Title: Flashback Examples
Credit: From
Author: scriptopus.com/how-to-write-a-flashback-in-a-screenplay

INT. MAYA'S FLAT - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Maya reaches the bottom of a paragraph of description that began near the top of the page. She scrolls up to find where it started.

INT. FILM SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAY (FLASHBACK)

MR. BRENNAN (60s) walks the rows, handing back marked scripts. At the desk of MAYA (20) he lays hers down. There is more red ink on it than type.

MR. BRENNAN
In thirty years of reading scripts, nobody has ever asked me for a longer paragraph.

INT. MAYA'S FLAT - KITCHEN - NIGHT (PRESENT DAY)

Maya cuts the paragraph to two lines.

INT. COTTAGE - KITCHEN - DAY

Mara wraps mugs in newspaper, fast. Des holds the kettle, with nowhere left to put it.

DES
You came back for the funeral. You were gone before the cars left.

> FLASH CUT TO:

EXT. CHAPEL - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Rain. MARA (19) stands in the chapel doorway, coat buttoned, car keys already in her hand.

.BACK TO SCENE

Mara wraps the next mug much too tightly.

MARA
I was there.

INT. MAYA'S FLAT - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Maya finds a folder on her laptop called FILM SCHOOL. Inside it, one document: NOTES FROM BRENNAN.

!BEGIN FLASHBACK:

INT. FILM SCHOOL CLASSROOM - DAY

!SUPER: ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER

MR. BRENNAN (60s) writes a single word on the whiteboard and underlines it twice: CUT.

EXT. FILM SCHOOL - COURTYARD - DAY

MAYA (20) sits on a cold bench with her script on her knees, crossing out a page. Then the page after it.

INT. FILM SCHOOL - CORRIDOR - NIGHT

The building is empty. Maya slides a much thinner script under Mr. Brennan's door.

!END FLASHBACK.

INT. MAYA'S FLAT - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Maya opens her own script at page one and reads with a finger resting on the delete key.

INT. MAYA'S FLAT - KITCHEN - NIGHT

Maya lowers her head onto her arms beside the laptop. Just for a minute.

INT. GRAND THEATRE - NIGHT (DREAM)

A full house in evening dress. On stage, MR. BRENNAN opens a gold envelope and reads the card inside.

MR. BRENNAN
And the award for best screenplay goes to...

He frowns. Turns the card over.

MR. BRENNAN (CONT'D)
Whose margins are these?

Every phone in the audience starts to buzz at once.

INT. MAYA'S FLAT - KITCHEN - DAY

Grey light. Maya jerks awake. Only one phone is buzzing, hers, rattling against a mug. On its screen: ABUELA.