From 80s comedies to shenanigans at work – everybody loves a good movie montage…
From Baby learning to dance with the hunky Johnny Castle (Dirty Dancing, 1987) to Cady Heron running shenanigans on Regina George only to make her “face smell like a foot” (Mean Girls, 2004), we all love a good movie montage. Montages are absolutely everywhere in film, and as a screenwriter, the odds are you’re going have to write one sooner or later.
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They come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes including dialogue while other times being set to music and letting the action speak for itself. Many people think a montage begins and ends with a group of girlfriends trying on clothes in an 80s dressing room and paying homage to other great movies, but the humble montage is so much more than that.
A montage is an editing technique used in movies to communicate the passing of time, particularly when that passing of time requires more context than a standard time jump. It is the ultimate form of “show don’t tell”, since the alternative would be for a character to recount what occurred, rather than let the audience witness it in an expedited manner.
Some writers think that montages are lazy, but personally I love them. I think they are a very effective method of communicating exposition without adding a bunch of extra time. Montages can be incredibly iconic and many movies wouldn’t be the same without them. They’re a great shortcut and often a way to add some much needed fun to a script.
For instance, the montage in the third act of Bridesmaids (2011), where Annie tries to make changes in her life following the blow up at Lillian’s bridal shower, would be incredibly tedious and boring if we had to watch a scene showing every individual aspect of the transformation. It would also require an emotional burden from the viewer that wouldn’t be in keeping with the vibe of the film.
How and why are they used?
Everyone knows the famous ‘80s fashion montage’ that has been parodied in hundreds of movies, such as Wild Child (2008) and The Sweetest Thing (2002). However, montages are used all over movies, and are very common in sequences where the hero needs to “level-up” or perform a series of actions that are important to the plot but don't themselves warrant a full scene to express.
One of the most famous movie montages is from Rocky (1976) where he tries to buff up in order to be the world’s best boxer (or something… I’ve never seen it, just the montage). This montage has been parodied in almost every movie you can imagine, all the way from Legally Blonde (2001) to Dodgeball (2003) to I, Tonya (2017) and beyond.
RELATED: Does Legally Blonde Save the Cat?
While montages are often used for comedic effect, they are also used to build a mood or give the audience context to whatever changes have taken place once we return to the action.
A great example of this is the ferry montage from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), which both acts as a transitional sequence as well as showing Andie and Ben’s changing feelings for one another.
How to format a montage appropriately in a script?
So, now we know what a movie montage is… how the heck do we write one?
A montage is similar to a dream sequence, and as you’ll know with screenwriting there are no official “rules” per se, but there are best practices. There are people who will tell you that there is a specific way to format a montage, but I’ve read enough produced scripts to know that there is no 100% official way to do it.
What’s really important is making sure that it’s clear when your montage begins, what scenes are part of it, and when it ends. Once you’ve established this, you want to make sure that whatever way you’ve chosen to format your montage is consistent throughout the script.
I will give you the method that I think works the best, as well as some methods that some of my fellow writers use, and you can decide which is best for your needs. So, let's talk about how to format a montage.
My preferred method is to format a montage as such:
BEGIN MONTAGE:
[INT./EXT.] [LOCATION.] – [DAY/NIGHT] – MONTAGE
[SCENE]
[INT./EXT.] [LOCATION.] – [DAY/NIGHT] – MONTAGE
[SCENE]
END MONTAGE:
I find this method, or something similar, to be the clearest way to format a montage, as it tells you exactly what scenes are within the montage and helps the reader contextualise what that scene is meant to look like.
However, I have also seen then done as:
MONTAGE - [INT./EXT.] [LOCATION.] – [DAY/NIGHT]
[SCENE]
MONTAGE – [INT./EXT.] [LOCATION.] – [DAY/NIGHT]
[SCENE]
I have also seen this formatted as an “INTERCUT” scene with different parts, which is the preference for some of the people in my writing critique group. However, it’s best to chose a method that fits your personal style and makes the most sense for your script.
For more context, I have created some examples from screenplays I’ve written.
This first document from my pilot "We Could be Friends (& Other Lies)", which demonstrates the use of a montage as a transitional scene intended to add context to the history of the main character in the form of "opening credits".
This second document is from my webseries that is currently in production "Mattress", where the montage is intended to expedite the plot as well as add humour.
These are just some of the ways you can use montages in your own writing, but honestly, the sky's the limit!
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