Also known as FLASHBACK SEQUENCE
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.
On the page
Flashback
FLASHBACK — THE DOCK — DAY
Flashbacks earn their pages when the past changes how we read the present -- a secret, a wound, a contradiction -- not when they dump biography the scene could show another way. Decide what new pressure the memory creates now. If cutting the flashback leaves the present scene fully clear, you may only be decorating with nostalgia.
Format should make the time shift unmistakable. Common patterns: FLASHBACK under a heading, a parenthetical time cue in the slugline, or BEGIN FLASHBACK / END FLASHBACK for a longer run. Always give a clear exit -- BACK TO SCENE or a fresh present-day scene heading -- so readers never wonder which timeline they are in.
Keep visual and emotional bridges short: an object, a sound, a line that triggers the cut. Long unmarked drifts between eras confuse coverage and production. If you braid past and present repeatedly, intercut or labeled sequences often stay clearer than a pile of unlabeled memory cuts on the page.
Use BACK TO SCENE, END FLASHBACK, or a clear present-day scene heading. Readers need an explicit exit so the timeline never stays ambiguous.
If the cut could be misread as present action, yes. Ambiguous time shifts confuse readers, coverage, and later breakdowns.
Yes. Longer runs often use BEGIN FLASHBACK / END FLASHBACK or a titled sequence so each inner scene still carries clear headings.
When it only dumps backstory the present scene could dramatize. Prefer a reveal that changes present tactics over a tour of childhood for its own sake.
