How to Write a Flashback in a Script

The flashback is a very common element in many films that can be used to take the viewer back in time, providing background to the story, and offering insight into character emotions, moods, and histories. We see the flashback used in nonlinear narratives and as a means of providing narrative flashes back in time that take the viewer from the present point to some other point of history. While flashbacks are incredibly common in scripts and in films, not everyone knows how to write a flashback in a script. 

Learning how to write a flashback in a script is an important task for any aspiring cinematographer or screenwriter. Fortunately, writing flashbacks into a script really aren’t that difficult.

With some basic formatting, you can achieve the appearance of a professional script, complete with as many flashbacks as you deem fit for your story. Here’s how.

Avoid Flashback Mistakes in Your Script

Before you focus on how to write a flashback in a script, consider the importance of avoiding some of the most common mistakes that screenwriters make when flashbacks are written into a script.  First, make sure that you don’t use flashbacks just for the sake of including a flashback in the story.

All flashbacks should be motivated and have a purpose. Don’t just write dream sequences and flashbacks into your story for the fun of it. Equally important, make sure that you don’t include too many flashbacks in your script.

This can be confusing, and could slow the pacing of your story while diluting the effect of the flashback.

How to Write a Flashback in a Script

Before you write a flashback in a script, you’ll need to determine the purpose of the flashback. Will you flashback to a particular emotion of the past or a mood? Would you flashback to a trauma? Will the flashback be some sort of revelation or a point of nostalgia? 

Once you’ve determined the purpose of your flashback, writing it into your script is simple. Use the delineation BEGIN FLASHBACK to address the start of a flashback in your script.

Opening

Following the opening of a flashback, you’ll then include the scene heading that provides the location and setting information. The action lines are included immediately after.

If you have multiple scenes under a flashback, you will simply include new scene headings for each subsequent scene that takes place in your flashback. Continue to outline scene headings and action items until you have completed the script writing of your flashback.

Ending

When you have completed the details of your flashback, you will delineate the end of the flashback in your script with the slug END FLASHBACK.

In scripts that will include a flashback that includes only one scene, you can simply write (FLASHBACK) next to your scene heading to delineate the flashback scenario. 

Why Include a Flashback in a Script?

The use of flashbacks and dream sequences in scripts provide insight into the mind of the character that the flashback relates to. These flashbacks can help us to identify the character, connect with them, and draw upon their story.

The use of flashbacks to connect the audience to a character’s past will not only add to the dramatic element of the narrative, but can also help to refine the flow of the narrative.

While flashbacks are not representative of a chronological narrative, they do offer a unique opportunity to use a nonlinear storytelling approach to engage the audience and keep the story moving.