An Interview Scene

[Ciarán Graham]

I just started work on my second script's opening scene and am not sure how to go about it. Several characters are being interviewed by one guy in the same location, but at different times. I'd like to have it so, if the guy asks a question, it can switch to another character as if he had asked it to them, like a montage. Kind of.

I've seen this sort of thing done before, so I hope I'm making sense. Perhaps I should just establish beforehand the different times and write as normal? Any help appreciated!

[Brian Melanson]

For me personally and how 101 is structured. I do "interview scenes" where the characters will just share some insist and such. How I structure it is through a "CHARACTER Talking Head". This technique is used mainly for shows like "Parks and Rec", "The Office", and "Modern Family" where it's the characters only and they are just talking, not really much scene wise happening around them. My suggestion would be to use Talking Heads. It's easy and works as a scene itself. I could be very wrong and there might be an easier way to do it, but my suggestion would be talking heads and have the man interviewing them be kind off screen asking questions. Again, I could be very wrong but my suggestion would be that. Hope that helps

[Ciarán Graham]

Thanks very much! First I'm going to try to space out the interviews into different scenes because I'm trying a different approach (like Dollhouse's "Man on the Street", as a sort of side story), but your suggestion was great and I might give it a try. Much appreciated!

[Brady Brown]

I think your question could be answered a lot easier if we knew the context. Such as, is the interview scene in a mockumentary style, like Brian suggested? Or is the interview like a job interview in a serialized drama?

If it's the latter, then I would suggest a montage. It's an easy way to cut to several different characters by using dashes. For example:

- JOHN, the interviewer, sits in front of MARY.

JOHN
What's the purpose of you doing this?

- Now, TOMMY sits in front of JOHN.

TOMMY
I just really love what you're doing here.

I tried using an example of what you mentioned, with cutting to characters after the guy asks a question. I hoped this helped. If you have any other questions, or need a further explanation, I know I and others on the forum would be happy to help.

[Ciarán Graham]

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking, sorry for the lack of clarification. It's a government debriefing of sorts so it would be more similar to this. Thanks to both of you!