot it marks the end of each act before the commercial, and readers of hour-long drama expect to see it four or five times. In a feature it should be rare and should mean something: a death, a leap of years, a chapter ending.

Overuse: how many transitions a spec script should have

A useful rule is that a 110-page spec feature can carry FADE IN:, FADE OUT., and perhaps five to ten other transitions, each one there because the cut itself is a moment. Many produced scripts have fewer. A draft with CUT TO: after every scene has added two lines of white space per scene, which over sixty scenes is roughly two pages of nothing, and has told the reader on page one that the writer learned format from a very old book.

The test for each one is simple: delete it and read across the join. If the scene change reads exactly the same, it was decoration. If something is lost, the jolt, the rhyme, the time jump, keep it. The free spec script checker counts transitions alongside camera directions and other shooting-script tells, which is a fast way to see whether a draft has drifted into directing on the page.

Where you do keep a transition, make sure it is positioned as one. A CUT TO: typed at the left margin reads as an action line, and a transition indented by hand will not survive export. Write in an editor that recognises the element; Zen Writer's free online screenplay editor moves a transition to the right margin as soon as you type the colon, and exports it correctly to PDF and FDX.

Common transition mistakes

CUT TO: after every scene. The slugline is the cut. Delete them all and put back the two that matter.
Transitions at the left margin. Only FADE IN: lives on the left. Everything else is right-aligned.
Wrong punctuation. FADE OUT: with a colon, CUT TO. with a full stop. Colon leads on; full stop ends.
DISSOLVE TO: as a mood. It is an optical effect, not a feeling. Put the feeling in the action.
Inventing transitions. HARD CUT TO:, SLOW FADE TO:, WHIP PAN TO:. The reader has to translate each one, and most translate to CUT TO:.
Transitions inside a scene. A transition joins two scenes. Between two shots in the same scene, a new paragraph of action is the cut.
Forgetting FADE OUT. A script that ends on an action line with no close reads as unfinished, even when it is not.

To see transitions positioned correctly alongside every other element, the screenplay formatting examples page shows a full sample. The rest of the screenplay formatting hub covers the headings, action and dialogue the transitions sit between.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need CUT TO: between scenes in a screenplay?

No. Every new scene heading already implies a straight cut, so CUT TO: is redundant in modern spec format. Keep it only where the hard edit is itself a beat, and expect to use it a handful of times in a feature at most.

Where do transitions go on the page in a screenplay?

On their own line, in capitals, aligned to the right margin, roughly six inches from the left edge of the page. FADE IN: is the single exception and sits at the left margin because it opens the script rather than joining two scenes.

Does a screenplay have to start with FADE IN?

It is the convention and almost every professional script follows it. Starting straight on a scene heading is not an error, but the missing FADE IN: is noticed by readers. Use it once, at the left margin, followed by a blank line and the first slugline.

How do you end a screenplay with FADE OUT?

After the last action line, write FADE OUT. at the right margin with a full stop, then THE END centred two lines below. FADE OUT. uses a full stop rather than a colon because nothing follows it.

What is the difference between SMASH CUT and CUT TO?

CUT TO: is a straight cut. SMASH CUT TO: is an abrupt, deliberately jarring cut, usually between strongly contrasting scenes such as quiet to loud or a promise to its immediate breaking. Use SMASH CUT only when that contrast is written into both scenes.

Can I use DISSOLVE TO: in a spec script?

You can, but sparingly. A dissolve is a directorial and editorial decision about how time passing is shown. In a spec, LATER in the next scene heading or a TIME CUT: usually conveys the same information without telling the director how to cut.

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Screenplay Formatting

Screenplay Transitions: CUT TO, FADE IN, DISSOLVE TO, SMASH CUT and When to Use Them

What screenplay transitions are and where they go

Table of screenplay transitions: meaning and spec-script use

FADE IN: at the start and FADE OUT. THE END at the finish

CUT TO:, SMASH CUT TO: and MATCH CUT TO: in practice

INTERCUT and the transitions that structure a sequence

Overuse: how many transitions a spec script should have

Common transition mistakes

Frequently asked questions

Ready to turn this idea into a screenplay?

Continue reading

Spec Script vs Shooting Script: What Is the Difference?

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How to Format a Flashback in a Screenplay

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